Accidentally Downloaded Child Porn

Off Topic Politics and World Issues
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[i]A local man is likely to go to prison for years after he says he accidentally downloaded child pornography onto his computer.

Matthew White, 22, said he was surfing for pornography two years ago on Limewire – a fire sharing application that allows users to trade music, movies, games and pictures – when he discovered that some of the files he had downloaded were images of children.

Matt claims he quickly erased the files.

“It didn’t appeal to me,” he said. “I was looking for women my age, so I just wanted to download ‘College Girls Gone Wild’ and accidentally downloaded underage pornography.”

About a year later, FBI agents showed up at his family’s home. The family agreed to let agents examine the computer, and at first, they couldn’t find anything.

Investigators later were able to recover the deleted images from deep within the hard drive.

“I asked them, ‘Where did you get that? I don’t remember that.’ I asked them, ‘Could I access that if I wanted to?’” Matt said. “They said no.”

Facing 20 years in prison for possessing child pornography, Matt is pleading guilty on the advice of his public defender in hopes of getting a three and a half year sentence. He will also serve 10 years probation and have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Matt’s father says other parents need to be warned about the consequences of stumbling across illicit material.

“One day, you’re going to get a knock on the door and have your child taken away for many years,” he said.

Matt’s court date has been moved to January 8th due to paperwork issues, according to reports.

The FBI could not comment on this specific case, but said if child pornography is ever downloaded accidentally, the user needs to call authorities immediately. They may confiscate your computer, but it’s better than the alternative.[/i]

http://cbs13.com/local/limewire.child.porn.2.1346842.html

This is madness. You’re guilty until proven innocent! I’ve heard anecdotes of people who downloaded copyright-free ebooks to find child porn pictures bundled into it.

“As long as government is perceived as working for the benefit of children, the people happily will endure almost any curtailment of liberty.” – Rabbi Daniel Lapin

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This is why data shredders were invented.

Here is a good one, let them try to restore this:

http://eraser.heidi.ie/

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[quote]orion wrote:
This is why data shredders were invented.

Here is a good one, let them try to restore this:

http://eraser.heidi.ie/[/quote]

That’s interesting.

How does it work? I’m not a computer guy, but I would think everyone should be on the lookout for crap like what that kid got stuck with.

4

He really deserves to get off now, off the law.

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I wasn’t aware the FBI actually did this kind of shit… I’m assuming it isn’t often. Why the hell do they give e fuck about a one time downloader? Also, what about all the people who download regularly? If a one time accidental downloader gets caught how the fuck are regular downloaders still in existance? Very strange…

6

uhoh…

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Limewire is the worst program to use. Limewire is notorious for spyware and sharing user info with copyright holders. What is not so well known is it also contains Fedware.

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[quote]lixy wrote:

This is madness. You’re guilty until proven innocent! I’ve heard anecdotes of people who downloaded copyright-free ebooks to find child porn pictures bundled into it.[/quote]

This isn’t madness - he has every chance to prove his innocence, and he is choosing to take a guilty plea.

You have shown that you are quite invested in the child-porn-as-battle-line-for-liberty before, Lixy - it’s starting to hint at a loathesome trend.

Civilization must at its baseline provide protection for its most weak and innocent members - if it does not, it ceases to be a civilization at all.

Liberty isn’t license, and never has been. Little wonder why “liberty” is under attack in the modern world when twerps like you fetishize it into it’s most vile forms. Liberty is conditional on responsible behavior - it isn’t free, it is earned.

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[quote]Headhunter wrote:

[quote]orion wrote:
This is why data shredders were invented.

Here is a good one, let them try to restore this:

http://eraser.heidi.ie/[/quote]

That’s interesting.

How does it work? I’m not a computer guy, but I would think everyone should be on the lookout for crap like what that kid got stuck with.
[/quote]

Pretty simple.

Either you let the programm erase the files you want to erase by simple selecting it like you would with the Windows explorer or you delete them like always and let the programm wipe all unused disk space regularily.

Youd have to restart afterwards or otherwise Windows Office for examlpe wont run but then its done.

Also, there is a programm called “truecrypt” that lets you create an encrypted folder with 3 cascading 256 bit encryptions, meaning it encrypts the encryption of the encryption. Also, you can create a folder in the folder that is accessible through a second password, giving you plausible deniability because it can be there but it does not necessarily have to be there.

So, I would suggest you create a folder full of something that is embarrasing but not illegal, like shemale porn or whatever. In the secret folder in the folder you put the stuff that nobody should ever find.

That way, you can put up some token resistance and then open the folder. Then they think that you are nothing but a bit of a pervert and do not suspect that there is something else there.

Even if they do, there is little they can do about it, because they cannot force you to open a file that MIGHT be there.

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[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:

[quote]lixy wrote:

This is madness. You’re guilty until proven innocent! I’ve heard anecdotes of people who downloaded copyright-free ebooks to find child porn pictures bundled into it.[/quote]

This isn’t madness - he has every chance to prove his innocence, and he is choosing to take a guilty plea.

You have shown that you are quite invested in the child-porn-as-battle-line-for-liberty before, Lixy - it’s starting to hint at a loathesome trend.
[/quote]

Sure, because we all know that innocent people never go to jail, that federal proseutors in the US do not have far reaching powers that are no longer held in check by jusges and/or jury nullification and that prosecutors who lie or cheat are severely punished.

Therefore innocent people would never plea bargain to avoid decades in jail, oh no.

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[quote]Headhunter wrote:

[quote]orion wrote:
This is why data shredders were invented.

Here is a good one, let them try to restore this:

http://eraser.heidi.ie/[/quote]

That’s interesting.

How does it work? I’m not a computer guy, but I would think everyone should be on the lookout for crap like what that kid got stuck with.
[/quote]

A normal file deletion just erases a file’s entry in the allocation table. Basically it only deletes the “table of contents” entry, but the file itself still exists. After subsequent use, the file gets overwritten bits and pieces at a time.

A program made to totally delete a file will not just delete the table of contents entry, but will then go to where the file existed on the hard-drive and copies it over with all 1’s or all 0’s. When I worked at Air Force Research Labs, the cyber group there told me they can recover parts of a file even if it has been overwritten 40 times.

One time at work I accidentally formatted a hard drive that controlled some expensive equipment, so I ran a data recovery program, and next thing I know, there were 2700 hard core porn images on the drive. Turns out the drive was factory reconditioned, and the pictures were put on there years ago, and it was then wiped to be used for a new computer.

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[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:
This isn’t madness - he has every chance to prove his innocence, and he is choosing to take a guilty plea.
[/quote]

In the end, he actually did download the images, and by doing so he broke the law.

13

If I were a betting man, I’d place my money on there being more than just ‘a few’ images.

Besides, who does an image search for ‘College Girls Gone Wild’, anyhow?

edit: I mean, say the kid DID download something called ‘College Girl Gives Head’, and it DID turn out to be kiddie porn… it’s pretty damn obvious he DIDN’T go out of his way to download actual child porn, and unless the FBI planted that image under a misleading name and waited for people to download it, I’m not sure how they would realistically even know he had it on his computer in the first place.

If this was the case, outside of it being insanely douchey, I would be ripshit and like hell would I plead guilty to that bullshit.

I would bet that either the kid downloaded a child porn file with a child porn name hosted by an FBI computer (limewire shows the IP’s of who is downloading), or the FBI ran a search for pedo images and simply copied down the IP’s of the people who had results come up - meaning the kid had some on his computer in a shared folder at some point.

In the first case, the whole “this was an accident/the only time this has ever happened” bit strikes me as being bull, as well. The FBI stated they can’t comment on it, but my guess is that the kids computer showed up on their radar more than once.

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[quote]Beowolf wrote:
I wasn’t aware the FBI actually did this kind of shit… I’m assuming it isn’t often. [/quote]

Enviably naive statement. Do some googling on the BATFE some time. Feds are not your friends. They’re basically here to intimidate the right people and help the wrong ones (Islamists).

The guy’s mistake was to allow the Feds to look at anything of his.

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[quote]Sifu wrote:
Limewire is the worst program to use. Limewire is notorious for spyware and sharing user info with copyright holders. What is not so well known is it also contains Fedware. [/quote]

Great. I brought a laptop from my 16 year-old brother-in-law and it has Limewire on it. I’ve been using the laptop for quite some time. Probably time to get all of the data I need off the drive and take a hammer to the drive.

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[quote]orion wrote:

Sure, because we all know that innocent people never go to jail, that federal proseutors in the US do not have far reaching powers that are no longer held in check by jusges and/or jury nullification and that prosecutors who lie or cheat are severely punished.

Therefore innocent people would never plea bargain to avoid decades in jail, oh no.[/quote]

Just another meaningless rant against “authority” - a prosecutor’s job is prosecute violators of the child porn trafficking law. If my prosecutor is soft on this, I fire him and hire someone who isn’t.

Your complaint is a general, abstract one - is this guy “innocent” and has been bullied into a bad plea? Or do you know?

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[quote]thunderbolt23 wrote:
This isn’t madness - he has every chance to prove his innocence, [/quote]

So…guilty until proven innocent?

This type of response is exactly why logic goes out the door when the topic is brought up. Anyone who doesn’t go agree with the madness is immediately tagged a child molester. Politicians wouldn’t be caught dead denouncing this.

When sharing your wifi with your neighbors becomes a crime, it’ll be in the name of the children.

Is that the same civilization that prosecutes and charges kids for sending each other naked pictures of themselves?

Or the assistant principal in Virginia that was told to investigate sexting in the school and was prosecuted with the evidence he gathered?

The people you claim to be protecting are themselves routinely charged with “child pornography”.

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[quote]anonym wrote:

In the first case, the whole “this was an accident/the only time this has ever happened” bit strikes me as being bull, as well. The FBI stated they can’t comment on it, but my guess is that the kids computer showed up on their radar more than once.[/quote]

Yes - the federal statute has an affirmative defense that permits possession of no more than three “matters” of child porn - which means an “oops” download doesn’t have to get you in trouble - in addition to other mitigating actions an offender can take (i.e., alerting the authorities).

Moreover, mere possession isn’t a violation - this is not a strict liability crime. The prosecutor would have to prove that the offender “knowingly” possessed it, and my guess is that the prosecuting attorney had his guns loaded, given the offender’s plea.

This story is only a “tragedy” if you believe the offender’s story without an ounce of hesitation - the Lixies and Orions of the world will nod in vacant agreement with his story of “accidentally” downloading - folks with functioning brain stems understand the context a little better.

19

Onedoes not “accidentally” download CP.
We have excellent laws regarding child pornography.
There is no mandatory minumum for possession. He should consider himself fortunate.

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[quote]lixy wrote:

So…guilty until proven innocent?[/quote]

Nope - the burden remains on the state to prove guilt, and that didn’t change with this offender. He has every opportunity to refute this proof with evidence of his innocence at trial - i.e., he doesn’t have to plead guilty to anything. He likley knows - as you should - they got him.

And, the statute provides for affimative defenses - he can tee those up if he has them.

He can prove his innocence if he thinks the state is making a mistake in charging him - he isn’t being denied justice. If the prosecutor doesn’t have the facts, the offender wouldn’t plead.

Nope - merely disagreeing with this doesn’t earn you that reputation. Disagreeing with this in addition to all of your other creepy posts, well, is beginning to.