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This is all about pr0n

Just what evidence would you find if you scanned people's home PCs? Would you be able to cross-check every file against a checksum list of confidential/secret files? Could you detect packaged and ready to deploy malware? Nope and nope. There is ONE (main) reason for searching PCs - pr0n (as The Register calls it).

[According to recent reports, images of sexually abused children available on-line quadrupled in the last five years and half of all internet crime involves the production, distribution and sale of child pornography.]

Half of all internet crime involves breaking a law that is subjective at best.

["Obscene" speech is "unprotected" speech as ruled by the Supreme Court. "Unprotected speech," means speech that does not enjoy First Amendment protection and may even be criminal to express.

In 1964, Justice Potter Stewart tried to explain "hard-core" pornography, or what is obscene, by saying, "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced . . . but I know it when I see it . . . "[1]

This quote, and the intent behind it, is well known as summarizing the irony and difficulty in trying to define obscenity. For at least fifty years, the Supreme Court has been struggling with defining what speech is "obscene". ]

There you go. THEY make the rules and THEY decide if the evidence fits and THEY prosecute and THEY pass judgment (THEY being governmental agencies).

This is NOT CSI where you detect hard evidence of a crime - this is opinions of those sitting in judgment of you. And this makes up HALF of all internet crime?

Let me paint a scenario for you. When a person uses a P2P application to download "legal" pr0n, what happens? Since P2P is NOT instantaneous download (you have to wait - sometimes forever), people tend to pick a bunch of files to download - increasing the chances that you will actually see a file. Since there is little "cost" involved, many people have hundreds of P2P "titles" going at the same time. This tends to create large numbers of files on your hard drive (similar to TiVoing many TV programs and having a big backlog queue). This allows you to watch videos whenever and for however long you wish. Large capacity hard drives make this scenario happen just about anywhere.

Anyone that downloads videos knows that sometimes 1. The description doesn't match the contents and 2. The file name is independent of both. This means that child pr0n can appear without you consciously choosing it.

So here you are, you let your PC run P2P all week long and then on the weekend you sit down to watch some videos in the privacy of your own home and BAM - the door is knocked down and police rush in. They grab you and your computer and say that you have been collecting and distributing child pr0n. An analysis of your hard drive proves them right and you go to jail for a long time.

Doesn't sound too fair to me! What do you think?

Posted by: Roger Ramjet   Posted on: 01/28/09  (Edited: 01/28/2009 @ 05:45) You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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