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Should Computer Techs Be Mandatory Reporters of Child Porn?

A computer guy explains the danger of proposed legislation that would require computer technicians to report to the authorities any child pornography or other evidence of child abuse they encounter while servicing a customer's computer:

Potentially incriminating material can end up on a computer in any number of ways that have nothing to do with a deliberate request for questionable content. Even worse, the range of expertise among computer technicians varies enough that you could conclusively say that not all such technicians have the skills to distinguish between deliberately accessed content and that which may have found its way onto a system through other means (spam, malware, another user, etc.). It's a recipe for disaster when you consider how being accused of child porn/abuse usually turns into a guilty-until-proven-innocent scenario of the sort that can destroy lives and families.

Teachers, social workers, and health care professionals are typically mandatory reporters of child abuse. But computer technicians?

A hospital's reason for existence is the well-being of people. Where children are potentially victims of abuse, it's practically within a hospital's charter to intervene which is why it's sensible for medical professionals to be a part of that detection system. But the well-being of children is not within the professional charter of computer technicians. And if states are going to obligate computer technicians to join the fight, are they then also prepared to foot the bill to train them and come up with a standard protocol that employers must bear the expense of implementing? For the most part, medical personnel aren't dealing with co-workers either. In other words, with medical professionals, personal agendas are less likely to play a role in the positive identification of a potential child abuser or consumer of child-pornography than within a business where computer techs are primarily dealing with co-workers. I'm not saying the medical "setup" is fault-free. But I am saying the computer technician "setup" is far more ripe for abuse.
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    Oh, fer Chrissake! (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by SeeEmDee on Fri May 04, 2007 at 07:42:20 PM EST
    Most people in the field of IT support will tell you the same thing; they aren't interested in content, just quantity. Namely, moving said quantity from a soon-to-be-toast hard drive to safety before it croaks. Who in their right mind has the time to stop the process and play peek-a-boo with some freakin' goof of a user's files? Bloody hell if I do!

    Yeah, us geeks see a lot of stuff, but nearly all of it is the family-picture-with-dog, or laughing-baby-with-smeared-Gerbers-on-their-face, or some rich fat cat's boat. And that usually (98% of the time) is adorning their Desktop. Damn me if I have the time - or inclination - to rifle through some twit's files.

    I thought we fought the Cold War to stop that kind of STASI crap from happening here. That's why I and so many other vets wore BDU's in the 1980's for. Bugger all if I'll be some Fed's informant.  (Rude gesture at the suggestion.)

    Photo Lab Techs (none / 0) (#1)
    by squeaky on Fri May 04, 2007 at 05:50:55 PM EST
    Created havoc and countless witch hunts for acting as rat patrol for the feds.

    Sounds like a horrible idea for all involved, except the cops and prosecutors and politicians who see only notches in their belts.

    Computer techs (none / 0) (#2)
    by Edger on Fri May 04, 2007 at 05:59:27 PM EST
    rarely if ever deal with data content. Their profession is dealing with processing and manipulation of large amounts of data (long, long strings of 1's and 0's) and/or maintenance of hardware.

    Uh, no (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by sphealey on Fri May 04, 2007 at 06:53:18 PM EST
    > rarely if ever deal with data content.
    > Their profession is dealing with
    > processing and manipulation of
    > large amounts of data (long, long
    > strings of 1's and 0's)

    Uh, no.  Business information management professionals deal primarily with the underlying meaning of business data.  Business technology professionals get arm-deep in the actual data, far deeper than the business unit people they support, because someone has to know what is actually in the damn database.  And support technicians know far, far more about their end users, um, preferences than those end users imagine.

    Heck, at one place I worked our official policy for the sales guys was "whatever on  your own time - but clean it off before sending it in for repairs".  And they didn't.

    sPh

    Parent

    Well, yes (none / 0) (#9)
    by Edger on Fri May 04, 2007 at 07:02:33 PM EST
    You're right. Towards the Business Analysis and user (management and otherwise) end of things they do.

    The Network Admins and workstation support techs don't, in my experience.

    Parent

    Meaning... (none / 0) (#11)
    by sphealey on Fri May 04, 2007 at 07:30:25 PM EST
    > The Network Admins and workstation
    >  support techs don't, in my experience.

    More likely, you think they don't.

    sPh

    Parent

    I've been both. (none / 0) (#13)
    by Edger on Fri May 04, 2007 at 07:51:50 PM EST
    Maybe some do. I just concentrated on making the things run and keeping them running. I really didn't concern myself with where people went when they drove them.

    Parent
    Yeah, well... (none / 0) (#3)
    by dutchfox on Fri May 04, 2007 at 06:12:51 PM EST
    How can they prove that a computer tech even saw it? Why were they looking?

    Parent
    Why were they looking? (none / 0) (#4)
    by squeaky on Fri May 04, 2007 at 06:21:30 PM EST
    Good question.

    Moonlighting for the feds?

    Whenever I think of someone pouring over kiddie porn, Ed Meese always comes to mind.

    Parent

    But what if it's a child you love? (none / 0) (#5)
    by bx58 on Fri May 04, 2007 at 06:44:45 PM EST
    My two yr old daughter liked to run around sans clothes, I finally got a picture of her with me holding a sign in front her reading "nudie Mad" and the date.  It showed two year old boobs and some big smiles.

    I included it in my profile photos on AOL and it was promptly reported as somehow being pornographic. Who cares?

    Like the SCOTUS says "you'll know it when you see it" and if you see it, whether you're a geek squad member or a photo technician you should report it.

    But what if it's a child you love? (none / 0) (#7)
    by squeaky on Fri May 04, 2007 at 06:49:16 PM EST
    You may be in danger of having her taken away or being put away yourself.

    It has happened too many times to count. Witch hunts like these destroy wonderful families. Greed seems to be the big motivator,  all done for the sake of scoring points.

    Parent

    This happened many years ago (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by bx58 on Fri May 04, 2007 at 07:18:20 PM EST
    I found out today she had her second Ipod stolen right out from under her nose. Again.

    Hopefully they're coming to take her soon.

    Parent

    Back in '02 (none / 0) (#6)
    by Che's Lounge on Fri May 04, 2007 at 06:45:48 PM EST
    I was a newbie at these ads and when one kept reapperaing as a pop up, I hit the site to try to get them to f**k off, but ended up downloading "ukraineteens.com". I practically had to wash my hard drive to get rid of it. If anyone had accessed my computer in the interim, I would be in jail right now, according to this insanity.

    Mandatory Sentencing Laws & Registration (none / 0) (#14)
    by Brock Landers on Fri May 04, 2007 at 08:19:29 PM EST
    This is serious in a state like Arizona where I practice.  In AZ, child porn carries a madatory 10 to 24 year sentence PER IMAGE found on your hard drive and the sentences have to be served CONSECUTIVELY.  No joke, A 200 year sentence was recently upheld.

    This creates a horrendous dilemma for someone who gets something on their computer that they did not intentionally download (which happens more often than peole think).  If they get charged and are offered a deal that involves sex offender registration - and it will - how do they risk a trial to prove their innocence when they will go away for the rest of their life if they lose?  You can see how innocent people can be coerced into pleading guilty by mandatory sentencing statutues.

    This is bad legislation.  Prosecutors love these cases because they have enormous leverage and they are great "notches in the belt" to report to the media.  We don't need a slew of questionable cases that ruin the lives of innocent people.

    beauty and good (none / 0) (#15)
    by Sumner on Sat May 05, 2007 at 01:07:01 AM EST
    i wove epic words into a burning poem in counsel by the muses,
    telling a word picture of art and dance and song and music and mystical poetry.

    even while zen exhorts no dependence upon words and letters.

    the comparison was resplendent, the subject matter being like first being able to see, or hearing music for the very first time, or discovering the magic of dance.

    the muses did not fail me.

    and right before posting it here, i read of oprah winfrey declaring her mission against young love and all that surrounds it.  she plans to switch careers and become a new puritan warrior.

    and i read how john walsh got a new miss america selected with a mission to crush chat between adults and young people. her hate campaign of age apartheid rivals even that hate crusade of former miss america anita bryant.

    and i read of erik prince of the blackwater mercenaries whose family funded gary bauer with seed momey to start family research council, where erik prince was an intern, and their bankrolling of holy-roller james dobson and his focus on the family.

    and i remembered how incessent programs on msnbc bragged that the new windows software was primarily designed to bust kiddie porn fanciers.

    and i turned to thinking about the numerous harassing phone calls over and over from 1-877-266-6277. numerous demands that they cease their psyops of all-to-frequent calling fell on deaf ears. they continue with their harassment.

    many people simply acclimate themselves to the new taliban-like climate of puritanical injunctions masquerading as law, (although constitutionally void ab initio, when we obtain an honest court).

    and as i turned to animus and vitriol toward these new taliban-like warriors, my epic poem was at once gone. it simply vanished, it disappeared.

    they took it back, it appears. there are no muses of only hate.

    Speaking of Arizona Witch Hunts...... (none / 0) (#16)
    by ProgReader1 on Sat May 05, 2007 at 11:11:47 AM EST
    Speaking of Arizona Witch Hunts......

    http://www.justice4matt.com/

    Unfortunately, there is no justice only process.

    When it is this easy for prosecutors common sense just goes out the window.

    oh my! (none / 0) (#17)
    by Sumner on Sat May 05, 2007 at 11:37:52 AM EST
    just as oprah winfrey's entire personal fortune needs to be at risk for her new-found sport of shooting human "fish"-in-a-barrel, so the coconspiring telco's need their wings clipped as well.

    bush's latest attempt to rig the system must be examined. telco execs must be made to testify about the whole telco-spying mess.

    otherwise laws will continue to proliferate just to fill what the capacity of technology allows government to do, such as targeting porn and creating entire crimes out of whole cloth.

    Connecticut Teacher in a Kangaroo Court (none / 0) (#18)
    by ProgReader1 on Sat May 05, 2007 at 12:44:40 PM EST
    In another example, Julie Amero, a 7th-grade teacher, whose computer was attacked by porn pop-ups during class was convicted of exposing kids to indecent material.

    This was allowed to happen because the school did not pay its bills for internet filtering software.

    This insanity has no limits.

    http://blog.state-v-amero.com/

    I can see this current Administration (none / 0) (#19)
    by Freewill on Sat May 05, 2007 at 01:08:27 PM EST
    trying to push for this type of legislation.

    With them in full control of all computers and the internet under the false pretense of protecting America they will be able to control all computers and the internet.

    If the government controlled all computers and the internet would we ever hear about Rove's E-mails, Instant messages from a Republican Congressman to a Page, or deleted by mistake historical government documents?

    If all Computer Technicians were agents of the government wouldn't the messages about computers then become more easily controlled by the government?

    This just reminds me of this song written in 1976:

    ------------------------------ Rush - 2112 ---------------------------
    'I lie awake, staring out at the bleakness of Megadon. City and sky become one, merging into a single plane, a vast sea of unbroken grey. The Twin Moons, just two pale orbs as they trace their way across the steely sky. I used to think I had a pretty good life here, just plugging into my machine for the day, then watching Templevision or reading a Temple Paper in the evening.

    'My friend Jon always said it was nicer here than under the atmospheric domes of the Outer Planets. We have had peace since 2062, when the surviving planets were banded together under the Red Star of the Solar Federation. The less fortunate gave us a few new moons.

    I believed what I was told. I thought it was a good life, I thought I was happy. Then I found something that changed it all...'

    [I. Overture]

    And the meek shall inherit the earth...

    [II. Temples of Syrinx]

    ... the massive grey walls of the temples rise from the
    Heart of every federation city. I have always been awed
    By them, to think that every single facet of every life is
    Regulated and directed from within! our books, our music,
    Our work and play are all looked after by the benevolent
    Wisdom of the priests...

    Weve taken care of everything
    The words you hear the songs you sing
    The pictures that give pleasure to your eyes
    Its one for all and all for one
    We work together common sons
    Never need to wonder how or why

    We are the priests of the temples of syrinx
    Our great computers fill the hallowed halls
    We are the priests of the temples of syrinx
    All the gifts of life are held within our walls

    Look around this world we made
    Equality our stock in trade
    Come and join the brotherhood of man
    Oh what a nice contented world
    Let the banners be unfurled
    Hold the red star proudly high in hand

    We are the priests of the temples of syrinx
    Our great computers fill the hallowed halls.
    We are the priests of the temples of syrinx
    All the gifts of life are held within our walls.

    Newbie Geek relationship (none / 0) (#20)
    by msobel on Sat May 05, 2007 at 03:13:20 PM EST
    Wait a minute, are telling me that the most sacred relationship, that between a Newbie and his or her Geek is not privileged ?  How many times does a Newbie tell their Geek that they are about to commit  or have in the past committed some action dangerous to themselves and others, (using the wrong firewall, downloading a "fun" email, downloading free game software, turning off their computer without getting permission from Bill etc., keeping coffee in the cup holder, )  Do you think all of these dangerous actions should be reported ?  

    it was bad mojo jack (none / 0) (#21)
    by Sumner on Sat May 05, 2007 at 10:51:31 PM EST
    it was pretty clear from the inception of Jack Valenti's "voluntary" movie ratings system that it would spawn some rather unholy offshoot of itself waged by government and ultimately devolve into something far more sinister such as these unconstitutional and draconian laws that we struggle against even to this day.