Child porn hotline

Manitoba Canada has a new reporting law:

Manitobans who come across child pornography must now report it to authorities.

As of Wednesday, the province became the first in Canada to make it mandatory for anyone who suspects the existence of child pornography -- online, in books, photographs, or other audio and visual materials -- to immediately report it, Family Services Minister Gord Mackintosh said Wednesday.

I called the hotline 1-866-658-9022, and asked for details on how this law works. She said that there were no published guidelines on what is or is not reportable. She said that I must report anything that I believe may include child porn. As an example, she said that if somebody emails me a note to check out the pictures of hot babes at teenage-girls.com, then I should report it because the teenagers could include underage naked girls.

This law is unusual because it applies to everyone in Manitoba, not just teachers and professional, it applies to porn that could be anywhere in the world on the internet, it applies to mere suspicions, and people can make anonymous reports. The penalty is two years in prison.

I am all in favor of cracking down on child porn, but this is extreme. I don't want to check web sites for child porn, or even to report my suspicions. Checking could be dangerous because mere possession of child porn is a crime. I cannot tell whether the girls are over 18 or not anyway. Let the law enforcement officials scour the internet for naked 17-year-old girls, if that is what they want to do.