Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Feds use Sarbanes-Oxley against child porn

Brian C. Hicks admitted that he visited some porn web sites, saw some child porn, and did not download any. After a federal agent contacted him, he told his story, and destroyed his disc to play it safe.

The feds prosecuted him for violating Sarbanes-Oxley. Apparently the post-Enron law against obstructing an accounting investigation is very broadly written. He was convicted by a jury, sentenced as if he really were a child pornographer, and lost on appeal.

The child porn law requires that you destroy any child porn that you accidentally download. It seems to me that the feds should have assumed that he was trying to comply with the law.

Cops take child porn seriously:
Two policemen are recovering after they were shot by fellow officers as they tried to arrest a man on child pornography charges outside a crowded move theatre.

The incident happened as undercover officers tried to apprehend the unarmed man in the parking lot as he left a screening of Harry Potter in Plainville, Connecticut.
We have draconian child porn laws. If you suspect that some child porn may have gotten on your computer, then I suggest that you destroy it immediately. After this decision, I suggest that you do not cooperate with the feds and do not tell them why you destroyed the data. If the feds don't like your answers, they can charge you with obstruction.

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