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Now being a singe bloke I'm known to surf the web for 'gentlemans interest' material shall we say.

Anyhow last week I found out unfortunately the hard way, to my horror, that a forum I use on occasion is being used to trade images or questionable legality by a small number of users. Nothing really horrific you understand but certainly I would would question the ages of the girls concerned.

Its quite an open board, theres nothing secretive about it and its very popular (bear in mind 99% of the stuff on the forum is perfectly above board) and its findable on Google. Which is part of what shocked me as I was under the impression such stuff would be traded in very secret circles via private webservers with closley knit memberships. It honesty didn't occur to me for a second that I'd find such stuff so out in the open, as far as I'm aware its hosted in the States.

Anyway aside from no longer frequenting the site anymore, I'm wondering what best to do. I suppose I could just get over it and get on with my life, perhaps report it to the board moderator, but I've done a bit of research anyway because I really don't like the though of just walking away from something like this.

I know in Britain I can report such things to the IWF or indeed the police, though in all honestly I'm slightly skeptical as I've heard horror stories, which admitadly are probably nothing nothing more than Internet hyperbole, of people reporting such things only to end up being placed on the sex offenders register for their troubles.

Apparntly my harddrive now is enough to land me in jail under British law and simply deleting the offending stuff isn't sufficient. Apparently nothing short of trashing my entire drive will be sufficient for me to be technically breaking the law.

Has anyone got any knowledge of this area that can advise how a well meaning citizen can do the right thing here? Preferably without rebuilding me PC?

Speak to a solicitor who is familiar with I.T. related legislature. If you're in England, ask these folk;

http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/choosingandusing/findasolicitor.law

If in Scotland, ask these folk;

http://www.lawscot.org.uk/find/



I would seriously suggest, if only for your peace of mind, that you do so. Despite all the anti-lawyer banter that is passed around I've yet to meet one who hasn't actually gone on to provide me with a good service (NB: your mileage may vary).


In the first instance I would contact the sites Admins / Mods & bring your concerns to their attention. Hopefully they take these issues seriously. Keep a record, both digital & hard copy of all your correspondance with them, both inbound & outbound. It may be worth screen-capping the various T's & C's & disclaimers on their websites.


The IWF are probably the best folk to contact in the first instance, but there are some doubts as to their effectiveness, accountability & standards.


If you'd rather not, contact your own Internet Service Provider who are suppossed to block access to illegal sites, or sites where illegal activity is practised (they will almost certainly work with the IWF on this one too).

If the site is hosted on a foreign server there's not really much more that can be done by the powers that be in this country, short of having that site blocked by ISP's that operate in the UK.

If you are worried about your hard drive, backup all the legal things you'd like to keep to an external hard drive (my 500 Gb one cost me £60 last year) & buy a new hard drive for your PC & reinstall it, or have it reinstalled by a reputable dealer or I.T. savvy mate. Destroy the old hard drive with an electric drill & a hammer & job's a good 'un. Remember to recycle.

Whilst I seriously doubt you will have to worry about accidental AND ONE OFF perusal of any imagery that may or may not be illegal, in the UK it is, in fact, illegal for Joe Public to access such imagery, let alone down load it.


You are right - don't walk away from it, but there's no harm in getting some proper legal advice first (and yes, solicitors DO charge for the first visit).

Hammer and genitalia. Works every time.

I'd suggest talking to the Police. After all, swapping Nudie pics is completely legal, as long as the people in said Nudie pics are of the appropriate age and all are consenting.

You can phone the Police anonymously, not with 999, but with the local Stations phone number. Quick anonymous tip off, keep your nose clean, and you ought to be okay. Seeking a Solictor does seem to suggest you've been doing something you shouldn't have. And if the local Station can't help, I'm sure they can give you the appropriate number to call.

Top advice. I'll defiantly report it to the site admins.

I've had a quick look at the IWF website and I will defiantly report it should I not get a satisfactory response. If fact I'll probably do so anyway.

According to the IWF website they get around 30,000 reports a year from the British public, so it's not like I'm the first person to find myself in this situation. In fact this would make it appear to be quite a common danger, which is very reassuring to know, from my point of view. This is certainly the first time found anything like this in 10 years of frequent web surfing.

As for the hard drive, I'm actually quite IT savvy myself so I know how to wipe or dispose of the drive. But in all honestly I doubt it will come to that unless I'm advised so directly by the IWF. I've check their reporting process and at no point do they mention any legal obligation to destroy any hardware. I've even checked the Mets website and they state that the only thing to do is go to the IWF and follow their instructions. So it looks like I've done all im legally obliged to do.

The worst thing is that I've had my faith in people crushed that little bit more.

As for your advice Dok I've been to the Mets site and they say go to the IWF, so it looks like that’s the right thing to do. It looks like the IWF are almost reliant on people like myself being vigilant about this sort of thing and like I said judging by the stats I'm not the first and won't be the last. In fact that’s been rather reassuring.

Well, there you go then!

And the thing is, even if you have opened up suspect files on your computer, as long as you didn't keep them, or distribute them to others, you haven't committed any real crime.

The Police are after the scum that create and distribute the muck, rather than the poor sods who had good reason to believe nothing was untoward. Otherwise, with Pop Ups, we'd all be bollocksed.

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Otherwise, with Pop Ups, we'd all be bollocksed.

Ah, the good old Pop Up Defense!

"I don't know how that double bookkeeping got on my computer! It was a pop up or something!"

You could always report the website "ye olde fashioned way"...

Use snail mail and send the letter anonymously. This would protect you totally and your conscience should be satisfied.

...you pervert.

Well heres an interesting development. I mailed the admins of the site and they basically said thanks for your concern and we'll investigate. But they also stated that they operate a 'don’t ask, don’t tell' policy on the forums when it comes to the matter of age. Which to me implies that the know it goes on but won't do anything unless somone kicks up a fuss. How responsible.

Anyway based on that I've reported the site to the IWF.

"...Seeking a Solictor does seem to suggest you've been doing something you shouldn't have".



No it doesn't - it's often a damned good idea to avoid acting or talking yourself into troublem even if you are innocent of any crime!

I'm not a legal beagle myself, but even I suscribe to the whole innocent before proven guilty concept. it may be passe' these days & some what old fashioned, but it's better than the alternative.

Whilst there's no right to silence in the UK, not hoisting yourself on your own petard is no bad thing.

Dhugs wrote:"...Seeking a Solictor does seem to suggest you've been doing something you shouldn't have".



No it doesn't - it's often a damned good idea to avoid acting or talking yourself into troublem even if you are innocent of any crime!

I'm not a legal beagle myself, but even I suscribe to the whole innocent before proven guilty concept. it may be passe' these days & some what old fashioned, but it's better than the alternative.

Whilst there's no right to silence in the UK, not hoisting yourself on your own petard is no bad thing.

To an extent I agree, but there is a clear procedure for this sort of thing as outline by the police themselves on the metropolitan police's website (let the IWF know!) one which according to the stats is followed by thousands of members of the public each year to report this sort of thing. At no point does it state that I should seek legal representation or stick a drill through my PC. As far as I'm concerned I've done all I'm legally obliged to do, and I now feel like quite a good citizen for doing so.

Dhugs wrote:"...Seeking a Solictor does seem to suggest you've been doing something you shouldn't have".

No it doesn't - it's often a damned good idea to avoid acting or talking yourself into troublem even if you are innocent of any crime!

I'm not a legal beagle myself, but even I suscribe to the whole innocent before proven guilty concept. it may be passe' these days & some what old fashioned, but it's better than the alternative.

Whilst there's no right to silence in the UK, not hoisting yourself on your own petard is no bad thing.

Depends how you look at it....

The original advice given was not only to seek a Solictors advice (which can be construed as suspect when the information is freely available on what to do) AND to junk a Harddrive and start a fresh one. Now true, you are very much innocent until proven guilty, but what if he ran into the same problem again, and took a different approach, and was found with kiddy pics on his PC? They would know about the previous report, he might say he checked with his Solictor. They could then see that the Harddrive has no files pertaining to the date he sought the advice.

Now you are looking REALLY suspicious, regardless of whether or not it was the panicked reaction of an innocent party that suddenly finds themselves in a distasteful situation. This could query your pitch, and when it comes to kiddydiddling, you want to keep as far away from even the merest hint of something not right as possible!

But he did the right thing in the end so all is well.

For interest & entertainment, but the principles apply in the UK, if not the exact wording of legislature;


http://uk.truveo.com/Your-5th-Amendment-Rights/id/1312433784

Bizarrely enough Ive done some more research into this (Don't know why, morbid fascination I suppose) turns out there was a survey in the UK a few years back (by the IWF again!) were it was estimated that as many as 1 in 20 web users in the UK (around 1.5 million) have inadvertently accessed this sort of material. I must admit that's a staggering amount, but now I'm one of that statistic it seems rather surreal. Apparently around 275,000 reports have been made to the IWF in the last 10 years so at a guess only about 1 in 6 people report seeing this stuff. To be honest I can't say I blame them and I was strongly tempted to do nothing and it was only after some deep thought (this weighted on my mind quite heavily) I decided to research into what I could do about it. Now what I came across was the 'lowest' grade of offensive material. It really freaks me out as what my state of mind would be had I seen the really horrible stuff.