What if child porn is encountered during research?

[jim.halfpenny at gmail.com (Jim Halfpenny)]

2009/9/10 Michael Douglas <mick at pauldotcom.com>

> <warning -- I'm getting on my high horse>
>
> I'm *very* concerned with your approach, mostly from a moral
> standpoint.  If my turning over files is helpful in breaking a case,
> or just building a case, it is WELL worth the minor inconvenience of
> handing files over.  Just deleting files and walking away is not
> something I would ever encourage.
>
> "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do
> nothing." (Edmund Burke)
>
> <off high horse>

On reflection here's an example of what could happen to you if you're in the
UK. You present your findings to the police who take a dim view of your
possession of child pornography and you are formally cautioned but
subsequently released and no further action is taken. You have no right of
appeal against cautions, they cannot be expunged and these will appear on
any police background checks. Apply for a forensics job (or any other job
for that matter) and your prospective employer will see this on your record
and you're screwed.

The police in the UK already investigate child pornography and no doubt they
have people looking at anonymisation, darknets and offline trafficking. I
fear stumbling upon material and submitting it to local law enforcement may
potentially have a negative impact on ongoing investiagtions at a national
level.

I don't want to justify inaction or turning a blind eye but I'm not sure if
the risks outweigh the effort of providing CP images of unknown origin and
without any context other than they are being transfered over Tor. If I
owned a compromised web proxy for example that had been used to download CP
I would inform law enforcement immediately. I would not contact law
enforcement if someone posted CP on 4chan.

Jim
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