NY Ruling Distinguishes Downloading, Viewing Child Pornography 370
bs0d3 writes "According to a recent ruling in New York state, from Senior Judge Carmen Beauchamp Ciparick, 'Merely viewing Web images of child pornography does not, absent other proof, constitute either possession or procurement within the meaning of our Penal Law. Rather, some affirmative act is required (printing, saving, downloading, etc.) to show that defendant in fact exercised dominion and control over the images that were on his screen.' Which means under New York state law, creating, and possessing child pornography is illegal; the lawmakers never specifically said that merely viewing it is a crime. The prosecution mentioned that the images were saved on his hard drive via the browser cache. However the court ruled that this was not the same as having a saved image. This means that people from New York state who click the wrong link by accident will no longer face serious jail time and a lifetime of registering as a sex offender. People will be able to report what they've found to the police who can then go after the source of the child porn, instead of someone who was merely browsing the internet."
An MSNBC article summarizes the case, and offers this pithy summary: "The decision rests on whether accessing and viewing something on the Internet is the same as possessing it, and whether possessing it means you had to procure it. In essence, the court said no to the first question and yes to the second." Of the defendant in the case which sparked the ruling, though, reader concertina226 asks "Errr... just because he didn't download the pictures, how does this make it okay? He's still accessing child porn! "
Tonight... (Score:5, Funny)
4chan celebrates this legal victory!
In all seriousness, I do support this. Over the years, so many images have been displayed on my monitors (#chan etc) and I would never have known for certain if one had involved a 16/17 year old instead of an 18+ year old if it did not explicitly say so.
I don't live in NY though...
Re:Downloading? (Score:5, Funny)
Did you even read the summary?
Did you even read his Slashdot userid?
Re:Twice in two weeks (Score:5, Funny)
Proof 2012 is end of the world... Judges making technically savvy rulings.
Re:Sudden outbreak of common sense, I guess (Score:5, Funny)
Eh? How does that work, exactly?
How does one tell the difference between consensual sex with an animal, and animal rape? After the fact, and with no evidence that it wasn't consensual?
Well, you know, you're walking around town, turn a corner into a dark alleyway and come face to face with a ram and a pig, spinning around to leave you see a horse has your only escape blocked with his bulk. They've got a hungry look in their eyes and you know you're not getting out of this unscathed. The ram slams into your chest forcing you to the ground and you just keep on telling yourself not to let them see you cry.
Stop animal rape today. If you see something, say something or it could be your story some day.