[conspire] child pornography ... only ... move is ...

[Michael Paoli]

> Date: Sat, 23 Jan 2016 02:04:02 -0800
> From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
> To: conspire at linuxmafia.com
> Subject: Re: [conspire] (forw) Re: New Trojan Spies on Linux Users by
> 	Taking Screenshots and Recording Audio
> Message-ID: <20160123100402.GM9000 at linuxmafia.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

> [1] Edge-case counterexamples might include, say, the file is not what
> was advertised, but is child pornography.  Your only sane move is then
> to quietly and immediately delete that file, as people have been
> prosecuted merely for it being on the user's hard drive, and had to
> prove that it wasn't there by their intention and knowlege.

I'll preface my comments with:
I Am Not A Lawyer [IANAL] ... nor do I play one on TV.
I'll also preface it with sane, and legal, may not be the same thing.

Notwithstanding the above, my understanding of it, is
A) mere possession is illegal (federal felony)
B) there is *very* limited "safe harbor" provision(s) - notably that one
immediately report it to law enforcement.  I.e. discovering someone had
placed/dropped it there, or included it in something one received, but didn't
know it was in there, became aware that it was child pornography, and then
immediately deleting/purging/removing it may not suffice for legal purposes,
but rather for the mere possession upon such discovery, one must immediately
report it to law enforcement upon discovery that it is/contains child
pornography, otherwise one is in violation of the law once it's discovered
what it is/contains.

Maybe an *actual* lawyer will want to clarify and/or correct on those details,
but that's at least my rough understanding of the matter.