Child porn download case is obscene

By Jim Longworth

There are currently more than 1.3 million pornographic websites on the internet, most of which are geared to adults who want to get their jollies watching videos or looking at photos of other adults engaged in provocative acts. But according to the US Customs Service, 100,000 of those websites also offer illegal child pornography. In fact, according to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, more than 20,000 images of child porn are posted online each week.

And it’s a booming business. According to Internet Filter Review, child porn is a $3 billion dollar a year industry here in America.

The real problem, though, isn’t so much the kiddie porn itself, but rather the adults who view it, then act upon it. Internet Filter Review reports that over 10 percent of Americans admit to having addictions to internet sex. Meanwhile a Focus on the Family poll found that 47 percent of all families said pornography is a problem in their home. And the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers say that internet porn is a factor in two out of every three divorces. Worst of all, the US Justice department tells us that one in every five children receives unwanted sexual solicitations online, and that two in every five abductions of underaged children (ages 15-17) are due to internet contact.

It’s no wonder, then, that law enforcement both here and abroad is cracking down on predators. Last week, for example, Europol arrested 115 alleged child-sex offenders in a massive, 19-country raid which specifically targeted adults who prey on kids using the internet. Closer to home in Guilford county, Sheriff BJ Barnes and his team have done a great job of identifying and arresting these same kinds of scumbags. The problem is that internet sex offenders aren’t necessarily deterred by the threat of prison. Even if we hung a sex offender in the town square once a week, it wouldn’t, per se, “cure” or dissuade other mental defectives. On the other hand, the stiff sentencing laws we have in place cast a broad net, and can sometimes unjustly catch and punish unintended targets. That’s what happened to Matthew White.

Two years ago, the 22-year-old Sacramento resident did an online search in hopes of being able to download a “College Girls Gone Wild” video. The site he landed on was Limewire.com, but instead of opening up images of topless coeds, young Matthew found himself staring at naked children in sexual poses. White immediately deleted the site, but that’s when his troubles began. A full year later, FBI agents came to White’s home and accused him of trafficking in child porn.

At first glance, the agents could find no evidence of Matthew’s alleged crime, but then they used special software to retrieve all of White’s deleted files from his hard drive. Bingo! The Limewire.com site appeared, and so did the child porn which the young man says he had only momentarily viewed a year earlier. Though the FBI admitted that Matthew would have been unable to retrieve the porn which they found, and despite his explanation of his brief and innocent encounter with illegal porn, the bureau arrested him.

Prosecutors then told White that he faced a 20-year prison sentence unless he pleaded guilty, in which case, he would only do three and a half years, with 10 years probation. Under the plea agreement, White would also be registered as a sex offender once he leaves prison. White, still professing his innocence, took the deal. In the meantime the CBS TV affiliate in Sacramento and Switched.com had launched their own investigation of the matter, and found numerous complaints against Limewire.com for disguising illegal child porn sites as something else, so they could lure law abiding adults into downloading something they didn’t intend to. Confronted with this information, the FBI stated that any time someone accidentally views child porn, they should immediately report it to authorities, or else face the same fate as Matthew White.

There is so much wrong with this case, I scarcely know where to begin. First of all, I want to know how the FBI knew that a 22-year-old man with no criminal record and no history of sex offenses accidentally clicked onto a child-porn site for less than 30 seconds. Next I want to know why they waited a full year after the incident to invade White’s home. I also have a problem with the FBI’s so called “policy” of immediately reporting an accidental child-porn viewing. Given that they didn’t believe Matthew White’s story, why would anyone voluntarily turn himself into police and risk false imprisonment. It goes without saying that the sentence and plea agreement in White’s case were grossly unfair. Beyond that, the FBI has no business snooping on an American citizen unless their target has a history of offenses or complaints against him.

Congress should launch an immediate investigation of the Matthew White case, and get answers to some of the concerns stated above. Inherent in that investigation should be a probe into Limewire.com, and a debate about right to privacy. I realize that the child-porn industry is fueling the addictions and crimes of sex offenders, but we cannot deny any one’s right to view sexual material in the privacy of their own home, so long as the viewer doesn’t then make advances toward children, either via the internet or in person.

No doubt kiddie porn is a bad thing, and we must prosecute sex offenders to the fullest limit of the law. But arresting someone for accidentally downloading child pornography is, in itself, an obscene act. Speaking of which, I am reminded of the late Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart who, when asked to describe obscenity, responded, “I know it when I see it.” The problem is that now, the government can put you in jail for not knowing it when you see it.

In other words, the Feds are doing to us the very thing we’re not supposed to be watching. Ironic, isn’t it?

Jim Longworth is the host of “Triad Today,” airing on Fridays at 6:30 a.m. on ABC 45 (cable channel 7) and Sundays at 10 p.m. on WMYV (cable channel 15).