We investigate: pornography, home PCs and the law

This means that a copy of an illegal image could be stored on your hard disk if you have viewed one in an unsolicited email or accidentally clicked an online link that leads to such material. But don’t panic if you do, because the new law is careful to protect the innocent.

The Act outlines a number of reasonable defences to prosecution. The first is when the image has been sent to the recipient without request and is not kept. This broadly refers to spam email and website pop-ups, on the condition that the user deletes the image in a reasonable time ­ and we would say that ‘reasonable’ means ‘straight away’.

The second defence is interesting because it doesn’t apply to home users ­ it’s designed to protect professionals who might come into contact with illegal material and be required to store it as evidence of a crime.

This is particularly important in combating child abuse. These professionals ­ such as social workers ­ are trained in the law regarding illegal images; consumers should never attempt to investigate whether a link to child ‘porn’ or any of the material we mentioned earlier is actually what it claims to be. A consumer might see this as gathering vital evidence ­ the authorities might view it very differently.

Family photos
Another issue that can worry people is how perfectly innocent pictures of children ­ bath time or beach pictures, for example ­ might be interpreted should anyone else use the computer, especially if a PC is sent for repair.

Technology law specialist Harry Small of law firm Baker and McKenzie says that parents should protect their own privacy. “One has to take care with material that could be misinterpreted. It is not indecent to photograph your children in the bath, for instance, but the poor old PC technician would not know the context of the images. I would not leave such ima ges on a PC, simply to avoid the possibility of a misunderstanding,” said Mr Small.

Our verdict
If you do receive links or attachments that lead you to illegal pornography, our advice is to delete the offending material immediately. To be on the safe side, you can also clear your cache ­ in Internet Explorer 7, select ‘Delete Browsing History’ from the tools menu and delete your temporary internet files. If using Firefox 3, select Options from the Tools menu, click the Privacy tab and click ‘Clear now…’ in the Private Data section. This opens a new window where you can delete the cache.

If you stumble upon child-abuse images, make a report to the Internet Watch Foundation. Absolutely do not download any images of child abuse in order to gather evidence, ­ leave this to the professionals.

Don’t waste their time reporting images that don’t breach the four constraints we outlined in the main article. Hardcore pornography may offend you but it is legal to own.