At first blush, the new Illinois law sounds like a good idea. Computer repair technicians have been designated mandated reporters by the state - if they find child porn, they're required to report it. Come on, who supports child porn? No brainer, right?
So why am I feeling like I'm stuck in 1984? Who's to say a computer repair technician really knows what constitutes child porn?
In the digital age, most of us have a camera on hand to snap funny pictures of our kids the moment they happen, slip the digital card into a dock on the tower and send the images right off to Grandma and Grandpa across the country and your best friend up the street. And sometimes, those pictures show our kids in the many states of undress. The goofy face in the bathtub. The streaker who's shucked their diaper and is sitting astride the top of the couch, hands on hips, a look in the eyes that says "I dare you to try to climb up here and get me."
And what about the unintended pictures? I once received an e-mail back from a friend who could see only my husband's bare legs on either side of my daughter in a picture that featured her posing in his trenchcoat and hat, his scarf wrapped around her neck. "Is your husband wearing anything in this picture?" the e-mail read. Of course he was wearing something - in fact he was fully dressed, albeit in a pair of shorts, hence the bare legs. Snapping the shot, uploading the picture, pasting it into an e-mail, I had the innocent thoughts that accompanied the innocence of the moment.
But I was there. A technician pouring through a computer, looking for the glitch that's freezing your Internet browser, the corrupted file that needs to be quarantined, isn't there when a picture is taken. He doesn't know your godchild likes to strip down to her skivvies. He doesn't know your grandson is a pint-sized exhibitionist.
I'm not saying a technician shouldn't speak up when they find something blatantly pornographic. There are clear lines that can be crossed, clear signs that something really isn't right. But waving the threat of a $1,000 fine over the heads of computer technicians if they don't report child pornography can make for some trigger-happy reports to police, and a lot of people facing criminal investigations because a worried technician wasn't taking any chances. In the end, is increased pressure on innocent parents really helping kids?
Image: eHow
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