US Child Pornography Reporting Requirements Resources in United States
US Child Pornography Reporting Requirements Resources
IT Workers Required to Report Child Pornography
At least five states–Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and South Dakota–have enacted laws requiring computer technicians or Internet service providers to report child pornography if they encounter it in the scope of their work. U.S. Code Title 42, Section 13032 requires those providing electronic communication services to make a report to the Cyber Tip Line at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The laws don’t require technicians or service providers to search for the illegal material, only to report it if they find it. Similar laws apply to film developers who encounter child pornography on the job. Michigan law provides confidentiality and immunity from civil liability for computer technicians who report child pornography encountered in the scope of their work. (See statutory text below.)
Critics charge that this type of law unfairly transfers law enforcement duties to individuals who may not be qualified to handle evidence or determine what constitutes child pornography. Supporters say reporting mandates for photo labs have proven effective, and that similar laws for IT workers will help combat child pornography on the Internet.
Arkansas
Ark. Stat. § 5-27-604.
Failure to report computer child pornography.(a) A person commits failure to report computer child pornography if the person:
(1) Is the owner, operator, or employee of a computer on-line service, Internet service, or bulletin board service; and
(2) The person knowingly fails to notify law enforcement officials that a subscriber is using the service to commit a violation of § 5-27-603
(b) Failure to report computer child pornography is a Class A misdemeanor.
Michigan
Mich. Cons. Laws § 750.145c(9).
Definitions; child sexually abusive activity or material; penalties; possession of child sexually abusive material; expert testimony; defenses; acts of commercial film or photographic print processor; report to law enforcement agency by computer technician; applicability and uniformity of section; enactment or enforcement of ordinances, rules, or regulations prohibited.
… (9) If a computer technician reports to a law enforcement agency having jurisdiction his or her knowledge or observation, within the scope of his or her professional capacity or employment, of an electronic visual image, computer-generated image or picture or sound recording depicting a person that the computer technician has reason to know or reason to believe is a child engaged in a listed sexual act; furnishes a copy of that image, picture, or sound recording to the law enforcement agency; or keeps the image, picture, or sound recording according to the law enforcement agency’s instructions, both of the following shall apply:
(a) The identity of the computer technician shall be confidential, subject to disclosure only with his or her consent or by judicial process.
(b) If the computer technician acted in good faith, he or she shall be immune from civil liability that might otherwise be incurred by his or her actions. This immunity extends only to acts described in this subsection.
Missouri
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 568.110.
Professional’s duty to report on film, photographs, videotapes, failure to report, penalty–exceptions.1. Any film and photographic print processor, computer provider, installer or repair person, or any Internet service provider who has knowledge of or observes, within the scope of the person’s professional capacity or employment, any film, photograph, videotape, negative, slide, or computer-generated image or picture depicting a child under the age of eighteen years engaged in an act of sexual conduct shall report such instance to the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the case immediately or as soon as practically possible.
2. Failure to make such report shall be a class B misdemeanor.
3. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require a provider of electronic communication services or remote computing services to monitor any user, subscriber or customer of the provider, or the content of any communication of any user, subscriber or customer of the provider.
Oklahoma
Okla. Stat. tit. 21 § 1021.4.
Disclosure of obscene materials containing minors.
A. Any commercial film and photographic print processor or commercial computer technician who has knowledge of or observes, within the scope of such person’s professional capacity or employment, any film, photograph, video tape, negative, or slide, or any computer file, recording, CD-Rom, magnetic disk memory, magnetic tape memory, picture, graphic or image that is intentionally saved, transmitted or organized on hardware or any other media including, but not limited to, CDs, DVDs and thumbdrives, whether digital, analog or other means and whether directly viewable, compressed or encoded depicting a child under the age of eighteen (18) years engaged in an act of sexual conduct as defined in Section 1024.1 of this title shall immediately or as soon as possible report by telephone such instance of suspected child abuse or child pornography to the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction over the case and shall prepare and send a written report of the incident with an attached copy of such material, within thirty-six (36) hours after receiving the information concerning the incident.
For the purposes of this section:
1. “Commercial film and photographic print processor” means any person who develops exposed photographic film into negatives, slides, or prints, or who makes prints from negatives or slides, for compensation. The term shall also include any employee of such a person but shall not include a person who develops film or makes prints for a public agency; and
2. “Commercial computer technician” means any person who repairs, installs, or otherwise services any computer including, but not limited to, any component part, device, memory storage or recording mechanism, auxiliary storage, recording or memory capacity, or any other materials relating to operation and maintenance of a computer or computer network or system, for compensation. The term shall also include any employee of such person.
B. Any person who violates the provisions of this section, upon conviction, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by the imposition of a fine not to exceed Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) or by imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one (1) year, or both such fine and imprisonment.
C. Nothing in this section shall be construed to require or authorize any person to act outside the scope of such person’s professional capacity or employment by searching for prohibited materials or media.
South Carolina
S.C. Code Ann, § 16-3-850.
Film processor or computer technician to report film or computer images containing sexually explicit pictures of minors.Any retail or wholesale film processor or photo finisher who is requested to develop film, and any computer technician working with a computer who views an image of a child younger than eighteen years of age or appearing to be younger than eighteen years of age who is engaging in sexual conduct, sexual performance, or a sexually explicit posture must report the name and address of the individual requesting the development of the film, or of the owner or person in possession of the computer to law enforcement officials in the state and county or municipality from which the film was originally forwarded. Compliance with this section does not give rise to any civil liability on the part of anyone making the report.
South Dakota
S.D. Codified Laws Ann. § 22-22-24.18.
Computer repair technicians to report suspected violations of child pornography laws – Penalty.Any commercial computer repair technician who has knowledge of or observes, within the scope of the technician’s professional capacity or employment, a film, photograph, video tape, negative, slide or other visual depiction of a minor whom the technician knows or reasonably should know to be under the age of eighteen, engaged in prohibited sexual acts or in the simulation of prohibited sexual acts, shall report the depiction to an appropriate law enforcement agency as soon as reasonably possible. The computer repair technician need not report to law enforcement depictions involving mere nudity of the minor, but shall report visual depictions involving prohibited sexual acts. This section may not be construed to require a computer repair technician to review all data, disks, or tapes delivered to the computer repair technician within the computer repair technician’s professional capacity or employment.
A violation of this section is a Class 1 misdemeanor. However, a violation of this section does not constitute grounds for a civil action for damages against any person.