From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 05:31:08 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Child pornography -- Expert witness for Federal jury trial
Message-ID: <Pine.GSO.3.95.960917100351.9842A-100000@well.com>
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Folks,

I just got a call from two Federal Public Defenders whose client is
charged with possession of child pornography stored in the /tmp
directory of a Unix system, in a zip'd file. (These lawyers seem to be
reasonably cyber-savvy, and told me they're following what I've been
writing about cyber-liberties.)

There's evidence saying that other people were using the account at
that time, and the attorneys have the relevant wtmp/utmp files.
There's also no evidence saying an actual child was exploited -- given
the nature of the images, they may have been morphed. I don't think
the defendant is accused of *making* them; he's only accused of
*possessing* them.

The case goes to jury trial soon in a Federal District Court.

If anyone is interested in testifying as an expert witness in this
case about Unix tech foo (and is qualified to do so), please let me
know and I'll pass along your info. I believe at least your expenses
would be paid.

Here's an opportunity to ensure justice is done and not just rant in
cyberspace... :)

-Declan

(Note I have no idea if the guy is indeed guilty of possessing JPGs
the government has banned. What I do know is that any defendant
deserves a fair trial and the government must prove that he's guilty
of the crimes for which he's charged. And if anyone does molest a
child, I say lock 'em up for a good long time.)