I've got a real problem with the way we deal with contraband in this country. In this country, possession of contraband is illegal regardless of motive, intent, or even knowledge. If you're caught with drugs, illegal weapons, child porn, you are guilty... period! Here's the problem... drug dealers don't keep their stuff in their own car. They tend to store it a stolen or abandon car. There was a case in northern New Mexico, a few months back, where a guy had his stolen car recovered. He was cleaning out the car and noticed the back seat was loose. When he pulled it up, there were several packages of drugs (cocaine or marijuana, I don't recall). He reported it to the police and they confiscated the drugs. But what if he hadn't discovered it right away. He could have been driving around for months or years with that stuff back there. Then imagine he goes through some sort of traffic checkpoint or a weigh-station and they have a drug sniffing dog there. The guy would be screwed!
Child porn is even worse. If you have it on your computer, you are instantly guilty and instantly a pariah. In most cases, it is well deserved. But there have been several cases where such material was found and the person was innocent. The recent case of the government worker in Florida who got a replacement laptop preloaded with child porn. He was life was utterly destroyed before it was discovered... oppps, the images were on there before he got the laptop. Or what about that poor teenage kid in Arizona. The police kick in his door, take his computer and charge him with possession. His parents had to hire a computer forensic expert, at considerable personal expense, to show that the images they found were the result of a virus infection and were not downloaded directly by anyone in the household.
Think about that, in both cases, these innocent people had to spend a considerable amount of their own money to prove their innocence! Even then, they really never fully get their lives back. Just look at the reaction that most of you had to this story. And don't get me wrong, if the guy is guilty, then by all means he deserves everything you all were saying. But I am really very concerned with how these cases are treated in general. How of many of us are skilled enough with computers that we could plant illegal material on someone's computer in such a way that it would not leave a trace as to how it got there? Now, how many of us could find such material if place there by another person? What if you weren't looking for it because you had no idea it was there in the first place?
Think about it, a guy could be driving around with a sizeable amount of drugs in his car and not even know its there. A modern hard drive is like owning a few hundred square miles of forest land. If someone setup a pot growing operation in an obscure corner of that land, would you ever know it? Do you have any questionable images on any of your drives right now? Are you sure?