Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in California

Recently I had taken my laptop to Staples for an upgrade from Vista to Windows 7. During this process the technician had opened "My Documents" and found what he determined to be "child porn" images that had been automatically saved to my computer by a change in the Facebook Photos application. While it is against the policy of other companies to actually open folders such as "my documents" this is done normally with this company. A possible defense could be to claim a violation of my right to privacy according to CA State Constitution in Civil Court, while utilizing the 4th Amendment in a Civil defense.

With such laws I have noticed that much of this is hinged not on HAVING child porn on your computer, but KNOWING that it is there. How can the prosecution prove that you KNEW you had it? Is a better defense for this "violation of privacy" or that there was no knowledge of this?


Asked on 3/30/11, 10:38 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Stone Law Offices of Michael B. Stone Toll Free 1-855-USE-MIKE

If you are accused of having "child porn" on your computer, you are facing very serious prison time and a lifetime requirement to register as a sex offender. You don't have an illegal search and seizure issue, because Staples isn't a government agency. You might have possible defenses that include 1) the images aren't within the definition of child porn; and 2) you didn't put the images on your computer. You will need an attorney who has a technical background in computer forensics and security (for example I hold a CISSP security certification); and you will also need expert witnesses on the subject. In my opinion, if you have a technically knowledgeable attorney and a halfway decent expert witness it should be impossible to prove that you placed the images on your computer given that there are so many computer viruses and Trojan-horse programs out there. For others who might read this, here is an excellent example of why no one should use Facebook.

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Answered on 3/30/11, 10:49 pm


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