Legal Question in Technology Law in Wisconsin

Computer

We have had trouble with our daughter talking on line with some guy that we found out she told him all about herself and where she lives, because he sent her a present for her birthday and lied to us about who it came from. My wife finaly found ou about the fact that she was chatting with this person and the fact that he is 3o some years old and that my daughter who is 16 had sent him her picture. My wife freaked out and went to the police about this guy and automatically assumes he is a predetor out after our daughter. The police said they would look into the matter but would like to look through our computer to see what else he might of sent her or talked to her about etc. My wife told the police that it was ok. My problem is that I have used Lime wire sharing program to down load lots of songs that I have used for DJing. I told my wife that I did not want the police looking at our computer because of this and the fact that this is illeagle and I could get into trouble. She then told this to the police who said that that is the least of our problems right now and don't worry about it. But I do.

I know that there is also some pornography on the computer that was accidentaly down loaded . Should I let the police look compu


Asked on 7/30/08, 5:31 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Johm Smith tom's

Re: Computer

You have the right to delete anything you wish from your computer before the police look at it, but you should have an expert handle this to ensure the deleted material is really completely gone. Only child porn is illegal and the dj stuff is not a high priority with the police; that is usually treated as a civil matter.

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Answered on 8/01/08, 10:23 am
John Mitchell Interaction Law

Re: Computer

Having "pornography" on the computer is not a crime, so long as it is not child pornography. As for downloading songs, these cases are typically brought by the copyright owners, not your local police. (Copyright law is federal, so state and local police tend not to be involved. Moreover, unless it is a commercial endeavor, these are generally civil suits.) The copyright owners tend to give higher priority to those who are "sharing" (in the sense of allowing others to download copies from your computer). On balance, if it were me, I would put my daughter's welfare and the investigation of a possible online pervert way ahead of the possibility that the police might inform some record company that particular songs were on the hard drive. Just seeing the songs on your hard drive does not tell the police whether they were licensed reproductions or ripped from a CD (for which Section 1008 of the copyright act gives some protection). But if it worries you, find a lawyer in Wisconsin who is knowledgeable about police investigations (and ideally, also knowledgeable about copyright law) and spend an hour of the lawyer's time discussing the risk/benefit analysis. (I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.)

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Answered on 7/31/08, 10:11 am


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