LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Child Pornography: Computers
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Samson said the investigation began last December when Wyoming authorities notified counterparts in New Jersey they had uncovered a New Jersey-based Web site advertising and trading in child pornography. He said he turned the investigation, dubbed "Operation Web Sweep," over to New Jersey's new Computer Analysis and Technology Unit, which used advanced computer-related investigative procedures to track the suspect Web site to a New Jersey-based computer server. With the cooperation of the server operator, investigators said they determined the site contained images of "clearly prepubescent" boys along with advertising describing the site's content and images. It charged a membership fee of $19.99. In February, authorities disabled the site and removed all child pornography, then created a replacement at the same domain address. The Web site, which contained no illegal content, was styled to resemble the original.
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Because peer-to-peer networks operate as a diffuse community of computers, the investigation of child pornography offenses in the peer-to-peer context requires a proactive and focused approach by law enforcement. The lack of a central server means that there is no clearinghouse for files and information that can serve as a bottleneck or choke point where law enforcement can gather logged evidence of illegal activity and cut off the supply of contraband files. Moreover, the decentralized nature of P2P networks means that there is no central community where people communicate regarding their illegal plans. Instead, peer-to-peer file-sharing networks are diffuse in nature: millions of people can join loosely-knit groups without the need for humans to communicate at all, since their computers will automatically handle all of the details for them. The only entrance fee to an illegal group is the time to download P2P software, boot it up, and start uploading and downloading files.
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One of three Wyoming men arrested as part of nationwide child pornography sting has been charged with more crimes. Donald W. Lytle, 55, of Green River, was originally charged with 10 counts of child sexual exploitation. He was charged with 10 more counts in late July. After police found multiple images of child porn loaded on his computer, Lytle admitted using the Internet for pornography and said he was addicted to pornography and child pornography, court documents said.
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Child pornography is a crime that one can commit or be charged with committing even without one's knowledge. The mere presence of pornographic images on a computer, even if it was downloaded without your knowledge, can implicate you in these crimes.
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Michael Anthony Prestridge, a senior cadet at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., has been charged under federal law with having child pornography stored on his computer in his dorm room, officials said. Prestridge ... was charged under military law, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, for having obscene material on government equipment, officials said. Prestridge, whose age and hometown were not released, faces a maximum of 22 years in military prison; forfeiture of all pay; and a dismissal, the equivalent of a dishonorable discharge.
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Internet child pornography is a particularly serious crime in the eyes of the federal courts. Attorney Frank Stanley has taken cases to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati in pursuit of clarification of the application of mandatory federal sentencing guidelines with regard to what is on a defendant's computer and how it got there. Attorney Stanley's clients are vigorously defended through pressure on the government to meet its obligation to prove the presence of aggravators involved in charges. Such aggravators may include the number of images and the types of images found on a defendant's computer.
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