Child pornography
... violating a class D felony, the two New York laws controlling dissemination of child pornography. After a jury trial, Ferber was acquitted of the two counts of promoting an obscene sexual performance, but found guilty of the two counts under a class D felony, which did not require proof that the films were obscene. The Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court affirmed Ferber’s convictions without opinion. The New York Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the felony violated the First Amendment (http://www.cybercrimelawyers.com/pages/childpornographylaws.html). In recent years, the exploitative use of children in the production of pornography has become a serious national problem. The Federal Government and 47 States have sought to combat the problem with statutes specifically directed at the production of child pornography. At least half of such statutes do not require that the materials produced be legally obscene. Thirty-five States and the United States Congress have also passed legislation prohibiting the distribution of such materials; 20 States prohibit the distribution of material depicting children engaged in sexual conduct without requiring that the material be legally obscene. New York is one of the 20. Sexual Definitions Dealing with Children A person is guilty of the use of a child in a sexual performance if knowing the character and content thereof he employs, authorizes or induces a child less than sixteen years of age to engage in a sexual performance or being a parent, legal guardian or custodian of such child, he consents to the participation by such child in a sexual performance. A "sexual performance" is any performance or part thereof, which includes sexual conduct by a child less than sixteen years of age (http:// news.zdnet.co.uk.html). "Sexual conduct" is in turns means actual or simulated sexual intercourse, deviate sexual intercourse, sexual bestiality, masturbation, sado-masochistic abuse, or lewd exhibition of the genitals. A performance is defined as "any play, motion picture, photograph or dance" or "any other visual representation exhibited before an audience. In Belgium, Marc Dutroux, who lived off profits from selling child pornography over the Internet, led an international child sex and pornography ring, which was responsible for multiple child abductions and murders. After his arrest, Dutroux led police to a dungeon under his house where two twelve-year-old girls had been imprisoned for ten weeks. Police later discovered the bodies of four other young girls on Dutroux’s property. Alan Hicks, a 46-year-old mechanical engineer, was a convicted pedophile that used the Internet chat rooms to befriend numerous boys. In private chat rooms, Hicks talked graphically about sex to the boys in return for favors such as a pair of underwear or samples of the boy’s urine and semen. Air Force captain court-martialed in computer pornography case (1995) A captain assigned to the 18th Logistics Group has been sentenced to be dismissed from the Air Force after being convicted by a general court-martial of conduct unbecoming an officer and violating federal anti-child pornography statutes. Along with the dismissal the equivalent of a dishonorable discharge Capt. Anthony Russell was sentenced to three months confinement and ordered to pay $2,858 per month for three months. Russell pled not guilty to all charges, which included obtaining and storing pornographic computer graphics including child pornography from the Internet. The captain elected to be tried by a panel of officers in a trial that convened May 30 1995. According to base legal officials, Russell used Air Force computers and telecommunications equipment to locate and download the graphics files from the Internet over a two-month period. Officials said the captain is considered a computer expert and were the local area network administrator for the 18th LG. During the four-day trial, prosecutors offered about 100 computer graphics into evidence, including four photographs a pediatrician confirmed depicted minors. Prosecutors also presented evidence showing how the captain used his office and home computers to "surf the Net" for sites containing pornographic computer image files. Other evidence at the trial indicated Russell would download images directly to his home computer or would use his office desktop computer to collect graphics and later copy them to his home computer. The captain claimed he had stumbled across the graphics accidentally. However, computer experts from the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Washington, D.C., showed how Russell had programmed his computers to seek out Internet sites with explicit names and file listings. FBI conducts On-line child pornography raids in 20 cities In late May 1996, US postal authorities shut down a huge child pornography network that distributed videos of children as young as 7 years old engaged in various sexual acts. 45 of the tapes' buyers had been charged, including 23 who had been involved in past or current child sexual abuse. The operation carried in 36 states was named "Overseas Male'' the largest known commercial distribution of child pornography in US history. Then on December 11, 1996, the FBI conducted a nationwide investigation of child pornography on the Internet and computer online services in 20 US cities. FBI Director Louis Freeh stated that: "The searches reflect the FBI's continuing priority attack against some of the most despicable crimes that prey on children" The FBI said that no immediate arrests were made but could be forthcoming after inspection of the materials discovered is complete. The FBI stated that agents searched in Albany, New York; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Baltimore; Boston; Charlotte, North Carolina; Cincinnati; Denver; Milwaukee; Newark, New Jersey; Oklahoma City; Pittsburgh; Richmond, Virginia; Sacramento, California; Tampa, Florida; and Washington, D.C. "Operation Innocent Images," now in its third year, has resulted in 80 arrests, 66 convictions and more than 100 indictments or other federal criminal charges. The probe has centered on efforts by pedophiles to lure minors into illicit sexual relationships and to distribute child pornography through computer service communications (http://cyber-rights.org/reports/uscases.htm). The Orchid Club Indictments (1996) A Federal grand jury in San Jose, California, indicted 16 people from the U.S., and abroad for their participation in a child pornography ring called the “Orchid Club,” whose members used the Internet to share sexual pictures and conduct online chat during child molestation. A U.S. attorney says there are no free speech issues involved: "The thing that ups the ante in this case is that allegations of distribution of pornography are coupled with serious allegations of child molestation. It's an issue relating to the protection of children, not to the First Amendment. The 24 charges against the alleged members of an Internet child pornography ring include conspiracy to sexually exploit children. The defendants, who allegedly belonged to a private, online child pornography group called the Orchid Club, shared photos and videos of girls aged five to ten that they had taken themselves. According to the indictment, the men engaged in real-time photo shoots where they typed messages requesting photos of the girls in certain poses while one member shot photos with a digital camera and transmitted the photos back to the group. Two men, Ronald Riva, 38, and Melton Myers, 55, were arrested in connection with the case in April after Monterey County sheriffs investigated a report that a young girl was molested at a sleep-over party hosted by Riva's daughter. The FBI and the US Customs Service joined the investigation when it became clear the photos were being transmitted across the Internet in the US and abroad. The members of the club, who live in various US states and in Finland, Australia and Canada, allegedly had to know a secret passwo...