Dilemma: Kiddie Porn Found on Computer

February 9, 2008 | self

[ChocChipCookie]

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law discovered that a neighbor has been tapping into their unsecured wireless internet connection. They've discovered 8-10 folders of photos accessible through their network that do not belong to them. (My BIL discovered this a few days ago when he wasn't able to get an internet connection and went searching for his wireless connection.) Some are general family photos of camping trips, their home, etc., but there are numerous photos that can only be described as all-male kiddie porn. Tonight my husband took steps to delete access to the folders that had been mapped to their computer and secure their network.

My SIL and BIL recognized the people in the non-porn photos as neighbors who live across the street, but they have not yet contacted the police. Because my elderly mother-in-law and an elderly aunt (both in their 70's) live with them and are home alone during the day, they are nervous about their safety should these scumbag neighbors discover who turned them in. I don't believe they know these neighbors by name or have even spoken to them.

Can any Freepers suggest the best course of action here? My in-laws had named their wireless network with their last name, so it's very possible that these neighbors know whose network they have been using. Now that access to the photos has been deleted, can the police still pursue this? Needless to say, my first instinct is to call the police myself, but it's not my family in the situation.

[Malsua]

On top of all you said, I would destroy my router and buy a different brand. The router has a MAC address too and that shows up in the ISP logs. If the ISP uses DHCP to assign addresses, I would view how long my IP address lease is and leave my _NEW_ router unplugged for that period of time plus one day. A new router should get a new ip, so in effect I’d just “Nuke it from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure”.

New Router, New IP and it becomes difficult to determine exactly where the offending router was, specially if on a cable connection since those are on a common circuit to the headend.

[GiovannaNicoletta]

bookmark

[Mark was here]

BIL should take out his hard drive, smash it into a million pieces, buy a new hard drive and start all over.

This is what I was thinking. We have a right to be secure in our possessions. Today the cops may want to raid your computers for dirty pictures, tomorrow it could be for unapproved opinions. (In Germany they have such laws today.)

What wireless system was BIL running? Mine barely makes it across the house ... working all the way across a street is not a sure bet.

[ChocChipCookie]

I’m not sure, but my laptop routinely switches from our home network (secured) to a neighbor’s unsecured network. In fact, on my list of things to do today is to go tell him to SECURE HIS NETWORK!! BTW, I can sit outside in our front yard and be connected to our network.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

Do the right thing. Call the police immediately.

[ItisaReligionofPeace]

For goodness sake, why? There is nothing that could ever come of calling the police and telling them that you’ve discovered child porn on your computer.

[airedale]

You are right

[visualops]

OK, first off a lot of posters on this thread don't seem to have understood all the details.
1. The pr0n folder was on the neighbor's computer, but accessible over unsecured wireless internet connection. 2. If that's the case, then it was the neighbor's wireless connection that was unsecured. Note that does not preclude the BiL's wireless being unsecured as well.
3. If the neighbor's pr0n folder was deleted, the neighbor will presumably notice. He will then be alerted to outside knowledge of his "activities" and will likely secure his own wireless network and perhaps delete any other material.
4. If the neighbor's pr0n folder was shared, it's possible that was intentional for other pedophiles to access the material, or it could be this person is incredibly stupid for mixing family photos with kiddie pr0n.
5. If the folder was on the neighbor's computer, the fed's forensics will find even deleted material plus a whole lot more.
6. DO consult a lawyer before contacting police, even though people may say "if you're innocent why call a lawyer", it's simply smart to know the legally responsible way to handle a very dangerous situation.

I am curious regarding the description of the folder as being "mapped" to the BiL's computer if the folder was indeed on the neighbor's machine.
I am wondering if the BiL discovered the open connection by seeing the folder on the neighbor's machine, or if the folder was indeed on the BiL's computer. If the folder was on the BiL's computer, then I am thinking that perhaps the neighbor did that unintentionally (created a folder to save photos not realizing it was on a networked computer). Because it's insane to put your pr0n pics on another machine, yet put identifiable family pics in the same folder.

[woofer]

You either have been accessing pornography or you have not been; it is your computer, the wireless is simply access to the internet.

Printer and File Share unchecked in Windoze system folder? Probably not.

Sounds like the original poster's BIL is a digital neophyte. Must have been too eager to start using his wirelees portal to set up a WEP.

Digiot.

[Phonic Fish]

One word to ANYONE in this situation. NEVER involve the police without the advice of a lawyer FIRST. You can find yourself with a totally destroyed life, reputation and future, from the very moment you do.

This is deadly and dangerous stuff. The courts bury innocent people under the jails daily. And they do it gleefully. Do NOT play the fool with this sort of thing.

[KillTime]

Best advice yet. Possessing and distributing kiddie porn is a Federal Crime and no where near the issue of having regular porn. This is of such magnitude that calling the police without calling a lawyer first could indeed destroy the life of the presumed innocent In-laws if not handled correctly.

[visualops]

What you said makes no sense if what he downloaded was music.
If he downloaded porn then I’d say he was guilty as charged.
There’s something very fishy about your story.

[visualops]

You actually said much of that in your opening post- see my other post for a response. In which case they may not need to consult a lawyer first but many attorneys do provide free/cheap consultations so it might be prudent to take that step, but it seems to me your family doesn’t have much to worry about, but this does need to be taken to the authorities asap.

[savedbygrace]

WEP is better than nothing, but WPA2 is much better. Even that isn’t fully secure, but it takes some effort to break it, more than the Average Joe is going to take, maybe.

It’s also possible to go around either WEP or WPA2. But, they’re better than nothing.

[upstatenyrepublican]

1. get a 10/100 type cable and hardwire to your internet box. Or get a wired router and run wire to different rooms. (stop using wireless unless you have all kinds of safety measures professionally installed because of your close proximity to neighbors) Most all computers and laptops have 10/100 connections. A router will let you connect 4 computers.

2. Then save all your own files to either cd, memory stick or large memory device and format your hard drives...do a clean install and start over.
Your neighbors will have to get their own connection to stay online.

3.After a few weeks, have someone report them to the police for suspicion of child porn.(their data will be on their own computer by then) That leaves you and your computer system out of it.

[Mark was here]

Must have been too eager to start using his wirelees portal to set up a WEP.

Sad to say, but I keep my system open. I like being able to do a hard reset on my Axim and not having to enter in a 50 digit code. I liked giving my wife a video ipod thing, and have it go right on line.

My home computers are all on a wired network, started out with Lantastic...

Sure I could set up a bunch of locks, that would be basically doing nothing more than locking myself out, I guess I'm not that guy who paints an outline of his lawnmower on the garage floor.

[a real Sheila]

I would talk to an attorney or private investigator first, preferably someone who is knowledgable about wireless connections OR have a trusted friend present who is very fammiliar with what is possible to do and not do when gaining access to someone else’s wireless connection.

[John123]

How about talking with legal counsel before doing anything?

I sure as hell would. Certainly before calling the police.

Even though it is going to cost you some money, I think this is the best way to go.

You deleted the files but I'm sure it can be recovered by an computer expert.

However, I'm worried about misunderstandings and being framed. Get the lawyer. Don't muck about being cheap...

[a real Sheila]

It is pretty scary to think that those of us with wireless internet who don’t know what the Hell we are doing to secure it can be subject to something like this happening.

My very first thought when I read the original story was that the BIL made up a story to cover his a$$ when his wife found the porn on the computer, but now I’m horrified to learn that this really could happen.

[a real Sheila]

It is pretty scary to think that those of us with wireless internet who don’t know what the Hell we are doing to secure it can be subject to something like this happening.

My very first thought when I read the original story was that the BIL made up a story to cover his a$$ when his wife found the porn on the computer (men are good at making up technical $hit), but now I’m horrified to learn that this really COULD happen.