[TChad]

Do NOT, do NOT destroy the BIL’s hard drive. It will do nothing but make him liable to a charge of obstruction of justice. It will NOT keep the law enforcement away from him, if they’re tracking the porn that went through his internet connection. THAT information is NOT on his computer — it is with the internet service provider(s) all along the path from the origin point of the porn down to your BIL’s computer.

I very much doubt that anyone has ever been convicted of possessing or trafficking in kiddie porn solely on the basis of information provided by their Internet service provider. If I am wrong about that, please provide me a link to a legal case that proves it.

Possession means possession. If the files are not on your computer, you do not possess them.

[adopt4Christ]

You are so wrong about this. You can do your own research.

[cynwoody]

I very much doubt that anyone has ever been convicted of possessing or trafficking in kiddie porn solely on the basis of information provided by their Internet service provider.

Probably not. But the ISP info does lead to the first set of doors broken down, the first set of seized (and unavailable) computers, the first round of bail bond and lawyer's fees, and the first set of wrecked reputations. Sure, if it were me, I probably would be found not guilty, but I'm too cheap to volunteer to pay the lawyer's fees in the public interest.

In this case, I would

1. Make sure all the routers have strong admin passwords.
2. Put WPA2 keys on all the wireless nets (replace the routers if neeed be). I could also hide the SSID and only allow authorized MAC addresses, but that would inconvenience me more than it would impede real hackers.
3. Back up any personal files on the hard drive of the computer I used to examine the perv's shared folders.
4. Remove and physically destroy said hard drive.
5. Install a new (bigger, cheaper, faster) hard drive, operating system, applications, and restore personal files.
6. STFU. STFU. STFU! Allow time to pass. A good deal of time. Let the perv leave some tracks that no longer lead straight to my door. It will happen. Pervs can't stop being pervy.
7. If my good citizenship is getting the better of me to the extent I can no longer STFU, maybe I might find a way to get the dirtball caught in a manner that will make it clear I'm an innocent victim of bandwidth theft (seriously, though, it isn't theft if the network isn't at least minimally secure). On the other hand, maybe I might read some Dorothy Rabinowitz and decide to let some more time pass ...

Cover stories (in case they're already onto him me):

1. Turning on WPA was just a coincidence -- happened to see the light while reading a thread on FR where some nerd was blathering on about security.
2. Hard drive? Well, it crashed! And I lost a month's work and my Thailand Cabo San Lucas vacation pix!
3. There was always something a little hinky about the guy next door. I mean, well, he is an AUSA, and he does head the local youth sports club, but something's not quite right ...