"What is" the legal term for downloading porn?

[Osborn F Enready]

I hear a lot of people talking about "the evils of internet porn", and a lot of places enacting laws to "prosecute those who download internet porn".

What is "downloading" internet porn?

If you watch a non-paid, advertisement clip, from a host site, is that downloading internet porn?

If you watch a non-paid, advertisement clip, and it makes a "temp" file, is that downloading internet porn?


Does anyone have an answer to this, or can you point me in the right direction to find out?

[Jack]

I always assumed that it referred to the practice of saving images and video to your hard drive (no pun intended). In other words, instead of simply viewing the content you right-clicked on it and selected "Save as...".

[Osborn F Enready]

Thats what I thought Ish, but then I though about how some "temp" files write to the disk.....

Is that the same, legally speaking I wonder?

This seems like a HUGE snafu waiting to happen.

[Scribbler1]

Quote by: Osborn F Enready Thats what I thought Ish, but then I though about how some "temp" files write to the disk..... Is that the same, legally speaking I wonder? This seems like a HUGE snafu waiting to happen.

I have heard that Windows saves little log files all over the place as well as those temp files. If someone is looking at kiddy porn and the law knocks on your door, the first thing they do after impounding your machine is search the hard drive(s) for files most people don't even know about.

I have heard about programs which can delete all *.tmp files and I believe those logs as well.

[Jack]

CCleaner (Crap Cleaner) may help...those who need it.
I'm not sure if temp files or visited URLs would be enough to earn a conviction. My understanding was those convicted had actual image files on their computer. Any internet lawyers in the crowd?

[Scribbler1]

I don't think they were in a temp folder, but a couple of years ago I was looking through my computer at work and found a load of porn thumbnails DEEP within the machine, and under the previous employees name.

I downloaded CCleaner and will try it later (and no, it's not for kiddy porn). Do you know anything about this prog?

[Jack]

I use it on a regular basis (because I don't trust Windows) and it hasn't crashed anything yet. I know it's been recommended by Fred Langa and Scot Finnie, both of whom have been around the PC business for years. Anything that cleans the registry, though, requires a registry backup first, in my opinion.

[Scribbler1]

Langa writes for PC World, doesn't he?

Anyway, I think I'll try it tonight. Thanks for the heads up.

[Jack]

I believe he does, that or one of the other numerous PC mags. Scot is online editor-in-chief for ComputerWorld magazine.

[kubedawg]

If I download something from the internet, I am trusting the site I download it from is reputable and holds the copyright to that material. And if they allow downloads of that material for free, I am not liable for having that material now on my PC. I mean it's the same thing as if I have a music CD that I rip to my PC so I could listen to it without having the CD in the optical drive at the time. The CD was mine, so just as long as I didn't upload it to a p2p program such as Limewire where it's available for people to download.

I think the main focus should be removing these sites that physically host the illegal material, because without the sites, no more downloads.

Do you bust someone for buying drugs, or bust the seller who could potentially sell the drugs to others?

[Scribbler1]

Quote by: kubedawg If I download something from the internet, I am trusting the site I download it from is reputable and holds the copyright to that material. And if they allow downloads of that material for free, I am not liable for having that material now on my PC. I mean it's the same thing as if I have a music CD that I rip to my PC so I could listen to it without having the CD in the optical drive at the time. The CD was mine, so just as long as I didn't upload it to a p2p program such as Limewire where it's available for people to download.

That's the thing with P2P systems. You DON'T upload music to anyone. It stays on your computer and using Limewire software allows people do download it directly from your machine. The law doesn't have a problem with simply ripping a CD.

I think the main focus should be removing these sites that physically host the illegal material, because without the sites, no more downloads.

Child pornography is illegal. Other forms of porn are not.

Do you bust someone for buying drugs, or bust the seller who could potentially sell the drugs to others?

Yes to both, as well as just having drugs on your person. If you have drugs you get busted. The law doesn't care if you're buying, selling, or holding it for a friend. Bad analogy.

[Fonceai]

How did that program work out, by the way?

I know once upon a time there was a way to use DOS to find all the different log files of activity, and back in the Win 95/98 days it was a scary thing.

[Scribbler1]

Quote by: Fonceai How did that program work out, by the way? I know once upon a time there was a way to use DOS to find all the different log files of activity, and back in the Win 95/98 days it was a scary thing.

You mean CCleaner? I ran it on my main machine and it deleted a lot of logs and Tmp files on there. A couple of autologins were affected but the machine seems unharmed. But it doesn't seem any faster, as the program's site claims, but it isn't slower either.

I'll probably try it on my other machines too, just for the hell of it.

I think you can still scan the drive under DOS and just search for *.tmp files or anything else, as long as you know the extension. Also, I notice, even under XP you can still use a rescue disk from an earlier system (I use ME startup disks) to get in before Windows starts.
It's been a while since I've done it, but I think it's dir C:\ *.tmp. Or you may have to use a pipe in there somewhere. I don't recall the specifics but I think I'll try it out later.

[notworthabean]

Quote by: Isherwood I use it on a regular basis (because I don't trust Windows) and it hasn't crashed anything yet. I know it's been recommended by Fred Langa and Scot Finnie, both of whom have been around the PC business for years. Anything that cleans the registry, though, requires a registry backup first, in my opinion.

and how do you do that?

[Scribbler1]

Quote by: notworthabean and how do you do that?

If you use XP, try THIS.

[Jack]

Go to Start/Run and type regedit. When the registry editor window opens, go to File/Export. An explorer window will open asking where you want to save the file (backup). Under export range, be sure to select all.

I recommend creating a new folder in My Documents titled Reg_bkup and save your backups there.