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by vonklaus 3993 days ago
Just to provide a counterpoint, many people (myself included) believe free speech and privacy are fundamental in society, extending to the internet. Also, having a very US centric view of the world can make you forget that age of consent is arbitrary depending on where you are in the world with many european countries allowing for different laws. Also, it is quite difficult to ascertain the exact age of a subject given simply a photo. So while you are "disgusted" it is important to realize that this is a difficult problem both in identifying content and identifying perpetrators.

That being said, if it is obvious that the image is CP and you have the IP address of someone who uploaded it, I couldn't imagine not passing on that information. Also, I would put a public disclaimer on the site indicating your policy.

edit: before people start flaming me as a rape apologist I want to clarify that notifying the FBI and giving away your users public information is a strong action. It is warranted in the case of CP (one of the few things I personally think) but that, as this thread is indicative of, it is difficult to identify IRL.

2 comments

First time ever posting on a throw away account, but this shit is too personal.

As the victim of child molestation; this absolutely needs to be reported. Saying anything else is sympathy for the lowest filth in existence.

People who commit crimes like this are some of the worst in the world and I am truly sorry that happened to you. As I stated, I personally think that reporting it is an absolute necessity and something that should be written into your sites policy and prominently displayed. Just to reiterate though, the issue isn't whether child porn is wrong it is how to properly identify it. If you are going to accuse someone of being a paedophile and give their information to the FBI it is important you are correct.
And I'm sure parents of murdered or otherwise killed children would be offended by reddit's "pictures of dead kids". Yet it's not illegal to share such images.
If you think it is CP you should report it, period. It's law enforcement's job to determine whether it is for sure, not you. Better to raise a false alarm or two than to let a child predator get away.