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I don't think I have to tell you that the world wide web can be a scary place. But I think we've just crossed over the line from "scary" to "terrifying." A dad who accidentally downloaded child porn has been more or less branded a pedophile and banned from spending anytime alone with his 8-year-old daughter for an unspecified period of time. For an accident!
I know what you're thinking. Yeah, sure, he says it was an accident. And every guy or gal in prison says they're not guilty too. Suuuuuure it was an accident. But the story Nigel Robinson spins just sounds too real for this kind of punishment.
The way this British dad tells it, he was downloading music on the Internet when some super creepy stuff popped up on the screen. I can picture it. Haven't you ever been surfing along, clicked on something off Google and blam, it's like boobs, boobs, boobs, with flashing lights, and a zillion giant windows popping up all over the place offering you free sex! and hot, hot, hot girls!
It's the scourge of the Internet, this stuff, but it happens to the best of us. I spend all day on my computer -- for my job! -- and I am hyper vigilant about updating my virus software because of these kind of sneaky tactics. But this dad went even further than that to protect himself. Immediately after the images showed up, he told his wife and then he called the cops. On himself!
Does that sound like a creeper to you? A guy who should be picking better sites for his music downloads, maybe ... but generally hardcore pedophiles don't call the police to report themselves for child porn.
I understand the "better be safe than sorry concept," but they're talking about disrupting this man's life and that of his little girl until November. And that carries a risk for society. It troubles me that Robinson's been separated from his daughter while police investigate because of the message this sends to other would-be do-gooders. Essentially they're saying "try to help ups out, and we'll make your life a living hell." As Robinson said to the media: "I wish I had just binned the laptop and then none of this would have happened."
Reports of child porn from good citizens are a vital means the police have to actually fight this vile practice of hurting kids. If we keep punishing the whistleblowers, we could be hurting our best chances of actually getting the real pedophiles off the streets.
Does it scare you knowing we're all one wrong click away from being this dad? What would you have done in this situation?
Image via [F]oxymoron/Flickr
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
