Computer Technician Busts Child Porn Enthusiast, and His Employer Gets Blasted for it!

Computer Technician Busts Child Porn Enthusiast, and His Employer Gets Blasted for it!
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So this guy walks into the Quidnunc computer repair shop in Seattle, and says “my computer doesn’t work – I can’ t open certain image files; can you fix it?”

The Quidnunc technician fixes it, and low and behold, he finds that those image files contain dozens of pictures of kiddie porn. I don’t mean they could be teenagers. I mean as in some of the children looked like they were somewhere between 5 and 7 years old.

So the Quidnunc technician calls the police.

Said the responding officer, Seattle police officer Askew, “I seized the computer. Once at the SW Precinct I opened the files to examine the contents. I saw numerous pictures of children engaged in sexual acts with other children and adults. Some of the children appeared to be as young as 7 years old.”

Now, in case you aren’t aware, this isn’t really remarkable, neither in that the technician found the material, nor in that he reported it. Photoprocessors have been required by law for years to report any child porn that they find in film that they develop, and so it should come as no surprise that the same holds true for computer technicians who find it in digital form.

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But what is surprising is the lashback from people who have criticized the technician and his company for turning the guy in!

In fact, Quidnunc received this anonymous letter following the police report being made public:

“Although I do believe child pornography is wrong, sick, disgusting, etc., I believe it is equally wrong what your employees did… I do not want to be concerned about some misguided do-gooder taking my private information and reporting it to ‘Big Brother.’ This is just one more example of the decay in civil rights in this country and you have chosen to contribute to it. I will not let this happen. I will no longer patronize your business… Just two days ago I referred a friend to your business to have his computer upgraded. I immediately called him and strongly advised him to go elsewhere. When I explained why, he agreed. We need to begin organizing boycotts against individuals who threaten our personal freedoms.”

So, what do you guys think? Who was in the right? Or, if you agree with the anonymous letter (but presumably not a child pornographer), who was less in the wrong?

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50 thoughts on “Computer Technician Busts Child Porn Enthusiast, and His Employer Gets Blasted for it!

  1. Sikk…you are sick, and apparently childless and ignorant of the law. If an individual brings his private material (regardless of what it is) into a public facility for someone to ‘look at’ or ‘repair’, then, without written clarification restricting access to certain material, it is implied consent of open access.
    If it was one of my kids in the films, I would most definitely want the sick prick to be caught and brought to justice.
    But then again, I always keep a close eye on my kids to protect them from heartless people like this perpetrator and from people like you who are more concerned with the letter of the law and not the spirit. Turning a blind eye makes you just as guilty.

  2. I think you guys are looking at the issue brought about in the letter wrong.

    Cold hard facts: The laws that govern your abilities to be a “free” American, allow some people to get away perpetrating criminal acts.

    People born here in america do terrible things that would disgust any of us. That doesn’t mean anyone has the right to pry into their affairs without just cause. Like it or not, your lives would be hell if anyone who had a certification of any sort could just rifle through your belongings.

    Your sanctimonious attitudes are absurd, not a damn one of you step up to help someone who’s rights where being violated for no reason, or to protect your own, but you will get up here and applaud some prick technician that went through someones files on their computer, when it was brought in.
    You going to protect the geek squad prick that used a digital camera to tape that young lady while she was showering and he was working on her mothers computer? I mean, hey, he “accidentally” left his phone in their bathroom on record. No big deal right? If he had caught her in there watching child porn, he would be a hero.

    You guys are ridiculous. I – AM – REALLY – A – TECHNICIAN; you do not need to nose through someones files to repair a computer, I employ the use of a thumb drive, containing various file types that I open on a computer, to test media fixes, so as not to even leave the impression I am rifling through peoples files.
    How would you feel if you hired someone to repair some drawers on your antique cabinet, and he went through them, and showed your wife the pictures you had in there from college with your first love, sitting around smoking weed naked together?
    Did he have the right to go through your drawers? I guess if he finds child porn that violation is ok though.
    People that are LEGALLY, L E G A L L Y and L A W F U L L Y (both moral and by letter)convicted of Child Porography, should be beaten half to death and fed to rabid dogs on public TV, I will pay the fee to watch it. But I absolutely will not abide by those convictions made at the cost of MY liberties.
    When you allow comportment of this type to go on, unrequited, you set a standard of action, dictating that your rights are only in place, and to be respected until it is inconvenient for corporate america.

    Wake up.

  3. Yeah but he might no know the keylogger is on his pc, and being 14-15 not all of them know about that kind of stuff. And if he was stupid enough as to leave the file labelled “14 year old having sex” then one would assume that he’s stupid? and no you’re not aloud to but he got the parents consent? so I suppose it’s okay?

  4. Techy:

    lmao, you put a keylogger on his PC? Are you sure you’re allowed? And I mean, if he was savvy enough couldn’t he remove it?

  5. Well im a computer technician and I agreed what the Pc Technician did was the right thing.

    This is pretty simple and have been said a lot of time, The guy has problem with his computer viewing images, When he brough it over to have a technician service and fix the problem, The Technician did not just snoop around, he was given permission to view the files to make sure the work was done propertly.

    But as he is going through it, He saw or seen something that said kiddie porn or what ever, HE had no choice but to report him..

    Now ya guys are saying that he was wrong . How can he be wrong, When he did not do anything run but do his duty..

    Here is a good example,

    Im a tech from NYC, I service a lot of computer around in the area and have seen a lot of porn and naked pictures in a users computer, Out of all the porn videos and pictures I see I never actually focus on any of them, Well just a quick glimpse when the client said he could not see his videos, Even though that guy has tons of porn or video, I did a quick search on his computer for child and age to see if any pictures or videos will show up , but none did, So in this case, I left the client house without any issue nor any police involved,

    In one case I did find a video that said 14 year old having s** with big brother etc. Here is the weird part, It was a little kids computer, well not so little, he was 14 to 15 years old, So of course I was not going to called the police, He is a minor, So what really cant they do to him ?

    But I did tell his mother and she was really upset, that her son was watching porn videos, but not only that but it was a young girl in the video.

    Well ever since that happen, his motherhas hired me to monitor his computer habbit for awhile, which i did with a remote connection and keyloggers to see what he is doing on the computer, and every week I had to send her the information about videos of her son using the computer . and in case her son does something bad or is up to kow good, She gave me permission to shutdown the computer via remote .

    So saying all this, It all depends on the sistuation and if US technician look the other way when something like this happen, Then how can our clients trust us at all ?

    is pretty simple, is illegal to have child porn videos on your computer, If you have them and a technician see it, he will report it .

    Remember be happy that US technician do our best to keep the clients information and data safe and in privacy mode, But once you give us permission to access your file for what ever reason, what ever we find on your computer regarding child porn will be turn over to the police.

    Remember, we technician see a lot of stuff on users computer that we let go such as

    pirate copy of software install
    P2P software used to download copyright material.
    tons of music and movies you know were downloaded illegally.

    this are minor things that we let go, But when it comes to our kids, That is one thing I will never let go and I hope no technician will ever do that,

    to all those negative poster out there, God forbid is one of your kids that is on that video , and the Technician looks away, and you found about it, I will like to know how you will sleep knowing your child body has been posted all over the internet . and the technician did not do anything about it..

  6. he was asked to fix this image… in doing so he found the child porn… thats not bad (how he found it i mean) its not like he was searching through the computer and cracking passwords to get to private stuff…..

    the letter writer is stupid, and the guy who brought his computer in, well i dont think theres a word to describe him

  7. I have been repairing PC’s and doing data recovery for years. I am an OnTrack partner and have recovered files for individuals as well as local law enforcement. I have come across porn many times in my time while recovering data. In one instance a couple asked me to restore their hard drive (mainly for wedding pictures), but it also picked up lots of porn. I just ignored it and moved it all over to the new HD. BUT… If were to come across child or any other illegal porn, I would not hesitate one second to immediately call the police. I won’t go looking, but I also would never ignore it. I have a contract when I work on a recovery project, it states that any illegal material of any kind, if discovered, will be turned over to the proper authorities. I haven’t had one customer refuse to sign.

  8. That person who was whining must be stupid or something. Its illegal theres no justification for possession or making or child porn. The technician did the right thing if i was him i would of done the same thing its simply the right thing to do… If you dont want someone to find out whats on your computer than dont have someone else fix it..

  9. The Tech was a responsible American. Period.
    in any case, your right to privacy ends when you open the front door. For those that Fear “big brother government”remember that privacy Laws were enacted by the same Government, and you also forget that the Internet is a PUBLIC forum, and as such the Government can regulate what it is viewed and what isn’t- so technically everytime you open your browser you open your door and walk into public view. this why the Government tells you to take exterem steps in guarding your private data, by firewall, 128 or better encryption, et al.
    Child pronography is one more reason why the American government is stepping into private lives- some Americans simply refuse to regulate themselves.
    I appluad the tech for doing what so few Americans would have done. if that makes him Un American- and for Big brother, then So am I.
    The only ones responsible for the Moral decay in America are the ones willing to let thier Morals decay. IMHO

  10. the tech had the responsibility to inform the goverment… but it is true that our freedom is dwindling away… when the goverment tell isp’s to search their user accounts for cp and report it and keep that private info of their users for 2 years is a clear violation of our basic freedom.. what you surf is your own business and should constitutionally be deleted immediatly after you close your browser and disconnect from the net…. the government is to big… time to take our government back by voting for libertarians and government shrinkage…it supposed to be for the people by the people not by the people for the government which is th current situation…..

  11. Although TheTruthWillSetYouFree is probably just a troll its obvious that he has never read the constitution the constitution applys to gov not humans your calling him a traitor for following the first amendment is idiotic.
    We do have privacy but the technician was paid to look at the image to clarify it worked heh freedom and liberty if you dont think we are free maybe you should spend a week in a communist country then you will know what true freedom is we the people are the true power of this country politics are nothing without our votes.

    Heh Im only 19 i came from a poverty family and im a computer technician now.
    Its easy to get into school if you actualy do it.
    Mostly processing jobs are being exported it is a bit of a problem.
    Family is working my family is fine it doesnt take a mom dad and children to make a family a family is what YOU make it.

  12. Tell you what Mr. TTWSYF, go find some child porn on the internet (probably isn’t that hard); take a picture of your son / daughter / brother / sister / niece / nephew; cut out their face and tape it over the face of the image on your computer screen. While you are looking at that, see if you can even repeat the bilge you spouted. I have no idea what the new world order mafia is, but why don’t you move to Antartica and get away from it. You obviously aren’t happy where you are at.

  13. I think the tech did the right thig. Plus, get this: Child porn is a FELONY! Knowledge of a felony and not reporting it IS also a felony! If it were discovered that the tech knew about the porn and did not report it, he would also be in jail. My information on this comes from the police department.

  14. In response to Jane Dough –
    child porn is NOT a victimless fantasy… those mere existence of those pictures shows the absolute violation of a child. A CHILD. Not a consenting adult, not two teens experimenting, but a CHILD. How can you say that it is “just a fantasy” and imply that no one is hurt by it? I couldn’t care less if some lonely chick wants to give a bj to a donkey… the animal probably loves it – but a CHILD? Pull your head out.

  15. Many people are going to go to Hell for good intentions whoever is perfect and doesn’t have any sins throw the first stone. This technician who snitched on his client for having child porn is a traitor to the constitution also he will get a nice paycheck from the police for snitching so that is why he did it too. He should read the constitution of the united states about privacy, freedom, and liberty and how precious and rare it is to have.

    I feel sorry for the man who got violated and betrayed by this technician who is not really a technician but a spy for Big Brother that really makes me very angry.

    If you get mad at me for defending the poor guy who got screwed by this son of a bitch technician don’t get mad at me I don’t condome child porn.

    But instead of violating people’s privacy in this country why keep going to the small potatoes lets go after Big Brother first.

    Big Brother the Govermnet in Washington DC is the Root of all Evil in this world since they want to bring the New World Order and then you wonder why is there so many crimes going on like child porn. Thanks to Big Brother the family is being prohibited, democracy is being oppressed by not allowing minority or college graduates to succeed since all the jobs are being exported to china and the rest of the world.

    Lets first take on the New World Order Mafia and destroy that stupid idea before we are swallowed into a facist and communist country.

    I hate the New World Order since they have taken away our future it makes me so angry we could have had paradise and goodness but thanks to them we have evil and chaos.

  16. I agree with the anonymous letter if we are going to talk about dirty little secrets that people have on their closets lets start with the New World Order Mafia first…

  17. I agree with the anonymous letter that our privacy is being flushed away on the toilet I think that the government should just be shut down and then we can be free and have freedom and privacy.

    The government tries to acts as a savior and good samaritan and how they care about our families but is all a big lie the goverment is evil and they are New World Order Mafia anyway.

    So I agree with the anonymous letter end of story…

  18. To bad they took that site away, so I could find out where the pedophles are going so I coud take pics of them and turn them in I would rather kill 1 of those SOB”S than look them in the face. I cry every time I see where a child is killed and raped on TV. If you look at a pedphile list in your city you will see by there names that many are from south of the border. come on Bush bring them in or country UR a real jerk to this situation.

  19. lets be perfectly clear here.
    Before taking your computer to be serviced, make sure it’s serviced first. I say the chicken came first.

  20. I am a techncian and i have seen porn on computers before well doing system rebuilds, however i just dont move them over to the new system and then erase there image. I do alert the police, but i also show them the images. so they can make up thire minds if action should be taken

  21. If the tech found illegal images he had an obligation to report it. Anyone who thinks that the tech did the wrong thing should take a long hard look at themselves, because there’s something wrong.

  22. If you ask them to let you open picture files and you have pictures that are illegal to own on your computer, expect to be busted. If you ask them to install a DVD-Rom drive and they open your e-mail where you talk about selling cocaine, expect that the evidence should legally be inadmissable in court.

    On the other hand I think all computer repair services should have a waiver where by you give permission for techs to run a search for image and video files of child pornography and anyone caught with such material will be reported to the police and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Stupid people and criminals are bad enough, stupid criminals doubly deserve their punishment.

  23. i agree with you 100% but what if it was your girlfriends naked pictures that the tach would easly copy and post it on the internet?

  24. Well I have always heard your rights end where another persons begin. In the case of child porn the rights of an adult to view these pages end where the innocent child was violated. I not only would use this computer repair technician but I would seek him out as a reward for his solid moral decision to turn the creep in..applause for the tech..and as for the letter writer..i hope you are not a neighbor of mine..you see in your reproach for the “rights” of this creep being invaded you yourself have landed in the manure pile of society and are also a disgusting human being in my eyes.

  25. We should not expect and require children to protect themselves from such predators as child molesters and pornographers. The next expectation then, is to have the responsible, law abiding adults report and violations of a child’s safety. This goes above and beyond “privacy.” Besides the obvious factor of the children’s safety, when you give your computer over to ANYONE you are opening up yourself to having your privacy “violated.” If you don’t want person XYZ to see the info, back it up on a disc, external hard drive, etc, and/or simply don’t bring your PC in for repair! If it exists, the chances are good that someone eventually will find it. Just ask Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton, etc.

  26. I feel the computer dude did the right thing. imagine if it was a terrorist who had important photos on buildings, layouts and other things (far fetch of course) but well he red flagged the files and called the proper authoritys.

    Now as for the constitution (does that thing even count now a days?) its been written – re-written and then redone again over century of years. Now i can see if he had photos of him and his wife or well umm him and his (legal Age boyfriend or something) yeah that might be a privacy breach or storing bank files and other things. but naww he was in full justice to call the LAW.

  27. I patronized QuidNunc when I lived in West Seattle, found them competent and service oriented, and this doesn’t change my opinion one bit.

    The customer specifically brought the PC in because he couldn’t open image files. The tech HAD to look at the files to confirm the problem was fixed. This wasn’t snooping or Big Brother.

    If the tech had been working on something totally different and just went poking around, I might agree that the customer’s rights to privacy were violated. Despite what was found, there has to be a balance between the ends and the means.

    But the tech was specifically contracted to help this guy regain access to his kiddie porn. When the tech saw that porn in the performance of the customer’s request, his hands were tied. He could not legally, ethically, or morally ignore it.

  28. If the tech had turned a blind eye to the kiddie porn, then he would have been just as guilty as the perv. I believe they call it “accessary after the fact.” I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if I was the one to turn a blind eye to such crap. Kudos to the tech.

  29. I cannot believe ANYONE would even question what that technician did. I do not understand what is wrong with some Americans. What about the rights of those poor little “babies” being abused??? They are helpless.

    That Anonymous guy is the one who is truly sick and without compassion. No crimes against humanity should be left unreported. It’s one thing to steal someones car… it’s entirely another to steal someone’s soul.

  30. I think the man was right to report the porn! People whe indulge in kiddy pron is lower than a snake in a wagon rut & should be locked up & the key thrown away for ever. Yes! Do report any of it. I have children & i think “what if it was one or more of mine” I’d Kill the prevert! even if it wasn’t one of mine.

  31. If you are going to use your computer for criminal activities, and child porn is clearly a criminal activity, then you have to be an idiot to turn that computer over to a person who is not also involved in such an activity.
    There are web sites dedicated to stories of stupid criminals. This story clearly belongs on one of them.
    Stupid criminals invariably either go to jail or die. With stupid pedophiles, it’s usually both!

  32. I guess I am definitely in the minority here — but, here goes. I too do quite a lot of computer repair and have seen lots of porn that has been very disgusting to me. But because I have been doing this for so long, though, I realize that just because someone has pics of sex with donkeys does not mean that the law should be involved; only if there is evidence of one actually having sex with the aforementioned donkeys. Now, I know that child porn is especially disturbing but from what I have seen, these fantasies are just that – and are way more common than will ever be admitted publically. Perhaps there will come a time when a selling point for computer technicians will be the promise to respect their client’s privacy?

  33. I don’t think the tech should go searching all the computers that come in, but if the customer ASKS the tech to open the files, and then the tech sees clear evidence of a crime, obviously the tech is obliged to report it. It’s just an idiot customer story, and an ignorant letter writer. The letter writer surely didn’t see the bit of the story where the customer ASKED the tech to open those files!

  34. I would agree that the tech man is the hero of the hour. How can ANYBODY say or infer that the images should be swept under the carpet or a blind eye turned in the name of freedom of thought and action? The letter writer must also have a screw or two loose (old British saying!). Civil liberties and child porn do not mix. Revolting subject.

  35. Idiocy! I am all for privacy laws etc, and for the right to freedom of thought, but when it gets to something as vile as child pornography, what of the child’s rights which in these cases are far more important than the rights of some sick individual. The tech did exactly the right thing, and I would like to think that most sane and decent people would do exactly the same.

  36. The writer was way off. It makes me think the writer might have “illegal” stuff on his Pc also. Now if the Teck saw porno,(which is legal)and called to police i would also be against him.But like others there is a point of no return and if you have stuff like how to build a bomb and what you are going to blow up, then the bang stops right there.

  37. The letter writer should be ashamed of her/himself for exposing her/his idiocy to the general public. I find that most people of that ilk would be the first to cry “lawyer” if THEY were the ones whose child’s pic was found on that animal’s computer.

  38. The technician should be rewarded, not punished for reporting this filth. I believe it is our duty as citizens to try to stop child pornography whenever we can. Children are defenseless against these despicable monsters, and people who look the other way are just as guilty as the depraved predators.

  39. I think the tech did the right thing. If you break the law and don’t want the evidence seen fix the computer yourself or have someone you know won’t turn you in fix it. Whats really surprising is the flax the company got. However i suspect the aprovals would’ve been more than the disents, at least I would hope so.

  40. Same exact scenario happened in Collier County, FL two days ago. Unbelieveably, the pedophile was a Collier County Sheriff (of 15 years)!! Further, it was his wife that brought the computer in for a HD repair, and there was a folder clearly named “Child Porn” (no lie!). He was soooo busted, thankfully! Can you imagine such an individual’s life expectancy in Florida’s prisons? 2days? 3?

  41. I completely agree with the tech. I’d even freqent that company knowing that they are helping keep our community safe!

  42. I suppose if some guy took his car into a garage to change a tire, and the mechanic opens the trunk and finds a body in it, that calling the police would be bad too? You don’t HAVE to report every crime you see evidence of, but child porn? Thats a no-brainer.

  43. I know Big Brother is watching, but with out laws and people unafraid to apply them where would we be. Shoot out at the OK Corral!

  44. And if the letter writer’s child was featured in some of the kiddie porn found on the computer, I wonder if his reaction would still be the same…After all, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander…

  45. The worker had all the rights to open the file, clearly such as theproblem he was fixing required him to open the image to make sure it worked properly, at that point since he had already seen it; the proper thing to do was report it.

  46. It’s real simple. If you break the law, don’t show the evidence to other people. They might turn you in. How can anyone consider this wrong?

    Just goes to show that you don’t have to be very bright to own a computer, and that – while people do have a right to their opinions – they need to be really careful about publishing them, lest they seem like idiots.

  47. The letter writer is just as bad as the customer. An apoligist for an evil act is just as evil. When I was an IT guy I would have done the same as this tech. My boss knew my thoughts and agreed with them.

  48. As a tech I do whatever I can to not look at the data. The tech did what was right….It sucks…

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