what to do about child porn?
 

i am brand new to limewire and the whole sharing thing, so please bear w/ me

in my first few searches for movies (not adult) i have seen some very disturbing things - videos w/ titles that suggest children performing sex acts

i was shocked and would like to know if there is something i can do when i see these things - is there some way of flagging them as illegal? can we report them somehow? :mad:

your quick replies would be greatly appreciated

To get the videos you want to get, see tips here Movie download issues

As for pedophile stuff, you can report it to bitzi. You can also try to ensure you don't downld it by accident again by following the above tips & also putting words like peda & pedo in your keyword filter. How to use the Keyword Filter. You can also filter out porn by adding the following terms to your keyword filter: Direct instructions to eliminate porn from results

As for reporting ... it depends. If the person has accidentally downlded 2 or 3 by accident like you but hasn't checked them (some people don't check their files for many weeks) then ignore. However, if they have a great long list of such files, then you can report it to the authorities in your local country. Yes authorities do share such info across borders. You can report it here with their ip number: http://www.ic3.gov/ or locally find links here http://www.gnutellaforums.com/showthread.php?t=56949

FYI I recently saw a UK internet research company found that something like 50% of such comes from USA. That's a surprise! :eek: :(

thank you

i don't think i actually downloaded them (god i hope not) - they just came up on my search results

as bad as it is to see the titles, i'd rather report them than ignore them :( i cannot see these and not try to stop them, that stuff is so deeply disturbing to me - is this how it always is?

As said, some people download them by accident. It has been reported many times on this forum. Don't dob in people who may only have one or a few such files by accident. And the thing is, when people downld them, they are then shared. If you find it disturbing then filter them out so you won't find them again. Leave the rest up to the authorities. Don't dob in potentially innocent people.

Thanks, I didnt even realise there was a search filter. And after accidentally downloading a file this morning I then came here to say the exact same thing as Concerned! Now I continue searching without this filth!

Thanks for the tip about reporting. I JUST got Limewire and for fun did a search on my name just to see what all would turn up and got some extremely suspicious search results. I went looking for a way to report child pornography when I saw this forum link. Was going to report a few of them when I browsed their library and discovered that usually only one or two of those types of files existed there. Some of the people that I tried to browse I was unable to do so... Are these people hiding their contents and should be assumed to be distributing child pornography and be reported? Also. What should I do if I accidentally download illegal material like that. Can I just delete it from my hard drive and be safe? Are feds going to come knocking down my door because of an accidental download of this smut? These files are numerous in nature just from the search of my name and seem to have most common words in their search name. It scares me that it would be so easily available and especially if downloading a block of files at a time it would be super easy to pick up several of these files inadvertantly... Makes me want to stop using file sharing altogether.

Suggestions
 

Here are some general suggestions as to how NOT to download gross KP.

One of the most effective methods I've found when searching for and DLing vids (of whatever kind) is to search for vids only, and then to sort the results by descending size (i.e. biggest files on top). When you're talking about videos, it's unusual for anything below 8 MB to be legit, especially when the vid is longer than 5 minutes or so. I don't touch anything below 10 MB. KP I've found accidentally is almost always in smallish files.

Also, in terms of what to do when/if KP is accidentally downloaded, there's a program called Eraser that's free and is designed to securely empty your recycle bin (by erasing it), as well as erasing empty disk space. In other words, when you delete something normally, there is still a "trace" of it, unless you fill the space on the drive with other stuff. Eraser overwrites all empty space on a drive, effectively wiping out any trace of anything that may have been there.

Whether or not I surreptitiously downloaded any KP, I Erase on a regular basis. It's just smart to do (I think). I find these simple yet effective steps help me to sleep better.

LimeWire and P2P in general are some of the last bastions of total freedom we have left. Let's not let the less-than-nice side of it, putrid as it may be, ruin all the greatness for everyone.

Sorry for top posting. Note that even accidental downloading is an offence. I'm not trying to spread paranoia but do check your local laws for what is classed as in indecent picture of a child. Use the keyword filters and don't take risks. There are a lot of people in trouble for having banner adverts in their cache and the law in certain localities will class this as a 'making' offense. Don't take any risks with your searches.

Does this stop your ISP from knowing what you've downloaded? I'm curious, if you download something by accident, how will your ISP know that it was on accident? Can they still report you?

I think there are certain websites you can send a screenshot and the IP addresses to. Probably the police are the best option though, I'd trust them more to use that information properly than some civilian organization.