Bill on online child pornography sparks debate over enforcement

CARSON CITY -- A legislative proposal enabling authorities to prosecute people who view child pornography prompted concerns Wednesday that it could be used against people who unintentionally go to an Internet porn page.

Currently, the state can prosecute those who download images from the Internet onto their computers, but not those who view them.

The bill also would enable prosecutors to go after people who broadcast or view child pornography in "Second Life," a popular online community in which users create a virtual second identity and invite guests to view movies.

Assembly Bill 88 was sought by Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto and was modeled after a similar law in Florida.

Washoe County Sheriff's Detective Dennis Carry told the Assembly Judiciary Committee: "We are drowning in cases in Nevada. We have far more cases than we can get to that deal with online child exploitation."

Carry said that as companies release security upgrades that improve user privacy, it becomes harder for forensic examiners to recover information from a computer.

James Earl, Masto's technological crime chief, said that in "Second Life," users can stream a video into a virtual room using a DVD player, without downloading files to their computer, and avoid prosecution under existing laws.

Assemblyman William Horne, D-Las Vegas, vice chairman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, questioned how police could prosecute people for watching a streaming video if they didn't actually download a file.

Carry said police often get tips that alert them to activities in Internet chat rooms or destinations in "Second Life."

Jason Frierson, representing the Clark County public defender's office, raised concerns that the proposed law could affect people who follow links or have ads popping up on their computer screen.

"We don't disagree on the effort, we just don't agree on how to get there," he said.

Carry said that to determine whether an individual intended to view child porn, authorities would look at the history of pages viewed by that person.