November 22, 2024
You have doubtless heard that the movie version of the hit Broadway musical “Wicked” has opened to generally positive reviews. And one of the inevitable commercial tie-ins to the film were “Wicked” dolls. Apparently, however, the packaging for the dolls had an unfortunate misprint: the website on the package is “wicked.com,” which happens to be a porn site.
This raised a question that was put to me today: If you inadvertently view child sexual abuse imagery, is that a crime? For that matter, if you see someone viewing child sexual abuse imagery on his device, and you view it over his shoulder, is that a crime?
The governing statute in New Hampshire provides that it is illegal knowingly to “Buy, procure, possess, or control any visual representation of a child engaging in sexually explicit conduct.” So, clearly, if you inadvertently find such images on your screen, you are in the clear; you did not do so “knowingly.” Similarly, I’m not sure viewing those images over someone else’s shoulders constitutes buying, procuring, possessing or controlling those images.
On the other hand, if that’s where your predilections lie, you should seriously think about getting some help.