I work for a small independent private firm and are instructed by solicitors to do mainly defence work.
We had a discussion in the office today surrounding a case which was nothing to do with IIOC, but we found some IIOC on devices. One of the staff members believes that it is not our duty to report, whereas I believe it is.
Is there any written guidance surrounding this issue, i.e. from the police or the government?
I work for a small independent private firm and are instructed by solicitors to do mainly defence work.
We had a discussion in the office today surrounding a case which was nothing to do with IIOC, but we found some IIOC on devices. One of the staff members believes that it is not our duty to report, whereas I believe it is.
Is there any written guidance surrounding this issue, i.e. from the police or the government?
UK?
Report it.
See
https://forensicfocus.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=1431/
https://forensicfocus.com/Forums/viewtopic/p=6571310/#6571310
The referenced ACPO is available here
https://
it has to be checked if in later versions (if any) matters have changed.
jaclaz
Yes the UK, I would report it, and we have done so, but I wanted to see if there was any firm laws or procedures in place.
Thank you.
There are some useful guidelines within the CPS website surrounding the Memorandum of Understanding between CPS and ACPO in relation to indecent images
They acknowledge that there are many organisations who will come by such images during the course of their legitimate work.
"The Sexual Offences Act 2003 includes at section 46 an amendment to the 1978 Act of creating a defence to a charge of "making". A defence is available where a person "making" such a photograph or pseudo-photograph can prove that it was necessary to do so for the purposes of the prevention, detection or investigation of crime, or for the purposes of criminal proceedings.
Individuals or organisations who accidentally discover criminal activity or to whom such activity is reported require protection from the risk of prosecution where, in order to report it, they make a copy".
Hope that helps
I don't know about British law, but in the U.S. you're obligated to report it.
That said, be aware that the result of reporting may get all of your media seized; originals, images, backups, possibly even your entire image database and whatever else they may chose to grab.
Legally there is no obligation for you to report a crime as a civilian, unless something is written within your own company guidelines.
However morally i'd expect everyone to report a crime.
I agree that there is a moral duty to report a crime. However, the situation is more complex. By imaging a device that contains IIOC you have made more IIOC material and you are also possessing that material. The defence was made to help forensic examiners (see JerryW comment). I believe that failure to take advantage of this defence could make the forensic examiner liable to prosecution.
I agree that there is a moral duty to report a crime. However, the situation is more complex. By imaging a device that contains IIOC you have made more IIOC material and you are also possessing that material. The defence was made to help forensic examiners (see JerryW comment). I believe that failure to take advantage of this defence could make the forensic examiner liable to prosecution.