Operation Ore
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Q & A
The UK police had evidence those people arrested had viewed child pornography?
No, there was no reason to believe the majority of the people arrested had ever seen child pornography.
The UK police had reasonable grounds to suspect those people arrested had viewed child pornography?
No, the Landslide data, although defective, only incriminated a minority of those arrested.
Every picture is a crime scene?
No. The images were harvested from imagery circulating in the public domain, primarily Usenet. Many of these images had been scanned from magazines. Most of the imagery was of entirely healthy and happy people, often at nudist camps.
Every act of looking at one of these images is a further act of abuse of a child?
No. The Ore list were people the police alleged had looked at images of children on their computers. Unless these people were in a position to prevent abuse, they were not committing a further act of abuse.
Looking at adult pornography is one step away from looking at child pornography which is one step away from abusing a child?
Yes. Also, using the Internet is one step away from pornography, and as you tuck into your dinner with a knife, if you are not alone, holding a knife is one step away from murder.
All those people who were prosecuted were guilty of an offence?
No. This was the largest miscarriage of justice this century, and the precedent for much more.
The majority of people with child imagery on their computers had an interest in child imagery?
No.
The people who did have an interest in child imagery were therefore a risk to children?
No.
If people pleaded guilty, did that mean they were guilty?
No.
If people died, did that mean they were guilty?
No.
What is an indecent image of a child?
Potentially any image of an under 18 year old on a computer (under 16 at the time of Landslide). What is shown on television or in newspapers are not considered by the police to be such an image, even if they meet the same criteria.
Is the click here for child porn page the police have shown genuine?
No. Landslide visitors are likely to have seen the AVS site or the KEYZ site. (Compare police / real versions of the same story here).
What is the maximum sentence for acquiring one of these images from the Internet?
10 years in jail, life on the sex offenders register.