Offences Committed By Viewing Child Pornography On Computers

By David Ellis (partner) and Stephen Bureaux (solicitor)

Summary

The UK Court of Appeal in R v (1) Graham Westgarth Smith, (2) Mike Jayson (2002) held that mere internet browsing of web-pages, or opening of emails, containing indecent photographs of children is an offence under English Law (s1.(1) of the Protection of Children Act 1978). Hong Kong law differs from English law in this respect. The nearest equivalent legislation being the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance, which does not prohibit viewing of obscene material.

Full Article

The Court in this case held that the act of voluntarily downloading an indecent image from the internet to a computer screen, or opening an attachment that contained an indecent image of a child so that it was displayed on the screen, was an act of making a photograph or pseudo-photograph because the computer's operator, in so downloading, was causing the image to exist on the screen. The other necessary