REQUIRED child pr0n reporting

Michigan is trying to pass a law that would require computer technicians to report if they find child porn on a client computer. This is one of those cases where you hesitate to criticize because it just seems to make common sense. I mean, really, who can argue against protecting children, right? But then again, who is protecting the technician and the client?

This law stems from a couple of cases in Michigan where computer technicians found child pornography on client computers and reported it, even though there was no law requiring them to do so. With this law getting passed, they would be required to report it. They would also be protected against civil liability and would have their identity kept confidential if they report it. Of course, if they DON'T report it, they can get fined up to $500 and go to jail for up to 93 days. Here's the text (have fun with the legal jargon):

A COMPUTER TECHNICIAN WHO HAS KNOWLEDGE OF OR OBSERVES CHILD SEXUALLY ABUSIVE MATERIAL WITHIN THE SCOPE OF HIS OR HER
PROFESSIONAL CAPACITY OR EMPLOYMENT SHALL REPORT THAT KNOWLEDGE OR OBSERVATION TO THE LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. A COMPUTER TECHNICIAN WHO FAILS TO REPORT KNOWLEDGE OR OBSERVATION OF CHILD SEXUALLY ABUSIVE MATERIAL AS REQUIRED IN THIS SUBSECTION IS GUILTY OF A MISDEMEANOR PUNISHABLE BY IMPRISONMENT FOR 93 DAYS OR A FINE OF $500.00, OR BOTH. If a computer technician reports to a law enforcement agency having jurisdiction his or her knowledge or observation, within the scope of his or her professional capacity or employment, of an electronic visual image, computer-generated
image or picture or sound recording depicting a person that the computer technician has reason to know or reason to believe is a child engaged in a listed sexual act; furnishes a copy of that image, picture, or sound recording to the law enforcement agency; or keeps the image, picture, or sound recording according to the law enforcement agency's instructions, both of the following shall
apply:
(a) The identity of the computer technician shall be
confidential, subject to disclosure only with his or her consent or by judicial process.
(b) If the computer technician acted in good faith, he or she shall be immune from civil liability that might otherwise be incurred by his or her actions. This immunity extends only to acts described in this subsection.

OK, a few issues here (some of these were raised by an astute critic of the law at MichiganVotes.com). One, they say the technician's identity will be kept confidential, "subject to disclosure only with his or her consent or by judicial process." Well, they might not be open to civil liability, but there's really no way here to stop some savvy lawyer from getting the court to drag them to court and then dragging them through the mud. And what is to keep the client from exposing their name?

Two, how can you tell if the technician wasn't just snooping around? How do you prove that? He was probably using the client's login to the computer, so there's no way of tracking that access except through time stamp.

Three, how do you prove that the technician saw the bad stuff but didn't report it? What is keeping the technician from getting in trouble even though they never saw the porn?

Four, what about the client who has pornography that LOOKS like child porn but is actually legal? How do you keep the technician or the technician's boss from going to the media? What happens when they get their name displayed on every newspaper, and then it is found that the stuff is legal (legal does NOT equal tasteful or ethical, but that's not the point)? Are they open to a defamation lawsuit (I think that fits more than libel or slander)?

There are probably other issues here as well, not to mention just the good ol' privacy issue. Again, this is one of those issues that has me wondering if I should even think about criticizing. My gut says, "If you don't have child porn, you don't have to worry about this." But there are problems (mentioned above) with that thinking, and it scares me a bit.

Of course, you have to take all of this opinion with a grain of salt. I just finished reading 1984 for the first time, which caused me to get a little more paranoid, have some bad dreams, start shaking and sweating, etc. I really don't want to be locked in a room with O'Brien trying to convince me that I was looking at child pornography while at the same time telling me I wasn't (doublethink - if you have read it, you know what I mean). I am kidding of course. I don't believe it will ever get that bad. OK, I am off to room 101...