Just got a visit from the Department of Homeland Security...

So I think I'm sufficiently calmed down now. I think, lol. I just thought I'd share my story of what happened today, perhaps as a lesson to anyone who has viewed CP in the past or is currently viewing CP (KNOCK THAT OFF!!) or, like me, someone who flags it and winds up wrapped up in something they didn't intend, but also to show that there isn't anything to fear if you're cooperative. This could just be that I got lucky in meeting nice people, but it was actually amazing to me how understanding and genuinely nice the folks at Homeland Security who investigate these things can be.

Not that I'm not nervous and now watching my online activities like a hawk, lol.

I was woken up around 2:30 or so today by incessant doorbell ringing and banging on the front door. My dad later asked if I was read my rights, which I realized later that I wasn't, but I didn't perceive them as a threat. Thank god they had a nice woman with them, because I rarely open up well to men, of which there were two. They explained that the reason they were there was to follow up on a lead of a now-defunct site which was (as I now remember it) a torrent site distributing porn videos, some of which included underage boys on webcam. Mind you, there are also video sites similar to YouTube which provide the same content submitted by users, so I explained that I always flag such content if I happened upon it.

They had a tech guy with them who skimmed through my hard drive to see if there was any CP on it. I did have a couple things which raised eyebrows (which may have been links to only nudist pictures or questionable age content, I don't look at blatant CP since I'm attracted to teens, not kids, and I'd rather view naturist content over porn as it's legal and not exploitative) but I'm not sure what they were as the screen was turned away from me and I was honestly too afraid to ask if I could have a look at what it was exactly.

They asked if I would be willing to relinquish my laptop to them for a few days. I was like "well, I don't want to get in trouble if I don't, but I'd prefer not to". Mainly because my laptop is my life right now and I have tons of novel ideas and music that I work on every day and I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I had no outlets to express my booming creativity, lol. They were fine with it, but I do know they are probably keeping an eye on me.

In any case, they were aware of some sites I had bookmarked. The woman asked "what age range are you attracted to". I said "around 18 or so..." she said "that's the safe answer." So I explained around 14 to 16 or so and that I honestly don't like it about myself, and I told her about my fear of getting counseling and that I'm not the type of person who wants to go out and do things with underage boys, I don't perceive myself as a threat and I mostly only look at nudist pictures, of which she explained the legality of. I also told her about this site and that there's a lot of people who are afraid of society and to get help because of the stigma.

She said she's known some people have gone to counselors who SPECIALIZE in these kinds of things and were actually better off for it. She left her business card with me, so I may email her and ask where to find such services. I was very clear about the whole "I don't want the door slammed in my face or to have the cops called on me" and she said there are people who are very understanding and specialize in that sort of thing. I hope she's right, because experiencing that sort of thing and dealing with attractions you're ashamed of isn't easy in this society, as we all know here.

Overall, she seemed very understanding and was nice about the whole thing and explained who they were and what it was they were looking for, and I'm glad I cooperated with them and was also able to help them out by giving them a couple different sites I've come across as well. I explained what I knew and acknowledged some things they were already familiar with about me.

I'm honestly surprised I took it so well (even if I was shaking and craving my anxiety meds and a cigarette the whole time), though my dad got home in the middle of it, which I also had to explain to him =/ Thankfully, they were very quiet when we talked about my attractions, so he didn't have to find out that part.

UGH!! Anyway, I'm not sure how to feel right now. Scared? Paranoid? I seriously never want to visit a single porn site ever again after this!

Has anyone else ever had to deal with something like this, and if so, what was your experience? I didn't want to discuss my attractions the whole time and was hoping not to get into it, but believe me that if this happens to you, YOU WILL eventually come around to that discussion. It's not easy at all, but as long as you're cooperative with them, they're actually very understanding and appreciative for the help you give them.

I was wary about showing them this site, but to be honest, I hope it educates them in some ways to understand that we are not monsters. I know the mods here do their job of reporting people who admit to assaulting a child, so I didn't see the harm in guiding them to this forum.

Anyway, as I asked before. Has anyone else here dealt with this before? And if so, what was your experience? And should I be more paranoid than I feel right now? The woman said before she left "I hope I never have to see you again" lol.

I know how you must have felt.

Last year, I had a visit from a copper, who advised me to voluntarily surrender myself at the police station for questioning about 'internet posts'. It was that or be arrested there and then. He gave me a date to turn up, which was a couple of weeks away, and I spent that time worried sick.

I didn't have a clue what it was about, apart from 'internet posts', so I naturally assumed I was going to be grilled about necrophilia, and was terrified of being named and shamed in the local paper. The effect that would have on my family and daughters doesn't bear thinking about.

It turned out to be about an insulting comment my daughter had posted about some foreign service staff who couldn't understand our order in a fast food restaurant. I didn't know whether to be relieved, or angry that I'd been put through all that worry about something so petty. I still can't believe the police actually wasted their own time on it.

Ouch. That is quite a mess (understatement) but hopefully that's the end of the issue. Good luck.

Well, if nothing else, this is a good warning to everyone that breaking the law is unacceptable.

platonic wrote:Ouch. That is quite a mess (understatement) but hopefully that's the end of the issue. Good luck.

Well, if nothing else, this is a good warning to everyone that breaking the law is unacceptable.

Agreed completely. I never found myself even beginning to want to seek the real stuff as I knew it was morally disgusting and legally a life sentence. Even the fact that I used to look at lolicon and "cub artwork" (all fantasy art with "minors" in the drawings.) still scares me stiff even with those being legal grey area at best in the US.

To look at real CP is reprehensible and just begging for trouble. This thread emphasizes just that. If you're looking at it, cut that out, or expect the worst.

I'm sort of afraid to even use my laptop for anything right now since they did check my hard drive. I'm grateful they didn't take it, but with the whole Edward Snowden speech, I'm kinda scared. I deleted all my bookmarks to every porn site whatsoever and refuse to go to anything anymore.

It's not like I was blatantly looking for CP, I just flagged what I found and commented on a couple sites warning them to stop posting or tolerating the posting of it or links to it, and unfortunately I had to input an email into it to say anything, and that email wound up on the distro list for that site and that's how they found me.

I'm hoping I don't hear from them again, but I gave them my contact info so I don't know.

When I said I preferred not to give up my computer, two of them went outside and had a private conversation, but for what its worth, I think the woman understood me and that I was 100% cooperative. One of the last things she said was "hopefully I won't have to see you again" so I hope not.

I emailed her asking what's gonna happen next, so until then I'll be waiting and biting my nails =/

Probably nothing's going to happen next, but you'll be on edge every time there's a knock at the door for a while. I'm only just starting to get past that.

They're not going to take you to a court if all you've done is flag certain sites upon finding them. Unless you've got a stash of illegal images somewhere, I'd say you've got nothing to worry about.

Very interesting. I hope they come to my house just so I can get some understanding lol. The prob is, I havn't looked at CP. Only all the other legal stuff which I now have stopped after finding out my condition and being completely freaked out.

I won't look at CP guys lol. I have too many values for that. I just wish I could get some understanding like that once in a while. That's why I like these forms. It helped me not want to kill myself over this condition.

Yeah it is crazy when you are in a situation like that. I know that when I got busted it was the most akward moment of my entire life as well as the child that I was with. I was caught in the act by the childs mother and then she called the police and when they arrived I was half dressed and the looks that I was given and how I was treated like a monster were rough to say the least.

Then they searched my home and took all my computers and found my CP and all that crap that I had been collecting for many years. So yeah be careful what you do out there and I am not saying that people will do the stuff that I did but it can happen to anyone at anytime.

Far be it from me to call someone a liar, but since when does DHS investigate online pornsite users? To say nothing of having the manpower to do so. If they're gonna knock on someone's door over that sort of thing I'd hope they're going to be arressting the person, not interviewing them with 3 people whose talents are better applied looking for terrorists.

Absent a search warrant, they shouldn't be allowed in. Exceptions exist but deal with terrorism related things. They woulda known everything you were up to already, not have to go visit then ask your permission to browse your laptop.

I'm calling shennanigans.

HesDeltanCaptain wrote:Far be it from me to call someone a liar, but since when does DHS investigate online pornsite users? To say nothing of having the manpower to do so. If they're gonna knock on someone's door over that sort of thing I'd hope they're going to be arressting the person, not interviewing them with 3 people whose talents are better applied looking for terrorists.

Absent a search warrant, they shouldn't be allowed in. Exceptions exist but deal with terrorism related things. They woulda known everything you were up to already, not have to go visit then ask your permission to browse your laptop.

I'm calling shennanigans.

I wish I could agree. But basically they DID know what I was up to already, places I'd been online, where I had accounts I'd since deleted or forgotten about. It wasn't about typical porn site users, there was a blog site I had been to that dealt specifically in distributing torrents, some of which had underage teen boys (which were posts I'd flagged or commented on to tell the mods to remove them, to no avail). They showed me their badges and explained why they were there. The DHS most definitely DOES investigate this sort of thing (a quick Google search will tell you so, look up "Operation Predator"), even in the midst of a government shutdown. They themselves were not furloughed because they were seen as a necessary service, but a lot of the people they typically work with were on furlough.

As for why they didn't just kick in the door and slap the cuffs on me, I've no idea and can't really answer anything about that. I'm still waiting for a phone call to see what happens next. But from what I gather, it's part of an ongoing crackdown on CP. They asked if I'd heard about a couple other sites I wasn't familiar with.

They didn't have a search warrant, but I invited them in and cooperated with everything they asked and wanted. They asked if they could search my computer, I let them, and I answered all their questions.

So yes this is a real story, I definitely wouldn't lie about this sort of thing and I pray no one else here has to feel the level of anxiety that I do right now.