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Am I legally required to report suspected criminal behavior

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durango_d

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Texas

Hi, I run an website only for adults 18+. Our policy is to remove illegal content when discovered and terminate the users account who posted the content immediately, and also ban their IP address. I know morally i would report suspected criminal activity but my question is am i required to by law (state or federal)?

1. Is our policy sufficient to meet the standards of state and federal law as a site owner, or are we required by law to report them to law enforcement?

2. If we are required to report the member, is there a requirement as to what the report should include? What i mean is if i report their IP, username, email, other contact info, and attached the illegal content that they posted, is that enough to meet requirements?

Its not that i mind reporting anyone, we have nothing to hide and i hate crime. However giving personal details of our website, server address, colocation, and other details may lead to harrassment or snooping around the site from law enforcment by those that are biased against adult websites, as well as harrassment to our current legal standing users. This could violate our privacy terms that we consider serious.

As far as an answer goes what im looking for is something like these examples:

1. There are no state or federal requirments to report criminal behavior.
2. There are state requirements in Texas but no federal requirements.
3. There are federal requirements but no Texas requirements.
4. There are requirements depending on special circumstances of your website.
5. We dont know.


I am asking this because one of our users had mentioned that he thought it was required and i dont think it is required by state or federal. I know there is a moral obligation and thats fine, but i dont think there is a legal obligation.

Thanks so much...
 


xylene

Senior Member
Be specific.

Also - I think you need an attorney's specific guidance.

I would NOT attach or forward any images of the sort I suspect you are talking about.
 

durango_d

Junior Member
Hi, yes i do understand that if it is illegal content and i forward it or even make a copy of it (to protect myself) then i could be guilty of a crime as well, i am very cautious about that.


So specifically, some user signed on and posted images of beastiality with a dog. I deleted the images and i terminated his account and banned his ip. Am i required by law to report him to LE?
 
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xylene

Senior Member
Hi, yes i do understand that if it is illegal content and i forward it or even make a copy of it (to protect myself) then i could be guilty of a crime as well, i am very cautious about that.


So specifically, some user signed on and posted images of beastiality with a dog. I deleted the images and i terminated his account and banned his ip. Am i required by law to report him to LE?
I told you, I this is not a y/n situation, and you yourself raised some of the very good reasons why not.

I suggest you have a fund drive for legal expenses with your members and if they balk you should ban hammer those members too.
 
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durango_d

Junior Member
OK thanks i appreciate the info :) There are much bigger fish than me, im not even a spec of grain on a catfishes whisker so ill also be watching to see what those two come up with.
 

quincy

Senior Member
If you as web host are not contributing to the content on your site, you have an immunity from suit under the Communications Decency Act's section 230.

You do not have to provide a user's account information unless you receive a subpoena ordering the disclosure.

You can continue to delete from your site anything that violates your terms of service (or that violates a law) and you can continue to ban any users who violate your terms (or the law).
 
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