Implications
The implications of this judgement were extensive—not only did it confirm that those downloading indecent images from the Internet were breaking the law, it also meant that law enforcement officers committed the same offence when they made a copy of the contents of suspects' computer disks. This led to amendments to the Protection of Children Act by the Sexual Offences Act 2003 to create a statutory defence where it was necessary "to make the photograph or pseudo-photograph for the purposes of the prevention, detection or investigation of crime, or for the purposes of criminal proceedings".
It also meant that those simply viewing Internet child pornography on their computer screens were committing the offence. In R v Jayson (CA, EWCA Crim 683) the Court of Appeal ruled that "the act of voluntarily downloading an indecent image from a web page on to a computer screen is an act of making a photograph or pseudo-photograph".
Read more about this topic: R V Bowden
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