>>16605295
>Should I end my life? Im seriously considering suicide at this point
Wtf you don't even have anyone asking you about it. Talk about paranoia. You should probably figure that out.

You didn't save any, hell you didn't even watch them the whole way through. This is a one time thing. You're gonna be fine.

>>16605307
To be honest I watched multiple all the way through before I realized I completely fucked up. The few I saw only scratched the surface of what was there.
At first I was curious, but then absolutely disgusted, honestly.
You're right, I didn't save anything.

But ive read up on this sort of thing, and there are lists of video names, file names and shit in databases or ISPs which trigger notifications, im assuming the titles were the original ones, I have no clue, but im legitimately worried I might be investigated because of it, which is why im considering suicide.
Everyone has stumbled onto things in the past, viewed stuff they werent supposed to out of curiosity or somehow, Most anyone whos spent any matter of time lurking /b/ has probably run into something illegal or accidentally viewed something illegal, I dont want to be singled out as a suspect just because I browse /b/ a lot.

>This is a one time thing.
Damn straight. I never want to see anything like that again.
I dont want to give my family the trouble of having their neet, worthless peace of shit relative going to prison, i'd seriously rather commit suicide.

>>16605295
You're fine.
You have nothing on your computer.

Yes, it would be ideal for us to punish everyone who views child pornography. But, in practice, that would be ridiculous. The authorities are looking for people who produce, upload, otherwise distribute that kind of content. Not people who find it by accident.

Even if someone DID trace it back to you and attempt to punish you, and the powers that be decided to press charges, any lawyer could get you off scoff free.

Dude, this isn't how people get busted for having child porn. The cops who handle this shit, unfortunately enough, have to deal with enough of it that they're quite able to tell when somebody's procured it intentionally; they usually have thousands upon thousands of images and videos saved, not a couple links in their cache. Maybe, maybe, if you were being investigated for something else serious, and they obtained a warrant, they could nail you with an extra "possession of child porn" charge. As it is they're massively unlikely to pursue this or even become aware of it and even if they did, you'd be able to argue quite convincingly in court that you clicked the links unintentionally, substantiated by the fact that you spent only a few seconds looking at them before you closed them and you never went searching for them again. Do you think cops and judges are idiots? It's not like they're so technologically illiterate (or corrupt) that they never even consider the possibility for situations like this to occur.

Basically, cool your fucking jets.

And seriously, consider talking to some sort of professional about your anxiety issues. I know child porn is horrifying and dealing with the legal system is scary but I'm legitimately worried about somebody so unstable that such a minor incident could make them consider suicide.

And although normally I'd let you infer this by yourself, given your panicky tone I'm going to be quite clear: I stand by everything I said even having read your followup post, even though you didn't "spend only a few seconds looking at them."

>>16605353
>Dude, this isn't how people get busted
https://www.dropbox.com/transparency
Well after reading through this, i'm even more terrified. I'm unsure if this only applies to accounts, or general access records of people who view content. But this information is mortifying.

>As it is they're massively unlikely to pursue this
Maybe, thats true, I HOPE.
I've just heard things in the past about ways websites or ISPs use methods of grabbing large amounts of people for monitoring or flagging based of keywords, file names or website urls etc.
>Do you think cops and judges are idiots? It's not like they're so technologically illiterate (or corrupt) that they never even consider the possibility for situations like this to occur.
No, but its easy to assume anyone looking over the person's history might assume something negative especially if they happen to browse /b/ a lot, you're sort of guilty by associate, or perhaps not I dont know. multiple thousands of people browse that shithole after all.
>And seriously, consider talking to some sort of professional about your anxiety issues.
i wouldnt say i was traumatized by the material so much as disgusted by it, but the possibility of the consequences from it is much more disturbing to me. I do have a history of anxiety, I can't treat it in my current situation though, unfortunately.
>but I'm legitimately worried about somebody so unstable that such a minor incident could make them consider suicide.
Personally I'd consider this a good reason to commit suicide, I'm such an anxious person that the idea of getting in trouble over this sort of this is worse than not existing, ive never been more frightened.

>>16605365
I appreciate that, but I can't stand living in fear, I dont want to want to continue this sort of feeling, i'd like some kind of proof that im definitely not at risk here, because sadly, despite not being affect now, they get people slowly, it might take months or even years until they get around to doing something, I just dont want to spend that long being this worried.

>>16605392
Let me repeat, since you're just not getting it, this just isn't how people get busted for child porn. I promise you.

I'm not trying to be mean, I'm trying to shake you out of this panicky fugue you're in.

All that legal shit you linked boils down to this: "This is not a data haven. You don't have the right to store anything illegal here, and we're going to cooperate fully with law enforcement if they order us to, so don't be stupid about what you upload, okay?" Scroll down to the section that says "Information Dropbox provides in response." Notice how it's all shit about "accounts"? You know, like "providing the files stored in that person's Dropbox account"?

Law enforcement officials mostly are interested in pursuing the people who produce, store and distribute illegal material. That's their first priority. That's what all that legal shit is there to address, people who use Dropbox to host child porn (and other illegal content.) Those are the people they're interested in busting. Not however many dozens or hundreds of random folks happened to access a publicly shared account. When you hear about people who simply possessed child porn being arrested, they're almost always the ones who downloaded literally thousands of videos and images, dozens or hundreds of gigabytes. Often they're people who are in contact with others like them online. The sorts of people who are caught up in that sort of thing tend to demonstrate pretty consistent patterns of behavior. Believe it or not, cops are not so incompetent that they can't tell the difference between somebody deliberately procuring child porn (especially, especially if they were sharing it) and somebody who accessed it by mistake, and they're not so eager for arrests that they're willing to hit an innocent person. Ethics aside, going after you would literally be a waste of their time.

Nothing is going to happen to you.

This is not going to follow you.

You are not going to get arrested for this.

I am not a lawyer. I cannot give you professional legal advice. Please do not construe this post as being such. If you want absolute, complete closure on this, then get in touch with a legal professional and explain the situation to them. But I do know what I am talking about here, and I'm telling you he'll tell you the exact same thing: you really have nothing to worry about.

You are not a criminal, and the police are not going to waste their time with you. It's possible you haven't even committed a crime; in general simply viewing child porn isn't actually a crime, distributing or possessing it is. Of course in the digital realm the line between merely viewing something and possessing it is shaky at best, and I'm not going to go down that road any further because I don't know where you live and anyway that's getting perilously close to dispensing legal advice, and as I said, I am not a legal expert. But I hope you take my point.

You didn't save those videos. Many people probably accessed them accidentally at the same time you did. They're not coming for you. They're not coming for any of them either. They might be coming for whoever uploaded them, though.

The police have bigger fish to fry.

Now calm. The fuck. Down.

>>16605461
>I'm not trying to be mean, I'm trying to shake you out of this panicky fugue you're in.
I don't assume you're being rude or mean, I actually appreciate your willingness to put up with me and take the time to address my concerns. Thank you.
>All that legal shit you linked boils down to this: "This is not a data haven. You don't have the right to store anything illegal here, and we're going to cooperate fully with law enforcement if they order us to, so don't be stupid about what you upload, okay?"
So all that stuff applies to only people who upload it? I was so stressed out had a difficult time following it. If what you say is true, then that is a relief, but honestly how do you know they dont just give out every IP associated with it as well as the account that uploaded it? perhaps im just being paranoid.
>The sorts of people who are caught up in that sort of thing tend to demonstrate pretty consistent patterns of behavior.
Im worried that, if my history were to be investigated, I would be misidentified as that sort of person since I do browse /b/ quite a lot, sometimes go into loli (2D) anime threads, its relatively harmless but im guessing anyone investigating would assume it to be obscene either way.
>cops are not so incompetent that they can't tell the difference between somebody deliberately procuring child porn (especially, especially if they were sharing it) and somebody who accessed it by mistake
Is this implying that records or histories will be reviewed by someone? or is this just a hypothetical?

>>16605295
The Law doesn't care about random shit found in your cache. Even if they did, which they don't, the likelihood of you being charged is infinitesimally small. You'd have better luck winning the lottery.

>>16605480
>complete closure on this, then get in touch with a legal professional and explain the situation to them.
Id rather not get involved with anyone at all if possible, i'd just like to forget all about this or get away from this situation.
>Many people probably accessed them accidentally at the same time you did.
This is likely, with the amount of people that use this website, im sure there were a lot of others. It was very vague.
>>16605527
>The Law doesn't care about random shit found in your cache. Even if they did, which they don't, the likelihood of you being charged is infinitesimally small. You'd have better luck winning the lottery.
Where do you get this kind of info? I'd love to believe it but my paranoia/worry wont let me. I hope you're right, i really do.

>>16605295

You should always report everything you can to the authorities. If you're as horrified by the content as you claim to be, you would do everything you can to get justice for those kids. Their safety is worth a hell of a lot more than your embarrassment.

>>16605496
>So all that stuff applies to only people who upload it? I was so stressed out had a difficult time following it. If what you say is true, then that is a relief, but honestly how do you know they dont just give out every IP associated with it as well as the account that uploaded it? perhaps im just being paranoid.
I don't know for a fact that they don't track and provide that information. All the information on the Dropbox transparency page deals with providing access to and information from people's accounts. I very much doubt they will provide a list of every single IP address that ever accessed this particular account -- like I said, dozens or hundreds of random people may have stumbled across it from that thread alone. Even if they did, I very much doubt law enforcement would look at every single one of those several hundred IPs and follow through on each one. If somebody accessed it often -- I could see them investigating that.

>Im worried that, if my history were to be investigated, I would be misidentified as that sort of person since [I browse /b/, etc]
When I said "consistent patterns of behavior" that's not what I meant. I meant that there tend to be patterns in how they search for, store and share these files. The FBI (or whoever handles this wherever you live) isn't going to pull up the undoubtedly-massive file they have on you (I'm kidding) and muse to themselves, hm, 4chan? This guy goes on some shady sites, we'd better check him out.

>Is this implying that records or histories will be reviewed by someone? or is this just a hypothetical?
Purely a hypothetical.

post cont'd

>>16605536
well if the site took it down, then im sure the site itself reported the content already, theyre obligated to.

If you want certainty, all I can tell you is to talk to a lawyer (I realize that's expensive, but it's rather less drastic than suicide, I hope you'll agree, and it would be confidential.) Even they won't be able to provide an absolute guarantee. Your doctor also can't provide an absolute guarantee that you won't keel over and die of some random illness, or of heart disease or whatever. It's not likely, though.

Here's the facts. One, law enforcement does not have infinite manpower & resources to work with. The government might seem huge and scary, and sometimes it is, but behind that facade, there's a bunch of cramped and understaffed offices filled with overworked people. That's why they have to prioritize. They're smart; they're not going to prioritize you. Be smart, do your level best not to access any more illegal content from now on, and it's very unlikely they ever will.

Two, wherever you live, whether it's a crime to possess or simply view child pornography or whether it's an unsettled gray area, I can guarantee you the law will specify "knowingly." You didn't really access it knowingly. Consequently if you did end up in the courtroom (which you will not) I really, really doubt you'd be in any real danger of getting convicted of anything.

One final comforting note. I saw a thread like this earlier today on 4chan. I did some quick googling just now and found several dozen more on various forums, and I can guarantee those are a couple dozen out of THOUSANDS. I can remember a similar accident that happened years ago in my life. This is clearly not that rare of an event. In fact, I'm sure it happens many times every day -- sadly there's a lot of child porn out there. Despite that, I could not find a single instance where somebody was convicted after accidentally viewing child porn one single time, based on ISP records, their cache, & so on.

I'll tell you one last time. You're okay. Calm down. Your anxiety is well out of proportion here.

>>16605547

>Even if they did, I very much doubt law enforcement would look at every single one of those several hundred IPs and follow through on each one. If somebody accessed it often -- I could see them investigating that.
What do you mean by often? if someone went there once, only clicked on several or more videos, wouldnt that ping that account multiple times, wouldnt each thing you click be considered "accessing multiple times" despite the fact that they nope'd the fuck out of there right after? or do you mean more than that or something different?
>>16605561
>If you want certainty, all I can tell you is to talk to a lawyer
Id rather avoid any if all contact with other people regarding this matter, I just want to avoid it completely and move on.
>Despite that, I could not find a single instance where somebody was convicted after accidentally viewing child porn one single time, based on ISP records, their cache, & so on.
Well its safe to assume everyone has stumbled upon that stuff at least once or twice, perhaps more in their lifetime especially if they use 4chan. If everyone was investigated that would be a ridiculous amount of work indeed.
>Be smart, do your level best not to access any more illegal content from now on, and it's very unlikely they ever will.
I certainly will try my best.
>I'll tell you one last time. You're okay. Calm down. Your anxiety is well out of proportion here.
Thank you, im still very worried, but I think this has helped me a lot. I hope everything will be alright. And I hope i dont have to resort to suicide.

>>16605576
By often I mean multiple occasions, not opening several files on one occasion. Things will be fine and do try and move on from this; it will not follow you (also, the chance of anybody pursuing this after months or years is VANISHINGLY unlikely.) I have to go to sleep now but please, if you feel like you might hurt yourself over this, call a friend or the suicide hotline. And I can't stress enough that in the future you should find some way to regulate your anxiety. This obsessive worrying & paranoia, the inability to accept that things are okay, is so strongly reminiscent of the people I've known with anxiety disorders it's almost uncanny. If counseling is truly off the table (there are often affordable or even free options) then at the least meditation and exercise can help, but I do still think you should talk to someone as soon as you can (not about the incident tonight -- by this time tomorrow it will all be safely in the past and you'll never have to revisit it -- but rather just about your thought patterns and how you respond to stress.)

Take care.