April 19, 2011
The Ottawa Citizen
by Andrew Seymour
Metro Ottawa
Ottawa judge acquits American inventor of importing child porn
An American inventor developing pornography-blocking software was acquitted of possessing and importing child pornography after an Ottawa judge had a reasonable doubt as to whether he knew his “research” contained images of the graphic sexual abuse of children.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Maria Linhares de Sousa found that John Bird’s bad judgment when he blindly downloaded 416,229 images of what he believed to be adult pornography, only to have customs officials discover 213 images were actually child pornography, didn’t amount to a culpable intention to either possess or import them.
Bird, 53, was arrested in October 2008 at the Ottawa airport. He was entering Canada to do contract work with an Ottawa company and sightsee with his wife.
Bird testified at trial that he had rapidly downloaded the images without ever looking at them.
He planned to examine the binary code of each photo to develop a program that could block it. The program could then be marketed to Internet Service Providers, personal computer users, the government and police, he said.
Those downloads included animé and computer-generated child pornography, along with about a dozen written stories about incest and the sexual assault of children. Those materials are legal to possess in the United States, but outlawed in Canada, according to what was heard in court.
The child pornography images and stories were on two USB sticks Bird said he usually kept locked in a safe at his New Hampshire home, but had inadvertently left in his briefcase before coming to Canada.
Police there have since searched his home and seized computers, but found nothing, Bird said.
Bird said he began developing the program after someone close to him was sexually abused.
A relieved Bird said outside of court that his only interest in child pornography was to eradicate it.
“We are trying to identify a product that will eliminate the problem, and it is a very serious problem,” said Bird. “My intentions were honourable and the results we have today speak for themselves.”
The computer program might one day help someone like himself who unwittingly downloaded child pornography without knowing it, he added.
It was the judge’s opinion he had exercised bad judgment, Bird said, although he acknowledged in hindsight he might have done things differently.
“A scientist’s research is what it is,” he said. “Every scientist does things differently.” In her decision, Linhares de Sousa said there was no direct evidence that Bird had gone to any child pornography websites or engaged in any peer-to-peer file sharing. A forensic examination showed no evidence that Bird had ever looked at any of the images he downloaded and he hadn’t sorted or filed the child pornography separately from the adult pornography, Linhares de Sousa said.
The judge also felt his explanation that he accidentally downloaded the child pornography was supported by the fact there was a small quantity of child pornography compared to a massive amount of adult pornography.
Bird had incorporated his company, Seacoast Product Development, about three months before he was arrested. He had also entered two non-disclosure agreements with a collaborator that vaguely outlined what he hoped to develop.
A mechanical engineer who also manages apartment buildings, Bird had filed patents for other inventions in the past, although court heard he had no prior experience developing software.
Bird said he plans to continue developing the program, even suggesting that he may contact the OPP investigator who examined his collection for the case against him.
Canada’s more restrictive child pornography laws “would be a good proving ground for my technology,” Bird said. “It would be difficult to say there isn’t a use for this.