3 Ds-540 Js 100/16-581/16•Browser-cache images and possession of child pornography
3 Ds-540 Js 100/16-581/16Court of First InstanceAug 29, 2017Criminal lawAcquitted
Extracted by Omnilex
The Bocholt Local Court acquitted the accused in a prosecution concerning child-pornographic images found in the browser cache of the accused's computer. It held that the computer's owner did not thereby have possession of the cached images because he lacked functional control over them. The mere fact that images were stored in the cache also did not show that the accused had deliberately accessed or viewed them; the storage could occur without either. The State Treasury was ordered to bear the costs of the proceedings and the accused's extrajudicial costs.
StGB §§ 184b, 184c and 184d; possession of pornographic images in a browser cache. Ownership of a computer does not, by itself, establish possession of images stored in its browser cache where the user lacks functional control over those files. Nor does cache storage alone permit the inference that the user intentionally accessed or viewed the images: technically, images may be stored in the cache without the user's knowledge or deliberate retrieval.
Entscheidungsdatum: 2017-08-29
Aktenzeichen: 3 Ds-540 Js 100/16-581/16
ECLI: ECLI:DE:AGBOH:2017:0829.3DS540JS100.16.58.00
Dokumenttyp: Urteil
Spruchkörper: Strafkammer
Normen: StGB § 184b, § 184c, §184d
Der Besitzer eines Computers hat mangels Funktionsherrschaft keinen Besitz an den im Browser-Cache gespeicherten Bildern.
Allein die Tatsache, dass kinderpornographische Bilder im Browser-Cache des Computers gespeichert sind lässt keine Rückschlüsse darauf zu, dass diese Bilder willentlich aufgerufen wurden.
Technisch gesehen ist eine solche Speicherung auch möglich, ohne dass der Angeklagte die Bilder über-haupt gesehen bzw. willentlich abgerufen hat.
Der Angeklagte wird freigesprochen.
Die Kosten des Verfahrens und die außergerichtlichen Kosten trägt die Staatskasse.
Whether images of child pornography stored in the computer's browser cache established knowing possession or intentional retrieval by the accused.
Storage in the browser cache alone did not establish possession or intentional retrieval.
The computer owner lacked functional control over images stored in the browser cache. Such storage could occur without the accused having seen or intentionally accessed the images.
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