A US court has backtracked on a statement that child porn images
viewed using a computer were legal as long as they were not
intended to be saved on the hard drive.
Judge Richard Klein had originally said that the law was not clear
when it came to "knowing possession" of content.
The statement was made in the case of Anthony Diodoro, who admitted
visiting websites specifically to view images of child
pornography.
Judge Klein said that the law dealt with images that were retained
rather than viewed and that, since Diodoro had not explicitly saved
them on his computer, it did not apply.
However, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania overruled the opinion
expressed by Judge Klein in November last year and has ordered a
full hearing of the case.