...I might be in trouble

[nocturnal]

I sent in my computer which i use to play games on, to a PC repair place (somethings wrong with it). The problem is that i have 'naughty' pics of my gf that she sent me on my birthday. She's only 16 (i'm 16 also, don't worry) and I'm kind of afraid they'll find it and send me to court or somthing. Is there some routine thing they do to find pedo-ish pics on neone's comp. they work on. Damnet I knew I shouldn't have saved it on the hard drive :'( , plz some tell me so i won't be so paranoid.

[>BKA< T Wrecks]

Well, IF they find the pics (and they get paid to find some OS or hardware failure, not to browse your pic folders!), it depends on several things:
a) Will they report anything? (Chances are they'll look at them, exchange some jokes and give your PC back without reporting anything...)
b) Will they SEE she's 16? Nowadays, with 13-year-olds running around looking like an overdressed 17-year-old, who can tell which age someone has?
c) Which country do you live in? Everything depends on the laws your "case" would be subject to if it will be reported (and it won't!). In most civilised countries a 40-year-old taking pics of a 16-year-old girl might be in trouble, but an equally aged guy won't. In Germany, girls of 13+ years of age are even allowed to have a sexual relationship if (1) their BF is of similar age or (2) their BF is 18+ but the girl's parents don't object. In a country with such an ultra-conservative, hysterical (and hypocritical) attitude towards the sensual & sexual sides of life as the USA, I don't know what the situation is, though. If they are capable of breaking into a house fully armed and tear a little boy out of his mother's arms holding a gun against his head (probably causing a life-time trauma!) just because a peeping neighbor accused the boy of having taken a look under his little sister's skirt, I guess everything is possible.
But don't you worry, I'd bet 85% they won't even see the pics. You know, if the were looking for stuff like that on every PC, they'd have to work 20 extra hours a day. (I bet there are some nice p0rn collections on private HDs...)
And the other 15%? Well, I'd say 10% they see it and don't say anything, 4% they see it and make a stupid comment or a broad grin when handing your rig back to you, 0,999% they'll report it and nothing will happen and 0,001% you'll get some kind of warning, that's it.

EDIT
As for that "pedo stuff detection routine"... I wouldn't know how to detect pedo pics on a given HD in any other way than finding & looking at every single image file. This can take ages, and repair services don't get any benefit from it. It only costs them time and money, so they won't even be interested in searching such stuff.
Actual pedos are caught 90% by credit card number identification (when they paid by credit card to get into a pedo site). They trap some more in cafés and restaurants where the pedo they've been monitoring on a chat room has agreed to meet with a girl (who might be an FBI agent who's in the chat room for no other purpose than trapping pedos). And they get many of those bastards who really hurt or even kill a child in real life (too little and too late, but at least many). Oh well, and I suppose if they monitor your internet activity, get your IP (from a "sting site", i.e. a fake pedo site put up to catch pedos) or something, they may get you, too - depending on how openly you surfed the web.
But your case is totally different. First of all, you ARE no pedo, and secondly there is not a single trace that would lead anyone to believe you might be one and search your stuff. And once again: The repair service has no interest whatsoever in wasting time to search your stuff, and no resource to detect what's depicted on the Jpegs you have - no other resource than their eyes, that is. Relax...

[sPlOrYgOn]

yea..
seriously now..
what kind of old guy would report this?
well just hope it's not a girl that finds those pics...
most likely it'll like how T_Wreaks said..
they won't report.. they'll just know your secret
and besides..
who the hell would search a HDD when repairing it?
depends on what they are repairing..
if it's just something like a broken graphics card or something.. they'll probably never know that it was even there...

[Cpl. Shrike]

One big advantage you have here.
The girl in question didn't have any objections to the pictures taken.
And most likely won't press charges.. And could testify on your behalf that the pictures are not obtained by voyeurism or other illigal activities.

Heh man, do i smell yr fear from here.
Sweaty hands, anxiety, heart ponding ....

[sPlOrYgOn]

what about the girl..
and her parents...
imagine her telling her parents "Oh he got those legally, I sent them for his birthday."
I'm not sure her parents would feel too happy about that

[TruB]

i dont think it will be any probs.. 16 is a quite alright age..
family comp or personal?

[Pierre-Marie Baty]

Hmm...

I think we'd need to *see* these pics to tell you if they're pedo or not. Can you post them ?

muhahahahahahahaha

[>BKA< T Wrecks]

It's always the same... whenever I pull myself together and mobilise all my self-control in order to keep my big mouth shut and avoid that one obvious comment, 5 minutes later somebody else does it. 9_9
I agree, though.

[Nova]

Originally Posted by Pierre-Marie Baty

Hmm...

I think we'd need to *see* these pics to tell you if they're pedo or not. Can you post them ?

muhahahahahahahaha

PM, your a big fat slob

/me goes off and browses through his 40 Gb pron collection ...

Seriously dude, you should be ok. If they go through your stuff in the first place, thats illegal. So even if they WOULD report your and som punk prosecutor would try to sue you, the evidence would be obtained illegally and NO COURT in the world would allow that evidence.

There ya go, theres ya peace of mind

[Thirdeye]

naw... i agree with PMB we needa judge degree/severity of the "incriminating" evidance...