New York V. Kent: Using Temporary Internet Files to Prove Possession of Child Pornography‪.‬

IN A CASE OF FIRST IMPRESSION in New York, the Second Department of the Appellate Division held that temporary Internet files that show a defendant intentionally viewed child pornography on the Internet could support convictions for possession and promotion of child pornography, even though the images were not downloaded or otherwise manipulated by the defendant. (2) The case appears to be representative of a trend in a growing number of state courts, which are accepting evidence automatically stored in temporary Internet files as sufficient to support possession charges, so long as there is some indication that the images were not inadvertently accessed. Temporary Internet files, or cache files, essentially represent an Internet browser's Web history. When an Internet browser accesses a Web site, any images, text, and even sounds produced by the site will be automatically stored in the cache on the user's hard drive. If the user later returns to the Web site, the browser will display the cached file rather than again retrieve it from the Internet, which is a slower process.