My career as a purveyor of child pornography.

I am accused of sending the Child XXX email to someone's cousin.

[I don't know who at NU originally received this message--it was forwarded to me by Information Technology Staff]

Date: Tue, 22 Jul 1997 13:15:20 -0500
To: jeangoodwin@nwu.edu
From: [name]@firstuk.demon.co.uk
Subject: Unwanted Illegal Email

Having Just recieved mail from a jeangoodwin@nwu.edu concerning the sale
of offensive pornography which was downloaded a read by my cousin i
would like to know what action you intend taking against him as i have
had no prior contact with this site person or subject.
I look forward to your early satisfactory response.

Yours Sincerely

Date: Tue, 22 Jul 1997 13:18:29 -0500
To: [name]@firstuk.demon.co.uk
From: [NU IT Staff]
Subject: Re: Unwanted Illegal Email
Cc: jeangoodwin@nwu.edu

Mr. [deleted]:

Dr. Goodwin is a researcher concerned with issues of free speech and the
internet. Her pages which refer to child pornography are solely for
illustrative purposes, as is clearly marked on those pages.

Not having seen any email from Dr. Goodwin on the matter, I hadn't any
plans for action. In any case, I'm not a law enforcement agent of any type.

I imagine there's nothing to be concerned about, but if you would like more
information or a more educated response, please give me some more details.

Yours,

From: [name]@firstuk.demon.co.uk
To: [NU IT Staff]
Subject: Re: Unwanted Illegal Email
Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 02:10:57 +0100

Below is a copy of the email that was recieved on the 22nd july from jeangoodwin@mwu.edu and although i am not familiar with american law sending such information in the UK is illegal and as the administrator of his site I will expect you to take action or do i presume that you approve of unsoliceted email of this type being mailed from your service

Yours

>Subj: Child XXX
>Date: 96-10-21 02:49:20 EDT
>From: jeangoodwin@nwu.edu
>To:Simon@firstuk.demon.co.uk

>Hi! I sent you this letter because your email address was on a list that
>fit this category. I am a fan of child pornography and for the past 4
>years, I have been able to gather quite a collection of it. [Rest of Child XXX email deleted].

Date: Wed, 23 Jul 1997 14:29:38 -0500
To: [name]@firstuk.demon.co.uk
From: [NU IT Staff]
Subject: Re: Unwanted Illegal Email
Cc: jeangoodwin@nwu.edu

Mr. [Deleted]:

unless you can provide me with a copy of the message with complete email
transport headers, my assumption is that this message is a forgery.

The SMTP protocol for internet email transfer is unfortunately rather open
to counterfeiting. It would be trivial for me to send a message with
someone else's return address. However, complete SMTP header information
can help track the path of the message and give some indication of the
veracity of the author's name.

If you forward me a message with complete headers, I will analyze it and
consider this question further. Below is the message you sent me, with
complete headers, to help you be clear about what I would need to take this
accusation seriously.

I have copied Professor Goodwin to this message, so that she will know her
name has been brought up in this context.

Yours,

To: [name]@firstuk.demon.co.uk
From: Jean Goodwin
Subject: Re: Unwanted Illegal Email
Cc: [NU IT Staff]

Mr. [deleted]:

Having been at various conferences for the last two weeks, I have just received your email of July 22nd, reproduced below, together with your correspondence with [IT Staff]. Please accept my assurances that I did not send anyone any advertisement of any type.

The email your cousin received is a copy of the infamous "Child XXXX" spam, distributed to thousands of email addresses last year and generally thought to have been a hoax. As part of my efforts to archive free speech controversies, I have included the email on my website. As you can confirm yourself if you have access to the World Wide Web, the archived copy is accompanied with conspicuous warnings making clear that I have nothing to do with child pornography. The URL of my archived copy is:
http://faculty-web.at.nwu.edu/commstud/freespeech/units/four/kidporn.html
For more information on the original email, consult:
http://pathfinder.com/@@Sub5YwUA0TmCqvyh/Netly/daily/961024.html

I am very concerned that someone appears to have forged my email address to further this offensive hoax. I would appreciate it if you would continue cooperating with [IT Staff] of my University's Information Technology office, so that we may trace the culprit.

Thank you for your time,

Jean Goodwin
Assistant Professor
Department of Communication Studies

Back to
case page.

Copyright © 1998 Jean Goodwin. All rights reserved.
jeangoodwin@nwu.edu
Last updated 2 January 1998
The Free Speech website,

http://faculty-web.at.nwu.edu/commstud/freespeech/