So, long story short, my husband and I have a blog on a site called Tumblr. It's basically a blog for us to share our sexual side with photos or videos, to the public. Now, on Tumblr, you can get submitted and asked questions by your followers. I recently received a few photo's from a 16 year old girl, pictures of her vagina, and her breasts. I have told her since not to send anymore photo's because I don't want any trouble with police or anything child porn related. Now, my question is. Since I didn't know she was going to send me photo's and I didn't ask for them, and deleted them right away, can I still get in trouble with the police? I really don't want photo's of 16 year old girls and I don't know why she thought it would be okay to send them to me.

Can I go to jail for this? Am I going to be labeled as a sex offender? This really worries me )))):

Do you have anything posted on your site as an "adults only" site and that children are banned from the site? How do you police this site?

The site is open to everyone of all ages. It's a site where you can post/say/show/look at anything you like. And I have specifically stated on my blog that I do not want to receive and will not accept anything from anyone under the age of 18, and it is only for people the age of 18 or older. The site is basically a free for all and no one really manages it all that well. It's like 4chan just easier to use and better run. But it shows your e-mail on your blog and she sent them to my specific e-mail and I deleted them right away and have e-mailed her since to not send any more.

How do you police the site? I'm sorry, I don't understand what you mean...

In theory, you are not guilty unless you intended to view them, knowing they contained child porn. So while it's remotely possible that you could be accused, it's not very likely. I wouldn't loose any sleep over it.

Sites are policed in a variety of ways. This site, for example, has moderators who have the power to remove/edit posts and to ban members that violate the rules of this site. There is also a report feature for members to report posts that violate the rules. Other sites have no policing whatsoever.

As to your dilemma, you have two choices as I see it. The first is to do nothing. I agree with AK, since you immediately deleted the pictures the likelihood of any prosecution is extremely small.

However, you described what different pictures were. That means you didn't stop looking once you realized what the pictures were. So your second choice is to report this to the police. Report it not as being concerned about receiving them but you are reporting the person who sent them. Whoever sent them is potentially guilty of distributing kiddie porn. You can't be sure this was actually the girl in the pictures or someone else. So you are reporting it from that angle.

I wouldn't advise that. Since, as ScottGem says, you can't be sure who they came from. So how could anyone be successfully prosecuted. On the other hand, you could possibly be getting yourself investigated. I don't think you want the agrivation, particularly when you are probably not going to help anybody by doing so.

Let sleeping dogs lie.

Again, I have mixed feeling about this. Let's say this person sent copies to others and listed the e-mail addresses of other people she sent copies. Lets say one of those people reported it. If you ran into someone on the street and they shoved a bag with a gun into your hands and ran away would you report it to the police?

Obviously the OP is very concerned about what might happen to him. So he should be aware of all his options and let him make a decision. Each option has some risks inherent in it. By doing nothing, if the police do become aware of it, it will look bad that it wasn't reported. On the other hand, reporting it could open a can of worms that the OP doesn't want opened. I honestly don't know which option I would choose. But I believe we owe it to the OP to give alternatives he can choose from as what is best for him.

Agreed that we should discuss all his options and let him make the decision.

In that case, he might want to point to this thread and explain that I cautioned him not to report it. :)

And don't forget that 5th Amendment thing: he has a right to keep his mouth shut if to open it would "tend to" incriminate him.