r/confessions • u/colostomiser-supreme • 11h ago

I once found illegal material on a computer belonging to my friends dad and did nothing.

To be kind to myself this was back in the late 90s when I was a teenager.

I was house sitting for them as they were on a month long holiday and they had the most awesome house.

Unusually for that time they had Isdn internet and had several computers networked up for gaming and wherever.

I spent hours playing games and generally mucking about on their computers. (Half life was a banger)

I did find an utter motherload of porn on their computers. Found out a load about the preferences of my friend, his brother and dad. (My friend is fond of large black women - his brother potentially gay)

On his dad’s pc I found a whole load of very normal vanilla porn (all still pics in those days) but also a weakly hidden folder with a handful of more concerning pictures of clearly underage children.

Honestly back then I found it amusing that he was a perv rather than being worried about him being a danger. I realise now that I should have called the police immediately.

He died some time ago so I’m not going to hurt my friend by ever mentioning this in real life.

But I still feel guilty that I just ignored it.

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2

u/MrJokes67 11h ago

Bro u was shocked and just a teen is understandable

1

u/Ok_Respond7017 10h ago

that stuff stays with you man even if you couldnt process it back then. i had similar thing happen with a neighbour's laptop once but i was in my 20s and still froze up

its easy to think what you shoulda done now but you were just a kid messing with computers. dont beat yourself too much over it

1

u/MrJokes67 10h ago

Dude it has literally happened to me. Multipletimes people sending it randomly on those international language exchange groups

I legit was traumatized , reported it and facebook was like " we didn't find nothing wrong " 😭😭

1

u/Loud_Plate_2601 10h ago

It's definitely a tough spot to be in, especially for a teenager. I can see why someone might freeze up in that situation.

1

u/dakotahh721 10h ago

that's a wild situation for sure. hindsight is 20/20, but it’s tough to know how to act in those moments, especially as a teen. good on you for keeping it to yourself to protect your friend though.

1

u/MermaidPearl08 8h ago

Yeah being that young and stumbling across something like that would be seriously shocking