Court OKs Seizure of iPhone Metadata to Track Child Porn

GALVESTON, Texas — Federal authorities lawfully seized iPhone metadata to locate a man accused of uploading child pornography, a federal court has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Gregg Costa declined last week to suppress evidence that was taken from an iPhone 4. That evidence included metadata to identify the GPS coordinates where the photo had been taken.

That metadata led FBI agents to the home of defendant Donald Post, who then admitted to taking that photo, as well as others, of a four-year-old girl who had recently stayed at his home.

Post contends that even though he had uploaded the image to a website, he retained a privacy interest in that image’s metadata that law enforcement invaded in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights.

The sexually explicit photo was posted on a website "primarily dedicated to the advertisement and distribution of child pornography and the discussion of matters pertinent to incest and pedophilia."

"Post's attempt to carve out the metadata from his public release of the image finds no support in the text of the Fourth Amendment or the case law applying it," Costa's wrote in his order.

Post "gave up his right to privacy in that image once he uploaded it to the Internet, and that thing he publicly disclosed contained the GPS coordinates that led agents to his home," Costa wrote.

"There is no basis for divvying up the image Post uploaded into portions that are now public and portions in which he retains a privacy interest," Costa wrote.

Tim Henning, ASACP's executive director, told XBIZ that he agreed with the judge's decision in the case.

"Firstly, once an image or video is uploaded to the Internet for public consumption, clearly there is little to no expectation of privacy," he said. "Secondly, not only does the image in this case depict a crime — the creation, transmission and publication of the image are also crimes. There should be no expectation of privacy while committing crimes.

"Thirdly, the technology of GPS tagging of images, also known as geotagging, on smartphones has been in use for years and can be turned off. Further, geotagging information embedded in an image can also be removed. The fact that the individual in question did not realize this is pure ingnorance.

"Thankfully, as in this case, at least some pedophiles are not very bright."

View child porn-metadata ruling

Related:  

Copyright © 2025 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

NextGen Payment Joins ASACP as Corporate Sponsor

NextGen Payment has signed on as the latest corporate sponsor for the Association of Sites Advocating Child Protection (ASACP).

Lauren Phillips, Derek Kage Cap AEBN's Top Stars for 3rd Quarter of 2025

AEBN has revealed its most popular performers in straight and gay theaters for the third quarter of 2025.

XBIZ 2026 Conference to Debut All-New Company Lounges, Community Track

The event website for XBIZ 2026 is now live, unveiling details for North America’s largest adult industry conference, including two all-new show features: Company Lounges and a Community Track.

Mymember.site Integrates VR Functionality

Mymember.site has added virtual reality playback capability to its website management platform.

Texas Patti to Launch Fetish Platform 'EmpireDom'

Performer and content creator Texas Patti is launching a new platform for doms and fetish creators, EmpireDom.com.

Ohio AG Threatens Action Against 'Major' Adult Sites Over AV Law

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced today that his office is sending "notice of violation" letters to 19 adult websites for failure to comply with the state's recently enacted age verification law.

Chaturbate Announces 2025 Music Contest Winners

Chaturbate has revealed the winners of its 2025 music competition.

2026 XBIZ Exec Awards Pre-Noms Open With Debut of New 'Impact' Honors

XBIZ is pleased to announce that the pre-nomination period for the 2026 XBIZ Exec Awards, the adult industry’s premier career honor, begins today and runs through Oct. 14.

MYM Rolls Out New Traffic Features for German Creators

German platform MYM has launched a new traffic system for its creators.

Ukrainian Content Creators on Hook for Nearly $10M in Back Taxes

Content creators in Ukraine owe the equivalent of $9.3 million in back taxes, according to the country's State Tax Service.

Show More