An approach to quantifying the plausibility of the inadvertent download defence

A table of 95% confidence limits on the probabilities for randomly downloading relatively small numbers of illegal images or sensitive documents amongst a relatively large number of other images or documents has been computed. It is anticipated that these data will assist prosecution officials in arriving at a decision as to whether or not there is a reasonable likelihood of a successful criminal prosecution when the inadvertent download defence is employed in cases of possession of child pornography, terrorist material or espionage related documents. The same data can also be used by defence counsels to assess the strength of the prosecution’s case