EDIT

TO EVERYONE ASKING TO OPEN AN ISSUE ON GITHUB, IT HAS BEEN OPEN SINCE JULY 6: https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/3504

June 24 - https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/3236

TO EVERYONE SAYING THAT THIS IS NOT A CONCERN: Everybody has different laws in their countries (in other words, not everyone is American), and whether or not an admin is liable for such content residing in their servers without their knowledge, don’t you think it’s still an issue anyway? Are you not bothered by the fact that somebody could be sharing illegal images from your server without you ever knowing? Is that okay with you? OR are you only saying this because you’re NOT an admin? Different admins have already responded in the comments and have suggested ways to solve the problem because they are genuinely concerned about this problem as much as I am. Thank you to all the hard working admins. I appreciate and love you all.

ORIGINAL POST

You can upload images to a Lemmy instance without anyone knowing that the image is there if the admins are not regularly checking their pictrs database.

To do this, you create a post on any Lemmy instance, upload an image, and never click the “Create” button. The post is never created but the image is uploaded. Because the post isn’t created, nobody knows that the image is uploaded.

You can also go to any post, upload a picture in the comment, copy the URL and never post the comment. You can also upload an image as your avatar or banner and just close the tab. The image will still reside in the server.

You can (possibly) do the same with community icons and banners.

Why does this matter?

Because anyone can upload illegal images without the admin knowing and the admin will be liable for it. With everything that has been going on lately, I wanted to remind all of you about this. Don’t think that disabling cache is enough. Bad actors can secretly stash illegal images on your Lemmy instance if you aren’t checking!

These bad actors can then share these links around and you would never know! They can report it to the FBI and if you haven’t taken it down (because you did not know) for a certain period, say goodbye to your instance and see you in court.

Only your backend admins who have access to the database (or object storage or whatever) can check this, meaning non-backend admins and moderators WILL NOT BE ABLE TO MONITOR THESE, and regular users WILL NOT BE ABLE TO REPORT THESE.

Aren’t these images deleted if they aren’t used for the post/comment/banner/avatar/icon?

NOPE! The image actually stays uploaded! Lemmy doesn’t check if the images are used! Try it out yourself. Just make sure to copy the link by copying the link text or copying it by clicking the image then “copy image link”.

How come this hasn’t been addressed before?

I don’t know. I am fairly certain that this has been brought up before. Nobody paid attention but I’m bringing it up again after all the shit that happened in the past week. I can’t even find it on the GitHub issue tracker.

I’m an instance administrator, what the fuck do I do?

Check your pictrs images (good luck) or nuke it. Disable pictrs, restrict sign ups, or watch your database like a hawk. You can also delete your instance.

Good luck.

    • Serinus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      1 year ago

      Part of the problem with having an illegal series of bits. Of course people are going to use that as a weapon.

      I don’t think those images should be made fully legal, but maybe we should calm the fuck down about two notches. We should keep in mind that the real crime is creating the pictures. Being effectively legal bombed by them is kind of ridiculous. As is having to keep the detection tools secret.

      If you’re on a grand jury for csam, maybe you should actually see the evidence (with limited censorship) before you indict someone.

      Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think seeing a small number of pictures is going to scar you for life. I’ve seen goatse. I’ve seen people decapitated. It’s not pleasant, and I avoid those things, but it’s not scarring.

      The Station Nightclub Fire is scarring. I’ve recommended that video to people because it’s scarring in a way that can save lives. Seeing that stuff every day would absolutely be scarring.

      I don’t want to see that kind of stuff to become common, but I am disturbed that people are afraid of unused images hiding on their Lemmy server.

      • SuddenDownpour@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        1 year ago

        Regardless of the debate of whether admins should be legally liable for not deleting unknown child abuse digital files,

        Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think seeing a small number of pictures is going to scar you for life. I’ve seen goatse. I’ve seen people decapitated. It’s not pleasant, and I avoid those things, but it’s not scarring.

        You shouldn’t use your own experiences to make this generalisation, given that people working at agencies prosecuting pederasts often have to receive therapy or even leave the job after continued exposure.

        I am disturbed that people are afraid of unused images hiding on their Lemmy server.

        Don’t you think it’s logical for someone to be worried about being vulnerable to being accused of what likely is, in many legal systems, a crime?

        • Serinus@lemmy.worldEnglish
          4·
          1 year ago

          Yeah, I think continued exposure is different than a one off thing. It’s why I used the Grand Jury example.

          And I do think it’s logical. That’s the problem. My entire point is that csam shouldn’t be so easy to weaponize.

          Maybe seeking, selling, or intentionally distributing should be the crime.