Professor of Law Mary Leary was quoted in a story on whether those that view leaked photos of underage celebrities are guilty of looking at child pornography. See the article below.
From: Vox Date: Sept. 4, 2014 Author: Brandon Ambrosino
... 2) If it turns out Maroney's images are deemed lascivious, does that mean that everyone who looks at them commits a crime?
This is where things get murky. Legal scholars and policy makers talk about three different aspects of child pornography, according to Mary G. Leary, a law professor at Catholic University's Columbus School of Law: 1) possession, 2) production, and 3) distribution. The producer of Maroney's image could be the person - whether Maroney or someone else - who snapped the photo.
Those possibly involved with distributing the photographs are those who make the image available and the websites that host them. But when it comes to possession, as Leary said, "generally speaking, 'possession' is not limited to physically holding a hard copy of an image in one's hands." It can include exercising control and dominion over an image such searching for an image uploading it and controlling it. In other words, in general, some people who viewed Maroney's nude images on line may have actually possessed the images.
However, Leary noted that possession is not enough for a child pornography charge. "In most jurisdictions, there has to be a knowing possession, the mens rea - the mental state necessary for a crime." ...
Read more about Leary's expertise .