What is 'Covenant Eyes'? Josh Duggar's computer had porn-alert program reporting internet usage to wife Anna
As the murky details of Josh Duggar's alleged depravity come into light, investigators have now uncovered a program in the reality star's computer that would monitor his internet usage. The program would alert his wife Anna if he went porn surfing. Officials looking into the federal investigation against Josh's child pornography charges shared the information through a virtual detention hearing on Wednesday, May 5.
According to Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Gerald Faulkner, the program called Covenant Eyes was registered under Josh and Anna's name. The program's website describes it as an "accountability software" meant to protect users from objectionable content.
It also helps monitor all screen activity of those addicted to porn. The program claims it "periodically captures screenshots" which are then scrutinized by AI and sent to a trusted "ally" who can then confront the user and hold them "accountable" for their internet usage.
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What is Covenant Eyes?
During the May 5 virtual detention hearing following Josh's arrest on April 29, Faulker claimed the program Covenant Eyes was unable to detect Josh's internet usage due to a password-protected network installed in his computer. Faulker revealed that investigators found child sexual abuse materials hidden in an isolated section of the computer's hard drive - a section not covered by program's monitoring AI.
The president of the company that created the program is a devout Christian man identified as Ron DeHaas. He had said in a 2008 blog post that he had co-founded the program after his "passion and burden for the devastating effects of Internet pornography weighed heavier and heavier, and I could not stop." He added: "From a business standpoint, or from the standpoint of security of my family, I actually thought about stopping in September, 2000. But God kept opening doors, and I could not stop." DeHaas is also the founder of Nehemiah Ministries, which calls itself a 160-acre retreat and counseling center for pastors and missionaries. His program Covenant Eyes currently brags of over 150,000 subscribers, claims the website.
Case against Josh Duggar
The 33-year-old former '19 Kids and Counting' star was arrested on one count of receipt of child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography. He pled not guilty in court on Friday, April 20. A judge at the US District Court for the Western District of Arkansas ruled on May 5 that he will be released from the detention center after a week-long stay to designated third-party custodians, in whose home he will remain confined with GPS tracking. If convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison and hefty fines on each count.
Court documents also reveal that Josh had allegedly received and possessed child pornography just weeks after his wife, Anna, had announced the couple was pregnant with their sixth child on Instagram. His recent arrest comes a week after Anna announced she and Josh are expecting their seventh child, a girl, through a gender reveal video on Instagram.
Josh's porn addiction and infidelity
The investigation into Josh's crimes comes six years after his 2015 apology for inappropriately touching five underage teenage girls, including his two sisters Jessa and Jill Duggar in 2006. Just months after the apology, Gawker had reported that the eldest child of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar had active accounts on the adultery website Ashley Madison. At the time, Josh had confessed to a pornography addiction along with cheating on his wife through an apology on the Duggar family website.
"I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife. I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him," the statement read.
In the aftermath of these revelations, TLC had canceled the family's show '19 Kids and Counting', but picked up a spinoff called 'Counting On' just months later. Josh has been strictly left out of the spin-off, as speculations surrounding the show's fate on the network look grim.