Prison time for viewing porn?

ABC News had this article and also apparently interviewed the family on 20/20. So there was child porn or something similar found on the computer. Since he was the one using it he was the one arrested for it. He faced up to 90 years in prison for nine images on his hard drive. A forensic computer expert examined the computer and found hundreds of back door programs that would have allowed anyone capable of using them access to the computer. They ended up setting up a plea agreement where he pled guilty of showing a Playboy to friends at school(a seemingly unrelated charge) but would be a registered sex offender, with all that entails. It ended up getting appealed and they were notified he would not be registered as a sex offender after all.

The family computer now has no access to the internet and they seem to be afraid of it. The kid admitted he had looked at some 'Playboy like' adult porn from a website kids at school had told him about. That may be embarrassing for him to admit, but not illegal. He also passed two polygraph tests and two psychiatric exams determining that he was without perverted tendencies. I'm not sure if that means all that much. I do think the polygraph tests probably mean a bit more, but they are also not admissible in court, since they can be defeated.

I do think we should have harsh rules when it comes to sex offenders. In some cases I think they should be even harsher. For those that saw it, I had a post a while back on a case that is a fine example of this. I don't know if I would apply that same standard to the kid here. Anyone else have thoughts on this?