FBI Sets up Fake Child Porn Links That if Clicked Trigger Armed Raids on Users

I get a kick out of the people who still don't understand the dangerous precedent being set by this. I imagine they're the same people who drive around with their Bush/Cheney 04 stickers still on their cars calling anyone who disagrees with the government anti-American. The government can do no wrong! The government is a force of purity and justice and light and hope for all the world to admire and love!

I'm not sure what's worse though, the people who've had the problems clearly explained to them and still don't see the problems, or the people who just saw "Catching pedophiles" in the opening post and are posting or shouting "GOOD FOR THEM HURRAY" without reading or considering anything else.

You know, I've got this awesome plan to completely rid Los Angeles of child molesters. Let's blow it up. Let's nuke it, the whole city.... TWICE. There won't be a single pervert left in town or anywhere downwind of it for a hundred miles.

And then, after the damage is done and the pedos are wiped out, we'll pay for the funerals of anyone who might have possibly died by mistake who's not a pedophile.

Yep. It's a bulletproof plan that can't possibly be evil or stupid because it's target is pedophiles. Who's with me?

reply to post by mattifikation


Good post!

It's like assuming everyone in the Middle East is a terrorist, so we're going to plant bombs in every car we can find and blow it up once they stroll by, because only a terrorist would use a car.

It's like assuming everyone on the Internet is a pedophile, so we're going to plant links all over the Internet so we can track them down and arrest them once they happen to, perhaps, accidentally click the link, because only a pedophile would click a link.

This is all falling on deaf ears so I give up.

[edit on 3/26/08 by NovusOrdoMundi]

I can't completely get on board with this for so many reasons.

I am of course, sickened and horrified by child pornography, or any malicious and abusive things taking place against children on the net.

But, if such a law goes into place, I worry about what this could do to those who are truly innocent.

Case in point:

I was surfing one night, searching for stock photos on red hair. I was looking to color my hair back to it's original color and was looking for swatches to show my hair dresser. What ended up happening as I was searching was, it took me to one legitimate looking site....then it went to a splash screen for xxx teen. I clicked it away...and went on looking for other legitimate pages.

Now, please tell me, what would have happened had in this case feds raid my home over something innocent? How many people can say that this has happened to them over the years of surfing the net? Hell, even my own devout Christian mother has come across disturbing material ....on accident.

Many pages on the net are set up to look legit, but are actually links to porn of all sorts. We do our best to filter this out, but somehow it seeps in.

I don't know. It seems like a slippery slope. I want pedophiles locked away but at the same time this could becomes dangerous for the innocent.

people watching that stuff isn't the real probblem.. it's those that make the pictures and post them to make cash that need some investigation (I bet most of those aren't pedo's but dirty money lovers..).. but nooooo lets not be smart about this issue.

For the FBI to handle it the way they do really isn't a surpize... the Gestapo worked allong the same line of tought... everybodys guilty untill proven innocent.

and.. What about the Service providers? should they be accused of being the biggest pedo's crap spreaders of the world wide web? if they can stop spam or any other site why not kiddy porn. They allow FBI to post kiddy porn in secret.. isn't that worse?

Are yall peopel nuts? this is the best thing the FBI has done for years! Yes Yes YEs, I fully support them on this. Imagine how many victims they may be able to help now that they can target even the end-user. There are many child molesting parents that also probably go on the internet to find more of the perversities they desire, and if they inadvertantley fall prey to the FBI trap, then these are also victims we could be rescuing.

A new world needs new world measures to fight and prevent crime. Old world policies and processes have only seen the increased buildup of perverse crimes continue to flourish.

If someone offers you a bag of coke on the streets, the legal and right thing to do is turn it down. Someone offers you illegal pornagraphy on the web, you do not accept it just because you believe noone is watching it and that your supposed to be anonymous. The least someone deserves for doing that is an FBI raid.

As far as being exposed to an outside wireless intruder, the router and the computer make log files of any and all connectios to said device within a specific time frame. The only thing need be done to verify is search the logs, and see if the connection had come from an external intruder.

If anyone would think beyond their conditioned hate for "the man", maybe there could be some understanding. Even if one accidentally and unintentionally comes across LEGAL pornography, how does this subject you to the scrutiny of the FBI? You neither clicked on a hyperlink marketing illegal activity, nor did you even happen to see an advertisement for illegal activity pop-up on your screen by accident.

If you did accidnetally come across an illegal activity page being marketed, I would hope you reported it to the FBI. It is easy, you just go to www.fbi.gov... and there are two hyperlinks under the 'Contact Us' cateory at the top-left hand side. I have utilized this service several times myself.

I have great respect for our Law Enforcement officers on the local and National Level. Finally they can stop tip-toeing around peoples feelings and track down some real criminals, especially those who would attack, exploit, and derive joy from the suffering of innocent people.

Submit a Crime Tip
Report Internet Crime

[edit on 3/26/2008 by DYepes]

reply to post by DYepes


Imagine how many more victims this operation is going to create.

You see, that's the problem with you people that support this. You just see "FBI STOPS CHILD PORN" and you look no further. You're being manipulated and you don't even know it.

Do you think the FBI bothered to present the possible downsides or potentials for abuse for this operation? Of course not, because they knew the masses would get emotional over such a controversial and sickening topic and they would fall in line, supporting it 100% of the way and not taking a break to use their brains.

My brother and I share the same network, same router, same connection and same IP, but we're on different computers. Our logs show the same thing. So what if he were to accidentally click on a link, and not knowing who did it, they take both of us in. Now one of us is guilty of nothing, and the other is guilty of clicking a link, and both of us have our lives ruined.

You think that's a necessary loss to stop a few people from viewing objectionable material on the Internet?

I guess it's all good in your eyes until hackers discover the URL, put it in normal every day links, and you or someone you know ends up clicking on it, right?

If that is what it's going to take for some of you to finally see the huge downside to this, then I'm all for you getting your house raided.

The only thing that is certain in this is that the cons far out-weigh the pros.

reply to post by DYepes

If you did accidnetally come across an illegal activity page being marketed, I would hope you reported it to the FBI. It is easy, you just go to www.fbi.gov... and there are two hyperlinks under the 'Contact Us' cateory at the top-left hand side. I have utilized this service several times myself.

So lemme get this straight. If some creep tells the FBI that they "accidentally" clicked an illegal link, they don't get in trouble?

I have never seen an online crime except maybe illegal file sharing, but we can rest assured our government has dealt with it.

everyone here swears they are doing something illegal for the FBI to come raid their house, that they are getting defensive over these positive measure. I just figure most people should in fact know many of the things they download is in fact illegal. If you just streamed music from online radio stations, then we dont need to own copyrighted unpaid music.

I have taken this measure myself, and find I can be more produtive when just listening to whats on than to immerse myself for most of the day in music.

People should not be living thinking about whats on their computer thats illegal. A computer is just a tool, not a second home/life.

The FBI needs these tools to defend our society! Let us take responsibiliy as citizens and give them the support they need to catch criminals. Just as we do not send our soldiers into the field, we would not take away these new virtual grenades away from the online battlefield!

PARTICIPATE IN YOUR FEDERAL GOVERNMET AGENCY TODAY

reply to post by DYepes


What a joke.

You're kidding right?

I can't even respond to this. I'll get a warning.

Put down the American flag, step away from FOX News, and think for at least two seconds.

A guy I know . . . one of my friend's ex boyfriends was just arrested two days ago for child porn.

Link

I knew Jay Garcia.

reply to post by mattifikation


OMG that was well put dont you hate it Matt when you have to put it in babyspeak for people lol its not that your trying to make someone feel bad but why cant they see the obvious ! simple to see whats really going on and you just cant belive why they dont see it that way??

reply to post by DYepes


yeah but you forgot I get free stream lol radio by just buying a radio they play peoples music for free over the radio all you have to do is buy the radio so how do you figure internet radio to be agianst the law?

reply to post by DYepes


Haha. Alright then, if you think this is such a good idea, why don't you go type in the URL to one of those fake links and see what happens?

Let's make bets on whether or not you still have friends, or a family, or a job a week from now after your name shows up in an article like the one that was just posted by xxpigxx.

Notice they weren't found guilty of anything yet. Notice they were merely arrested and charged so far. The two men in pig's article could end up being found innocent. You'll never know, because nobody reports that in the news.

When the FBI comes knocking, the media will tell the whole world why they were there. When the jury finds you innocent, nobody will tell anybody why!

I'm going to state with 95% certainty that you either didn't read or didn't understand the argument against this operation. It's not the threat of innocent people going to jail - there's almost no threat of that happening.

It's the threat of innocent people being on the receiving end of an FBI search for child porn. It's the threat of being charged. That is all it takes to ruin a life. It doesn't have to go to trial or even lead to an arrest. The search alone will make your neighbors hate you, your family suspicious, and your friends desert you. The public mindset is innocent until proven guilty, unless it's child porn, in which case you're just guilty.

If you still think this is such a great idea, I want you to imagine your BEST FRIEND telling somebody this:

"Yeah, I used to hang out with [your name here]. He seemed like a great guy, then one day the feds knocked down his door and took his router and hard drive looking for kiddie porn. I never would have thought, him, of all people!"

Read the original article. They didn't peacefully ask the suspects, "Hey, can we take a look at your hard drive? You went to one of our links, and we need to make sure it was just an accident."

They knocked on his door at 7am, pulled him out into his lawn, threw him on the ground and cuffed him - BEFORE INVESTIGATING FURTHER. BEFORE LOOKING AT HIS ROUTER. BEFORE LOOKING AT HIS HARD DRIVE. All he had done was click the link.

Now, I understand he was found guilty... BUT.... What if they had found him innocent? What if the investigation had revealed that somebody else used his computer, or a hacker used a trojan to access the site through his computer, or somebody had been on his wireless network, or somebody had sent him the link and said it was something else? Do you think he would have gotten his life back after that?

No, he'd just be that guy who was fired after being arrested on child porn charges. Forever, that's who he'd be. He'd have to friggin move to a new state just to get away from the ridicule, and forget getting a decent job ever again!

I don't even know why I'm bothering with all this. I already know your response. You read maybe half of this post, let none of it sink in, considered nothing but your own viewpoint, and now you're going to come back with some elaborate version of "Child molesters suck and nothing on earth is important except catching them! Besides, if somebody is innocent their hard drive will clear them of all charges! Hurray hurray for the FBI!"

I sure hope those friggin blinders are comfortable. I'm with Novus, what I'm really thinking about you... ugh... who are supporting this would get me warned if I went ahead and said it, so I'm going to stop here.

[edit on 26-3-2008 by mattifikation]

I know one thing . I would rather these people be on the internet looking at this stuff then on my block peering in windows.
This is entrapment FLAT OUT. While i definitely don't support these people doing the porn . I don't think the problem lies so much in the people who click . As the people who POST the stuff. THEY were the ones with the children .

It's not the threat of innocent people going to jail - there's almost no threat of that happening.

*WRONG*
It would be SOOOOO easy to frame someone using these links . Clone there mac addy . Click link . Go back to your mac addy . If you use someones mac . Everything gets linked to there account . Cable internet is SO easy to hack/spoof. Its insane. I cant see why anyone pays for it at all.
Way to go FBI . Giving people the tools to frame each other for child porn.

Also theres always the "hide in hyperlink" scam . Like this . Click me to go to msnbc site (mouse over and look at where it REALLY links)
^ Which will take you to the BBC website. But by the time you realize) your already a criminal .





[edit on 26-3-2008 by oLDWoRLDDiSoRDeR]

Whilst this does not affect me, as I am in the UK and also I do not look at childporn it is a very bad idea.

The amount of times I have been on the internet and clicked on a link, only to have it redirect me to another site is ridiculas. You then get spamed with pop-ups and prompts to download things. You can click "No" and it will try to download anyway, you close the pop-ups and more pop-up and you click back, only to again be redirected to ANOTHER site where the process starts all over again.

It is far to easy to click on what seems like a legitimate link and be re-directed to god knows what.

Then we also have to look at other countires laws and how messed up laws can be. The legal age for sex in the UK is 16 for example, so "minors" in the UK is anyone under 16. However I have no idea how that relates to pornography, can a porno in the UK for example feature a 17 year-old girl but only be viewable to those who are 18 or over, or does the legal age to star in one have to be 18?

It is quite rediculas when you think about it though, a 16 year old couple could film them selves having sex but then it would be illegal for them to watch it, laws are very messed up.

I am also fairly sure there was a UK girl of 16 who did infact set up her own ammatuer pron site, I think she still runs it and is 19 now. How does law affect her for example?

I feel quite disgusting trying to defend this as I know someone who was sexually abused when she was younger but at the same time in instances like this there are far to many loop-holes and injustices which can arrise.

You know I can;t stand it anymore. Between friends getting letters for downloading TV shows to crazy FBI stings operating all half-assed I'm going to destroy my home PC. I'm going to smash every board, tear the plates out of my hard drive and take a grinder to them and reserve my internet for my Xbox only.

I bet in a week or so some story about how some kid said something offensive over Xbox Live and the ADL had the kid taken to some "tolerance camp" will surface and I'll have to destroy that too.

The only computer in my life will be the office computer from now on.

I can't take it anymore.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


Just wrap the hdds in wire . Plug it into the wall and add a switch . Make an electro magnet out of the hdd casing . If anyone boots your door just flip the switch and watch it go up in flames.
Find my copy of next weeks "lost" now muhahaha..

Better put one heck of a password on that office computer. You wouldn't want the guy below you who wants your job to create a nice opening for himself by framing you for attempting to access kiddy porn.

I bet the feds would go to your house, find your shredded computer in the garbage, and assume you were destroying evidence. Oops, obstruction of justice charge!

Remember, in the U.S. you are presumed innocent until there's a possibility that you're guilty.

Is this any different than having an attractive police officer pose as a hooker and then busting people that try to arrange a date?

Following the link to download child porn only justifies a search warrent. It does not mean an automatic conviction.

I can understand how this could certainly be a grey area of the law but I think that the FBI should be able to figure out how to weed out people that would accidentally click on a URL vs people who are actively seeking something that is illegal.

So perhaps there will be a generation 2 of this that will be less controversial and more targeted.