FBI goes dark to lure, nab child pornography site users
What better way to identify and arrest child pornography enthusiasts using a so-called “Dark Web” site, surmised the FBI, than to pose as the site’s administrator?
Some of our readers might not be familiar with the Dark Web, which can be loosely described as a secretive Internet within the Internet availed of by users such as financial criminals, terrorists and pornographers.
Although it is no surprise that investigative groups like the FBI are actively trolling the Dark Web and using strategies that expose and apprehend select users, it is likely news to many people that the FBI would actively pose as an online gathering place for the viewing and dissemination of child pornography.
The bureau is not apologizing, even for the fact that, following its hacking into and takeover of the site, it allowed the continued dissemination of sexual images of children for nearly two weeks.
“We had a window of opportunity” said a bureau agent, who added that there “was no other way we could identify as many players.”
The FBI used that window to capture the personal data of users visiting the site, which was called “Playpen,” for a period early last year. Readers of this blog will undoubtedly find it depressing to note that Playpen had more than 215,000 registered users during the period of FBI surveillance.
A recent media article states that 137 of those users have been charged with a crime. And that number could rise.
Reportedly, the FBI also collaborated recently with European authorities in an Internet investigation that yielded many child porn-related arrests on the continent and elsewhere globally.
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