Here is another issue:

Assuming that the FBI obtained a search warrant to inflict computers accessing the website, with malware, as is the standard operating procedure the FBI uses in its sting operations, Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure prohibits a Judge from granting the warrant outside of the courts jurisdiction.

In other words, the FBI obtained a blanket warrant to cover everyone that accessed the website. In doing this, both the FBI and the Judge violated Rule 41 and thereby makes all evidence obtained inadmissible because the Judge lacked legal authority to grant the warrant and thus, the search / seizure violates the Fourth Amendment rights of those involved.

This is another example of a lawless government that simply does what it wants and judges who play the status quo since, after all, its "for the good of the children" and we are getting "sex offenders off the street" so as to seemingly justify and rationalize violating the Constitution -- besides one only violates the law if they are caught, taken to court, and obtain an order saying they violated the law.

It is one of the things that really turns my stomach. How those in a position of power or authority take on the belief that they have the right to say "screw the law, I don't care what it says, because I am entitled to do what I want and unless you can afford the money it will take to sue me, then suck it up and deal with what I am doing to you." We see this among LE, politicians, corporate executives, and even supervisors at work.

People simply just do not have any respect for the law nor for other people. . .

I should also point out that in obtaining a warrant, LE must prove probable cause exists. This cannot be done if LE is obtaining blanket warrant without even knowing who the targets are and where they live. This is an important matter because without knowing where the target lives, neither the judge nor LE can say with any degree of certainty that the target is within the jurisdiction of the court for the judge to grant the warrant.

The FBI had no prior knowledge of who the targets were nor did they have any prior knowledge where any of the targets lived. But they seized a website by hacking into it, then infected every server / computer with malware that came into contact with the website, and used child porn as the lure, then distributed the child porn to obtain probable cause. It is putting the cart before the horse, or as some say, shoot first and ask questions later.

On every level what the FBI did was unconscionable. The problem here is that they get away with this sort of crap because they are going after the very class that is hated so much by others, that they know no one is going to really call them on what they did to force them to be held accountable. Remember, even the group of "victims" agreed with what the FBI did - the only thing they did not like is that in doing this it was going to re-distribute child porn. They did not care one bit about the FBI violating the law and obtaining an illegal search warrant to do what it did.

I wonder if these victims would have cared if they knew that in obtaining an illegal warrant it put every case at risk of being thrown out.

Legal,

You are correct about the blanket warrant the FBI was able to obtain.

I look for the FBI to mention that they were only interested in catching those interested in CP and they would never go outside the scope of the investigation.

When they used the javascript exploit to infect the Freedom Hosting servers in the summer of 2013 in an attempt to get the IP addresses of those visiting the CP sites, they also took down an encrypted mail service----TorMail---which had nothing to do with child porn. TorMail just happened to be on the servers at that time.

Now the FBI has all the email information and the contents of the inboxes of those who used TorMail for legitimate purposes. The FBI may go on to claim that they did nothing with the TorMail contents since it was a legitimate program and had nothing to do with CP. ANOTHER DAMN LIE.

They have since used some of the personal emails of those using TorMails in other investigations, so I know they have been nosing around in the private emails.

http://tinyurl.com/n5d9xtt

" It's unknown exactly how many users or how much data is in the TorMail network, but we do know that the FBI has it all. The agency obtained a search warrant for a TorMail account connected to a Florida man accused of stealing credit card numbers in order to search its own copy of the database.”

There was no valid reason to hack into TorMail or a person's email account. The FBI did anyway since they have absolutely no regard for the law.

Just disgusting.

rewdiazepm

Yes it is disgusting and the worse part is they get away with it, on this legal justification claim of "harmless error" crap to excuse what they do deliberately and maliciously. And yet, they will quickly turn around and ramrod the law down the throats of people on the claim that they need to be held accountable for what they do that violates the law.

Simply put, law enforcement has way too much power that we are not a free country, but a dictatorship instead.

I agree - and the dictator is not POTUS! He is ruled (and any POTUS and that last few decades) by the Homeland security and all its branches

was this website strictly for child porn? or is it possible that someone innocent could get caught up in it like what happened with limewire???

honestly as far as i'm concerned, this makes the FBI 10 times more guilty thanthe people that download.

Legal Guardian: All "irony" aside... if the FBI / LE was committing a crime, taking over and running a porn site and then charging and arresting "visitors" wouldn't the "evidence be barred as somehow "fruit of the poisoned tree" ? If LE breaks the law (for example doing unauthorized/ warrantless searches) can't such evidence can thrown thrown out at trial along with "related" evidence found in the unlawful search of a person's car , office or home. So if the FBI finds the person/ computer that downloaded porn from their illegal/ criminal Playpen activities and finds even more Porn there too, because of the unlawful way the Playpen evidence was obtained isn't that too fruit of the poisoned tree? Unless LE bullies the person into taking a plea and FBI's illegally obtained evidence never is tested at trial? Just asking.

I find this absolutely disgusting and yet not very surprising at all. How often do weseepatrol police turning on the sirens to get past the red light orgoing faster than the speed limit. It's not surprising that they break the law with the claim they are trying to catch law?breakers.

REW: re Blanket Warrents ( and warrantless Surveilance on Play Pen porn sites) by the government:

Seems a little off point but quite interesting regarding the government prosecuting/ fining one of their own for giving out information on illegal (criminal searches) perhaps resulting in "evidence" that was itself fruit of the poisoned tree? (oh what a tangle web the FBI weaves when first they practice to deceive even SO's obsessed with porn sites?

Thomas Tamm Hit With Bar Charges For Exposing The Warrantless Surveillance Program Under President Bush:

"
There is a disturbing proceeding unfolding before the the District of Columbia Office of Disciplinary Counsel where Thomas Tamm, a former U.S. Department of Justice lawyer who leaked information to the press about warrantless domestic spying under President George W. Bush, is facing legal ethics charges in Washington. Tamm is viewed as a hero by many in exposing the program, but even among his detractors there are those who view him as a whistleblower. The intervention of the DC Bar into the case is troubling given the various policy and legal questions over his status in exposing the program."

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jonathanturley | 1, January 28, 2016 at 7:38 am | Categories: Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Politics, Society | URL: http://wp.me/p6sYP-p5X

Here is how screwed up this country is and how it will go to great lengths to prosecute some people and leave other people alone----

Mr. Thomas Tamm allegedly leaked information to the press about warrantless domestic spying under President George W. Bush and he is now facing legal ethics charges in Washington.

But George W Bush and Dick Cheney, along with several of those in his administration, are admitted WAR CRIMINALS and we cannot seem to do a thing with them. Cheney is still on the Sunday morning talk shows spewing his opinions on foreign policy and Bush is cavorting all over the country hawking his amateurish paintings.

How can a nation's priorities become so misplaced???

Not only did Bush and his minions invade a sovereign country without provocation----based on faulty evidence and possibly even lies----but he ordered water boarding which is a war crime.

http://tinyurl.com/25c7ad4

http://tinyurl.com/h6alnmz

We executed Japanese soldiers after WWII for engaging in water boarding, yet Bush and Cheney are untouchable.

http://tinyurl.com/de85cv

Bush caused the displacement of almost two million Iraqi citizens, the death of almost 5,000 of our brave soldiers, almost 200,000 Iraqi citizens----including women and children; and a financial price for this country of almost two trillion dollars.

Bush and Cheney have proudly stated in several interviews and books that they ordered water boarding and would do so again.

We look at this sordid situation and there is no wonder there is no justice in this country for those accused of crimes----We might as well just throw out all the pretenses we have for justice in this country.

This is not about politics or Democrats or Republicans, but rather about a lack of basic fairness and justice for all----everyone from those accused of a sex crime to those in government--- in this country.

rewdiazepam

What is the one thing that is constant throughout all world history from the begging of time? It is man's unquenchable thirst and unfed hunger to rule over others in anyway they can and no matter what the costs that is inflicted upon others.

Thus, the problems we have with those in government, on all levels, in all branches, and among all employees and elected officials who cause the issues -- and there are far too many -- stems from their wanting to have and to exercise "power" over others.

It is a mentality that does not adopt the belief that one should or even needs to treat others with respect, to be fair and impartial, to practice what one preaches, and to obey the law as they demand others do.

Those in LE, on all levels, have long since despised the rights guaranteed by the Constitutions of the U.S. and individual states because they violate the carnal rule of not restricting their "power" over others. And countless of others in government believe the same.

Things will NEVER get better as long as mankind is alive because it is the nature of man to conquer others and we are no different today than we were century's ago -- except today we have better technology to inflict greater damages upon others, in man's quest to conquer others.

LegalGuardian,

You said, " Those in LE, on all levels, have long since despised the rights guaranteed by the Constitutions of the U.S. and individual states because they violate the carnal rule of not restricting their "power" over others. And countless of others in government believe the same."

You could not be more correct. Some in LE, but especially detectives look at the United States Constitution as just an annoyance and an "inconvenience" in their quest to arrest and ultimately convict someone of a crime regardless of the circumstances.

They only tolerate the average citizen and they see themselves as morally above everyone else.

If you ever read affidavits used to obtain a warrant or the transcript of a deposition of a policeman, you will be absolutely amazed at what accomplished liars they can be.

They certainly abuse the power bestowed them.

rewdiazepam

Aladdin had previously supplied us with a link to the court document asking for a dismissal of the charges against one of the defendants in this operation.

The judge denied the motion to dismiss.

http://tinyurl.com/hfsjzyj

rewdiazepam

And stupid us. He we thought it WAS OUTRAGEOUS CONDUCT for the FBI to run a child porn site.

"“I am not shocked by this,” Judge Robert J. Bryan said in a hearing, according to a court transcript. “I did not find it outrageous.”" Thank you for making my point Judge Bryan. Wow. That says a heck of a lot about our government, how it operates, and how these idiots think.

Of course you know, this ruling and what the judge said gave a blank check for the FBI and every other LE agency in our country to open shop and start running child porn sites.

My God!!! Is this what we have come to in this freaking country!!!!

Does anyone research this whole story or just pick certain parts that fit their views.
This particular website was on the Tor network, the so called 'Dark Web' and was STRICTLY a CP site. To become a member of this site, the people had to provide self produced CP. and the only way to access the site, its name was PlayPen, was to be a registered member so obviously these people knew what kind of site it was.
In this case I don't see the problem with going after these people because they were ACTIVELY abusing children.
I do have heartburn with the fact that the FBI did allow those images to be further distributed to others who may not have been on that site and are now forever in the internet, but beyond that, this was a group that needed to be taken out.

Sorry, Japanese soldiers were not executed by the U.S. JUST for waterboarding. If you read the original story it said, "Among other crimes", the Lib propaganda rags like the Huffington Post conveniently leaves out those pesky little facts. Transcripts of the Japanese War Crimes Tribunals are very easy to find. I am an 'Amateur' WW2 historian.

As for Bush and Cheney being so called 'War Criminals', you should add Clinton,(Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, bombing Iraq every time he got caught diddling some intern to deflect the people and don't forget that Chinese aid hospital that suffered a missile attack he ordered.) and Ovomit(Who ordered the Troop Surge in Astan, is now putting more troops back into Iraq, Indesciminate(sp) Drone attacks all over the ME, letting Americans die in Benghazi without sending in a relief force even after the Libyan Govt. offered air transport for the standby SF unit). Sounds just as silly doesn't it.