Coastie -- the point here is that the FBI ran a child porn cite for three weeks and during that time, it distributed hundreds, if not thousands of child pornography photo's that they cannot track and take back.

It does NOT matter that it was the FBI and it does NOT matter that it was some website on the "dark web" nor does it matter that others were actively using the website. The FBI had the ability to shut the website down and stop everyone from using it, but it choose instead to run it, itself, and distribute child porn. Oh, and out of lord knows how many people were using the website, they only got 113 actual IP addresses and so far, only one person has been criminally charged. So, tell me, was that worth it??? I think not.

@Coastie I most certainly did research not only the story but the actual case. I don't know where you got your information from but the site was not strictly a CP site, self produced CP was not a requirement for membership and the defendant in this case proves that. He is not a contact offender and did not physically victimize anyone to become a member. While there were members that are actively abusing children and producing most of them haven't been caught yet. The operation yielded over 3200 potential cases resulting in one, just one, producer being arrested and 3 victims being identified.

There's no question the site needed to be taken out but it was not necessary for the FBI to engage in international distribution of CP. Their Network Investigation Tool payload was delivered when a user logged in to the site so the FBI could have removed all of the CP and still gotten the exact same results. That's not speculation on my part either as I got that from agent testimony.

I've said it before and I'll say ir again - There is no set of circumstances where it becomes acceptable for the government to participate in the victimization of children. Anything else is a gross rationalization of the worst kind and anybody that makes that rationalization is just as guilty

Gee whiz Coastie - and here lately I thought you were starting to actually like us! I kew it was the dark web but I do not see how that in anyway changes anyone's view point. Our govt should not be in the business of running porn sites and distributing such - they should have shut it down - period.

Well said Legal and Aladdin!

For those that do not know what the "Dark Web" is other than its mention on TV, in the news, and things like that. ALL it is are websites that do not allow, search engine spiders to list them, they hide the IP address of the site so that they are very hard if not impossible to track to the owner and they hide their identity with encryption like the Tor tool that is widely used. But if you know the website address, such as, http://www.whatever.org you will be able to go there.

If LE is engaging in illegal activities they are not above the law. The cliche comes to mind, "two wrongs don't make a right" Along with the other cliche, "the end justifies the means." Neither of which should be acceptable when CP is concerned, considering the way our lawmakers target that crime these days.

LE and lawmakers preach that if it saves ONE child, protects ONE child, yet they victimize thousands under the guise that "the end justifies the means" So it is ONLY ok to victimize children if it could catch ONE person and not even a producer of CP either.

All politicians have been party to some kind of crime if they have been in politics long enough. Of that I have no doubt. I also believe much of those crimes are done in the name of something they believe noble and "justifies the means". It goes against the very Constitution that they swear to uphold when they are sworn in to office, sworn in to military service, sworn in to law enforcement service and sworn in as a judge. Yet they still break the law, because "the end justifies the means". It is how the human psyche works.

The FBI is guilty of distributing child pornography, they openly admit to the things that they did, yet they have not been arrested, have not be disciplined but have been commended for their dedicated service to who? I do hope it is not the children, cause they victimized them and are in need of some intense group therapy to understand why they thought it was OK to victimize someone over and over for their own 'gratification' of catching some person that probably has never touched a soul and probably never will. It was just that the internet has made it very easy to explore weird fetishes from the privacy of their own home.

To try to say that because others got away with egregious actions such as all those past presidents and our current one, that it justifies the actions of others in government because they only doing what is 'best for us' is crap and a copout and then regurgitating "the end justifies the means" NO ONE is above the law, that is what our constitution says, NO ONE, not even the president, even though they operate as if they are because they have been allowed to get away by the people of this country.

One of the major problems in America as far as law and order is that too many people are willing to give LE the benefit of the doubt and excuse police misconduct. I am not sure what is wrong with these people that they cannot be objective and see that the police and LE are completely out of control, but it is a problem.

Then when a case comes forth as with the FBI running the child porn site and contributing to the same problem that they claim they are fighting---the proliferation of CP--- the "ick" factor of child pornography is so intense that they give LE a pass even if the LE broke the law.

You can read the comments after the articles in these cases to see that something is wrong with how people view right and wrong in this country. Such comments as "Shoot them all in the head," "Give them he electric chair," and "I think the FBI did a great job here," are not comments of people who have a healthy overview of justice in this country. Frankly, some of the comments scare me somewhat to think that people have that kind of mindset.

This is not the first time that the FBI has allowed CP to be uploaded and traded while they controlled a hidden service on the Dark Net. They did the same thing in Nebraska which resulted in about 25 arrests a couple of years ago. I believe a man named Aaron McGrath was arrested in that operation.

http://tinyurl.com/koqpmpo

This is just a pattern in which LE breaks the law to enforce the law. Nobody will ever say that CP is acceptable and nobody thinks that the FBI should not have brought these sites down; but people with common sense and critical thinking skills will agree that the actions of the FBI in these types of cases was objectionable.

rewdiazepam

@ Rew -- No, their actions were unconscionable!!!!

When the judge said that he was not surprised at all, was like a photo saying a thousand words. It was to say that we have reached a plateau in our county that one expects those in government to break the law, moreover, that we accept it as if it is the new Standard Operating Procedure of those in government because it has become so commonplace. And here in is the core of the issues.

And proof of what you're all saying? "that too many people in 'the general public' are routinely willing to give LE the benefit of the doubt and excuse police misconduct." There's a pretty popular 'new' series on Netflix called "The Killing") which shows the lead detectives never getting search warrants unless they need to cover up their own lack of getting prior search warrants /Ok's for wire taps etc.. The Killing does have one good guy who doesn't go along with the crowd in pillorying the main suspect in this story about clever detectives out to get the bad guy in the rape/murder investigation but even the good guy isn't proven right in standing up for the 'bad' guy's rights until the suspect is nearly beaten to death by an 'outraged family member of the girl who was raped and murdered. Just "justice" gone a little awry? And if the suspect had proven to be the real 'bad guy' who in the watching Netflix public would have blinked an eye? I wanted the detectives to find out who had murdered the girl but I found it irritating to see how many corners were casually cut by LE during the process, how much justice itself was perverted?

Apparently, as usual some just pick little snippits of my comments so let me re type one part of my post so you can see it better.

"I DO HAVE HEARTBURN THAT THE FBI ALLOWED THOSE IMAGES TO BE FURTHER DISTRIBUTED"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
F--k this gets old............

@ Janetmackie

You asked for "proof" that the public is willing to let those in government do what they wish. To begin with, we need only look at the sex offender laws nationally and in each individual state to see proof of this happening. I can think of no one better to sum it all up than Glen Baughman in his YouTube video on the subject.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYt-3fai-PI&feature=youtu.be

Notwithstanding the aforementioned, I myself have written several reports addressing the injustices forced upon people with mental illness who have a criminal history, and, yes, this includes those who are labeled a sex offender. Such would not exist but not for the indifference among those in society.

http://tinyurl.com/zxkhq4w (Missouri Guardianships, Jan 2016) Personal testimony of what my ward and I have experienced.

https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/publications/christopher-cross-report-on-missouri-doc-prison-mental-health-system-2011/ (By Order Of The Court (published in Prison Legal News) October 2012)

https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2012/may/15/the-criminalization-of-mental-illness-in-missouri/ (Criminalization of Mental Illness in Missouri, (published in Prison Legal News) May 2012)

Notwithstanding all of the above, while not everyone in law enforcement is "corrupt" one need only do a search on YouTube to see the many video's posted about the lawlessness of those in law enforcement which arises because of societal indifference's that have existed for decades for the issues did not just spring to life overnight.

What the FBI did is, in many ways, a symptom of the greater problem existing in government and in society that has brought us to this point where the FBI believes it is perfectly acceptable to distribute child porn for the sake of throwing out a net to catch the viewers of such -- all while demanding the very people they catch pay the price by making the [hypocritical] claim that every time child porn is distributed and downloaded it victimizes the child again.

Government corruption does not just spring to life. It is grown by societal indifference. And as I wrote in my recent report:

"Some people react to life with ego’s; timid and small, to cope with difficulties faced, while others chose to live life with ego’s; great and large, to oppress people, as if they are God."

@Coastie I assure you I read you entire post hanging on every single word. Here's the statement you are referring to in its entirety

"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."

So you have heartburn over what the FBI did but in the end still condone their actions because "this was a group that needed to be taken out" That's the very line that should never be crossed.

Advocate.
"Gee whiz coastie-and here lately I thought you were actually starting to (Think) like us."
I added that little edit in there.
Just because we may sometimes agree on some things, it doesn't mean I've changed my views in any way, nor will I, I will always be politically very conservative, pro 2nd Amendment, an unapologetic, though poor, Capitalist.
Have you now read my 'Re-Post'?
Wonder why I get pissed?

Let me ask you, and the others on here this, If I had called Ovomit(Yes, I have ZERO respect for him) a 'War Criminal' I would be 'eviscerated' here by a few on here, fortunately a very few, but some who seem to want to push anyone who is a conservative or supporter of the average cop off this site and have succeeded in chasing some away. Unfortunately for them, "I ain't goin' away".

Advocate, this is not all on you. Do you remember a few months ago when I confronted Rew, not with fox news or the Blaze(Honestly I can't stand Beck) and he hit back with lib rags like the Daily Kos, never mind that my facts came right from the Congress website so he resorted to name calling. I still have the PM's from admin where you told them you didn't want me to address you even use you name. Why? Because i disagreed with you and Rew.
Wonder why I get pissed?
As far as aladdin goes? I don't even read his posts much less his links. I neither like nor dislike you or Rew, I DON'T LIKE aladdin.

Take it or leave it, i'm not going to change.

aladdin.
Read the last part of my post to advocate.
Read it, Love it, live it........Bye!

Thanks for the edit! Of course one never sees the mistakes it until they are posted! lol I do agree however that going down the "yeah it is wrong, but the end justifies the means" is a dangerously slippery slope. Also, I believe the incident you are speaking of was because you addressed a comment to me directly that was less than kind and quite attacking in nature. Regardless of what you may think it is never because of your opinions or views but only the way you assert them.

Oh also I think the war criminal thing (from what I understand) came from Bush's own mouth? Not sure ...