FBI turns to entrapment via hyperlinks

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FBI turns to entrapment via hyperlinks

By Adam Myers ⋅ March 20, 2008 ⋅

CNET News.com has a somewhat startling report on the FBI posting fake hyperlinks in order to snare child porn suspects. The sting operation utilized a webboard called Ranchi, an alleged hot bed for illicit porn. FBI Agent Luders posted links to supposed indecent underage material hosted at upload.sytes.net, likely controlled by the FBI. As is typical on the Internet, all requests were logged with arrests under violation of federal law which criminalizes any "attempt" to download child pornography. The arrests occurred in three states: Pennsylvania, New York, and Nevada.

Not many would argue against doing what it takes to put such people away but this opens a huge can of worms. Why has the government sunk to the level of a professional con man? If clicking a link is the same as an intent to download which is then enough for a warrant, that’s downright terrifying. I should hope that anyone with just a bit of intelligence would see what precedence this is setting. IPs are not a reliable form of identification - as much as the courts want us all to believe. A better approach in my mind is to mirror the strategy used to take down software piracy. That is, go after those that are making/distributing the content.

Googlebot, you’ve been warned!

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