900 suspected pedophiles arrested after Darknet child porn kingpin jailed for 30 years

Good news, more scum has been removed from the Earth.

Nearly 900 members of a global ‘dark web’ pedophile ring sprawling Europe and the Americas have been arrested following a two-year investigation, the FBI and Europol reported after the website’s founder was handed a 30-year jail sentence.

Shedding light on the scope of the operation which is still active, the FBI revealed that in the US alone, 350 arrests were made as part of a wide-ranging investigation into Playpen – a secret website that is being referred to as possibly the biggest child pornography online dump that ever existed.

Source: 1/2/3


files.abovetopsecret.com...

While I applaud the efforts of our detectives and law enforcement, the methods used to identify each suspect, clearly shows the FBI's blatant disregard of the law. This part of the article is interesting...

FBI hacked into 8k computers in 120 countries using single disputed warrant – report

Over the past year, Motherboard has found that the FBI hacked computers in Australia, Austria, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Greece, and likely the UK, Turkey, and Norway during the investigation.

However, the new transcript from a related case shows that the bureau's campaign was far larger than previously believed, and that the FBI actually hacked into more than 8,000 computers in 120 different countries.

“The fact that a single magistrate judge could authorize the FBI to hack 8,000 people in 120 countries is truly terrifying,” Christopher Soghoian, a principal technologist at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) who has testified for the defense in Playpen cases, told Motherboard.

Anyway, I’ve already covered that topic extensively. The warrant failed to identify anyone by name who had their computer searched and information seized, but the FBI went ahead and infected the targeted computers with malware in order to secure an arrest. Seems pretty reckless if you ask me, though they did catch some bad guys.

However, the head of the European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), Steven Wilson, appeared to defend the controversial practice, saying in a statement that “If we operate with 19th century legal principles then we are unable to effectively tackle crime at the highest level.”

“Rule 41” is supposed to prevent the FBI from abusing single warrants by using them to expose the identities of other internet users who could simply be sharing the same computer with a potential target. It's hard to ascertain the details of an anonymous internet user, so they do what they feel is necessary.

Despite the hurdles being faced by the FBI in the Playpen investigation, the bureau could soon have undisputed freedom when it comes to using single warrants to conduct similar probes. Changes to Rule 41 are likely to take effect on December 1, meaning judges will be given more power to issue warrants exactly as Judge Buchanan did.

Many have expressed concern that the changes will give law enforcement too much power to hack internet users both inside and outside the US, with Soghoian saying the technique is “probably the new normal.”

“We should expect to see future operations of this scale conducted not just by the FBI, but by other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies, and we should expect to see foreign law enforcement agencies hacking individuals in the United States, too,” he added.

The DOJ defended the change to Rule 41 which doesn't surprise me. It's only wrong if they get caught and only then are they forced to rewrite the law. There's no sense in apologizing when few will argue that their methods do lead to the apprehension of some very evil people.

“We believe technology should not create a lawless zone merely because a procedural rule has not kept up with the times,” Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Criminal Division wrote in the post.

The “lawless zone.”

It's easy to justify such behavior when taking down abusive pedophiles and wretched content creators, but that doesn't take away from the fact that our law can be selectively followed and enforced. How long before the same mentality transfers to other intelligence agencies?

That's a joke.

(sorry, trollz beat me to it!)

Awesome...the shame is the world won't be 900 bullets less. Personally,I'd just feed them to some hungry pigs.

Why look in 120 countries? If the FBI finds a child-porn pervert in Mongolia, what can the FBI do about it? I thought the FBI focused on U.S. crimes.

Are any BIG FISH reeled in during these raids? We often hear about top level business and government officials as part of these child-porn rings, but I have yet to see a Congressman, Governor, Mayor, or CEO of a major corporation arrested.

a reply to: eisegesis

Just 30 years? Not long enough. I'm sure some drug offenders have longer sentences.

a reply to: carewemust
They forward the leads to the host nations. All sources even said as much, and that the domestic authorities there did their own arrests. When a childs safety is in question, there will be a lot of teamwork to save them.

I also had no problem with the hacking technique they used, due to the fact that only the individual members who were soliciting and contributing to these enterprises were exposed to the malware which compromised theory systems to law enforcement authorities.

Kind of like, if someone did not commit a crime of theft for instance that was embedded with GPS tracker, they would not be targeted and arrested. It is a very similar principal.

if the criminals hadnt crimed, they would not be compromised. So in that regard, I was ok with the large warrant.

The problem however will be the slippery slope when the RIAA and the movie industry will eventually lobby and solicit the same tactics on intellectual property theft. There could be a piece of legislation written though that would exempt this practice unless there is an imminent or ongoing threat of a violent crime to someones safety, such as these unfortunate children.

a reply to: eisegesis


Sad thing is that is like arresting 900 street level drug dealers while the king pins still direct the flow of the traffic?


Good news non the less, at least some of the non humans will be off the streets for awhile. The only real justice will be the justice they get from the prisoners that will give em true justice for the scum they are.

a reply to: eisegesis

Best bloody news ive heard in a long time.... Burn them all.

It's just breaking the surface because the ones on top running it besides the main site sicko-in which 30 years isn't enough as it is only for the fact that it will die in there, victims and families suffer for even longer-, are probably protected. Now makes one wonder if these monsters will be held accountable to the fullest extent given even or serve lesser time.

a reply to: eisegesis

Only 30 years? Having destroyed so many lives (not only the children, but their families and friends lives as well), I would think this guy deserves the chair.

Here in America, a lot of violent offenders get off with a metaphorical slap on the wrist, and that infuriates me.

Why should we waste time and money on giving these sub-humans a place to live, with three meals a day?

Glad they caught the [insert bad word here], but sadly, this kind of thing will continue to happen due to lenient sentencing. If they thought they'd be killed immediately upon capture, maybe they'd think twice.

a reply to: WeAreAllTheSame

If I was in charge,by the way would never happen, the mind boggles at their demise. I'd let each one have 5mins to speak, then decide how long they deserved to suffer.....oops I meant live.

350 U.S. arrests, but only 76 prosecuted. 1 out of every 5. Either a lot of innocent people were arrested and rounded up in this investigation, or 4 out of every 5 sickos from that group are running free. Either way, those numbers aren't comforting.

They did manage to rescue 55 kids, though even more internationally. That's good news!

a reply to: Skadi_the_Evil_Elf

I know how you feel but taking so many people to trial is expensive and it would be a complete waste without sufficient evidence. It makes sense to me that it would be difficult because some would provide alibis for each other and be enough trouble that it would seem more worth it to make an example of the higher ups. Also, they would have made deals with some of them in order to get them to testify against the higher ups. But yes in a better world each and every one of them involved in it in any way would facing serious charges of some kind.

It does seem like an awful lot of them are getting away...

a reply to: eisegesis

With those numbers of arrests, Im all for fbi hacking. Hack away. Hack as much as you need to arrest those people.
You should assume these days that there is no privacy, anyway, for innocent people as well as evil.

30 years is a joke. Every single one of them should get the death penalty, to be carried out immediately.

Alternatively they should each get one of those 300 year prison sentences with absolutely no chance of parole. None should have an even remote chance of seeing the outside world.

Oh well. They won't last long in prison anyway. The other lowlifes will deal with them in a suitable manner.

What's sad is a lot of those arrested will probably get let off entirely. Or get some ridiculous 6 month sentence

a reply to: Skadi_the_Evil_Elf

Maybe those vast Ards cut plea deals.
Put them in a room and release carbon monoxide. I could think of some much worse things btw.

a reply to: LoneCloudHopper2

You are probably right. Alot of those people were lower ranking "rats" they probably cut deals with, or used as bait, to bust the bigger rats.

a reply to: worldstarcountry



Thankyou for explaining how the process works, WorldStarCountry. Our Federal Bureau of Investigation is probably important and appreciated by a lot of countries, around the world.

Hopefully, most countries see this exploitation of children as CRIMES. I'd hate to learn that there are "sanctuary countries" in the world.

originally posted by: Ohanka
30 years is a joke. Every single one of them should get the death penalty, to be carried out immediately.

Alternatively they should each get one of those 300 year prison sentences with absolutely no chance of parole. None should have an even remote chance of seeing the outside world.

Oh well. They won't last long in prison anyway. The other lowlifes will deal with them in a suitable manner.

What's sad is a lot of those arrested will probably get let off entirely. Or get some ridiculous 6 month sentence

Death penalty imagine the crying defense warriors if that were to happen. Those at the top, that these lower rankings ones are taking the fall for should be there for sure. Their time being suffering being passed around and likely beaten if not held in solitary because they are targets and the scum they are up to no good anyway so they basically live in the hole. Yeah and the ones let out on "good behavior" and or find an attorney that cries they are not bad for what they did, meanwhile someone caught with pot does 18 plus years in jail.

originally posted by: Mousygretchen
a reply to: Skadi_the_Evil_Elf

Maybe those vast Ards cut plea deals.
Put them in a room and release carbon monoxide. I could think of some much worse things btw.

Vivisection, good enough to use on Fido, good enough to use on these types of prisoners.

a reply to: LoneCloudHopper2

Alibi or not, they're on that list for a reason.

Makes you wonder exactly why the system is so lenient towards child molesters, rapists, and murderers.

My uncle was murdered. Great guy, nicest person you could imagine. He had a drink at a local bar before heading home, as was his tradition. This particular time, a few ladies at the bar were smiling/flirting with him. He was followed out of the bar by some drunk jealous dudes, and had his head caved in with a baseball bat. He had no chance, and he died a few days later in the hospital.

The guys that did it? Both first offenders. One got out in 4 years, good behavior. The other was out in 7.

Justice? Pfff.