Posted on 03/23/2014 8:56:09 AM PDT by markomalley
Federal agents were searching for child pornography when they seized computers from former state Rep. Keith Farnham’s home and offices this month, according to a search warrant released to The Associated Press on Saturday.
The search warrant released by the Illinois House shows authorities were seeking any evidence of the “possession, receipt, or distribution of child pornography” and documents “in any format and medium concerning minors visually depicted while engaged in sexually explicit conduct” from computers in Farnham’s Elgin home and office as well as his Springfield office.
They also sought other computer equipment and cellphones, information about anyone contacted through the computers, passwords, accounts with any Internet companies, indications of file-sharing technology and software designed to eliminate data.
Farnham, a Democrat first elected in 2008, resigned last Wednesday but said he had to attend to “battling serious health issues.” He did not mention what the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. attorney’s office describe as “an ongoing investigation.”
(Excerpt) Read more at chicago.cbslocal.com ...
You should quote this guy the famous line by Lavrenti Beria, the head of Joseph Stalin’s KGB...
“Show me the man and I will find the crime.”
If he'd been a Republican the headline would have begun "Republican Lawmaker...".
“And if they have the ability to reach in and find stuff ..,
they can also ‘ PLANT ‘ stuff , to be found later, especially when you are no longer ‘useful’ ! It’s called “entrapment”
Never, ever, trust the government. They have long since compromised any trust they may have had with the public and they have NO integrity.
Not trying to be antagonistic here but you are obviously going to the wrong sites. Downloading “free” music is famous for planting porn under the radar. When my daughter’s laptop crashed my IT buddy told for her not to go to those sites as they inbed these background programs in the system.
Seriously, unless it is youtube I don’t look at any music or movie sites.
I can assure you that your IT team has much better and more important things to do than to track your movements around the building.
Watching your online habits, reading your instant messages and chats, that’s a different story. You have no expectation of privacy on a network you don’t own. You also have no expectation of privacy in a building you don’t own working at a company you don’t command. You don’t get to walk into my house or use my network or computers and demand privacy. For better or for worse, that is how it works.
It doesn’t work that way. Investigators have to find and prove an intent to download and distribute child porn. Someone can hack your system and put a few images in it but prosecution has to prove it was you and has to prove you were intentionally searching for and saving it. People that get busted for this stuff are almost always members of news groups and have an extensive collection of images as well as clear evidence they were engaged in distribution.
Another note, police cannot simply take your hard drive and put things in it. That is impossible when using a write blocker which prevents investigators from altering the hard drive. Without that device, the moment that drive is plugged in, the drive has been written to and the evidence has been tainted. CP cases are very tricky and often involve months of online surveillance. They can be very difficult to prove and when charges are filed, there is typically a smoking gun.
If it had been a Republican the ‘R” would have been in the headline..
Absolutely right.
Yep R in first paragraph. Tea Party in headline! Rules for journal Lists
Absolutely wrong, please see my above post.
CP cases are some of the most difficult to prove. If someone is being charged, it is likely done so because of overwhelming evidence. The first thing you learn in computer forensics is how much of an uphill battle these cases are from start to finish. It takes much more than an accusation and a few pics. There are plenty of ways to launch a defense against such charges, one of which is “how do you know it was me online and not a hacker or someone else.” This is why there are so many agencies involved and usually months or longer of surveillance. Every base must be covered and they have to have a smoking gun or the case will be thrown out.
The NSA could put pics on your computer and report you, but it takes way more than that to prove a CP case. They were likely watching this guy for awhile and I highly doubt he will be the only one to go down. These freaks never act alone and are almost always parts of sicko CP groups. I was involved in a CP case early in my IT career. Myself and our main sys admin were cleaning out network storage folders for our users. I opened a folder in thumbnail view and found thousands of horrible images. We contacted the FBI immediately and they began their work. They needed tons of info from both our sys admin and our network engineers and basically sat back and watched this guy for a month before the hammer came down and they arrested him at work. It was crazy. I never would have found out had I not opened that folder in thumbnail view.
I would hate to be a republican having his computer “checked” by a democrat.
That’s just it, it doesn’t have to be proved....just the charges alone will destroy the political career. “Where there’s smoke” and all.
LOL- you’re right. We’ve got their number...
While I appreciate your insight, you have no view to my work environment. Myself and my fellow employees are being tracked via video and now this new system.
Bottom line point being none of us has ANY expectancy of privacy nowadays.
By the by, our IT guys maintane the system, they do not watch us. The administrators are the ones doing the spying.
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