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CLICKING ON THE WRONG WEB SITE IS NOW A FEDERAL CRIME
UNDERNEWS ^ | March 20, 2008 | Declan McCullagh

Posted on 03/24/2008 2:16:11 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

The FBI has recently adopted a novel investigative technique: posting hyperlinks that purport to be illegal videos of minors having sex, and then raiding the homes of anyone willing to click on them.

Undercover FBI agents used this hyperlink-enticement technique, which directed Internet users to a clandestine government server, to stage armed raids of homes in Pennsylvania, New York, and Nevada last year. The supposed video files actually were gibberish and contained no illegal images.

A CNET News.com review of legal documents shows that courts have approved of this technique, even though it raises questions about entrapment, the problems of identifying who's using an open wireless connection--and whether anyone who clicks on a FBI link that contains no child pornography should be automatically subject to a dawn raid by federal police. . .

The implications of the FBI's hyperlink-enticement technique are sweeping. Using the same logic and legal arguments, federal agents could send unsolicited e-mail messages to millions of Americans advertising illegal narcotics or child pornography--and raid people who click on the links embedded in the spam messages. The bureau could register the "unlawfulimages.com" domain name and prosecute intentional visitors. And so on. . .

While it might seem that merely clicking on a link wouldn't be enough to justify a search warrant, courts have ruled otherwise. On March 6, U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt in Nevada agreed with a magistrate judge that the hyperlink-sting operation constituted sufficient probable cause to justify giving the FBI its search warrant. . .

The magistrate judge ruled that even the possibilities of spoofing or other users of an open Wi-Fi connection "would not have negated a substantial basis for concluding that there was probable cause to believe that evidence of child pornography would be found on the premises to be searched." Translated, that means the search warrant was valid.

Entrapment: Not a defense So far, at least, attorneys defending the hyperlink-sting cases do not appear to have raised unlawful entrapment as a defense.

"Claims of entrapment have been made in similar cases, but usually do not get very far," said Stephen Saltzburg, a professor at George Washington University's law school. "The individuals who chose to log into the FBI sites appear to have had no pressure put upon them by the government...It is doubtful that the individuals could claim the government made them do something they weren't predisposed to doing or that the government overreached.". . .

Civil libertarians warn that anyone who clicks on a hyperlink advertising something illegal--perhaps found while Web browsing or received through e-mail--could face the same fate.

When asked what would stop the FBI from expanding its hyperlink sting operation, Harvey Silverglate, a longtime criminal defense lawyer in Cambridge, Mass. and author of a forthcoming book on the Justice Department, replied: "Because the courts have been so narrow in their definition of 'entrapment,' and so expansive in their definition of 'probable cause,' there is nothing to stop the Feds from acting as you posit."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cnet; doj; fbi; internet; writsofassistance
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To: acw011

You obviously have no understanding of the technical aspects of the program and how it works.


41 posted on 03/24/2008 2:34:25 PM PDT by freedomwarrior998
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To: devane617

Not only that but there is NO ACTUAL child PORN on the site so the prosecution is for intent?


42 posted on 03/24/2008 2:35:22 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
Whatever you say, Mr. Spitzer.

Ah, juvenile antics. The retreat of libertines everywhere. How quaint.

43 posted on 03/24/2008 2:35:34 PM PDT by freedomwarrior998
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To: freedomwarrior998

I would be interested in what you think about Izzy’s and Maddawgg’s illustrations.


44 posted on 03/24/2008 2:35:47 PM PDT by 728b (Never cry over something that can not cry over you.)
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To: freedomwarrior998
"Anyone screaming about this has to be into kiddie porn, because there is no other reason for one to be throwing a tantrum over it."

See post 29.

45 posted on 03/24/2008 2:36:30 PM PDT by Mad Dawgg ("`Eddies,' said Ford, `in the space-time continuum.' `Ah,' nodded Arthur, `is he? Is he?'")
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To: freedomwarrior998
Ah, juvenile antics. The retreat of libertines everywhere. How quaint.

I'm just afraid of catching rabies from you.

46 posted on 03/24/2008 2:36:56 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Islam is a religion of peace, and Muslims reserve the right to kill anyone who says otherwise.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

MS-13 is turning half of America into a war zone, and they can spare agents for this shit? Are you kidding me?


47 posted on 03/24/2008 2:37:54 PM PDT by montag813
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To: freedomwarrior998; elcid1970

Look to Post 12 to see a possible scenario.


48 posted on 03/24/2008 2:38:09 PM PDT by Old Sarge (CTHULHU '08 - I won't settle for a lesser evil any longer!)
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To: AppyPappy

Yeah, researching a book... I’m happy the FBI is on the job. Knowing who goes to these sites is a start - a start toward catching the creeps. Hats off to the FBI.


49 posted on 03/24/2008 2:38:31 PM PDT by GOPJ (Remember your ABC's -- Anybody But Clinton.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I am certainly not endorsing child porn or any other illegal activity, but there is no proof WHO actually clicked on the site. Like the article says, if you have an open WIFI connection, it could be a neighbor, someone parked near your house, or anyone.

What if your teenage daughter brings her boyfriend over to your house while you are out and HE uses your computer to access these sites? What if your 10 year old son who doesn’t know better access these sites? If you have a “family computer” in the den everyone in the house uses, who do they arrest? Everyone in the house, or do they just assume the adult male in the house is the guilty party?

What if you lend your laptop to someone? What if you use your personal laptop at work and a co-worker uses it during your lunch break to cruise kiddie porn? What about your work comuter? You really have no control over who uses it or doesn’t when your are not directly sitting in front of it.

Then there is the problem with sophisticated “hacker” types who could hijack and use your IP address (or whatever other identifying data is necessary). Someone in India could
steel your identity and are cruise these illegal sites under your name.

Try “PROVING YOUR INNOCENCE” in a court of law if the government doesn’t have to actually prove that YOU are guilty.

I think that the government should have to prove that a person committed a crime, not just show evidence that a machine was used (by someone) to do it.


50 posted on 03/24/2008 2:38:58 PM PDT by A. Patriot (CZ 52's ROCK)
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To: freedomwarrior998
The program doesn’t work in that manner. Nice try. Perhaps you should examine the ins and outs of the issue before passing judgment.

He is right actually. Very easy to set someone up. And the FBI nerds are a lot dumber than those in corporate world or in school.

51 posted on 03/24/2008 2:39:42 PM PDT by montag813
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To: 728b
As I already stated, the program doesn't work in that manner. There are safeguards in place to ensure that spammers cannot use the hyper-links in the manner described. There are also safeguards in place to ensure that prefetching a link doesn't implicate the innocent.

Why don't you do some investigation over at Eugene Volokh's blog, where he actually gives the program a scholarly review.

52 posted on 03/24/2008 2:39:43 PM PDT by freedomwarrior998
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To: tet68
Not only that but there is NO ACTUAL child PORN on the site so the prosecution is for intent?

Not that I am defending this program, but no one is prosecuted just for clicking on the link. Clicking on the link is used as probable cause to get a search warrant; only if the search actually turns up real child pornography is the person prosecuted.

53 posted on 03/24/2008 2:40:05 PM PDT by Lurking Libertarian (Non sub homine, sed sub Deo et lege)
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To: AppyPappy
Yeah, it was an accident.

Well I was doing some research on the "Big Bang" theory and you wouldn't believe what appeared on the monitor...

54 posted on 03/24/2008 2:40:58 PM PDT by dragnet2
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To: goldstategop

So what is to stop somebody from finding out the URL for the link, and just for grins, put that link on their page, and label the link as something like, “Click here for more information....”, to trap unsuspecting people into clicking on the link?


55 posted on 03/24/2008 2:41:20 PM PDT by dfwgator (11+7+15=3 Heismans)
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To: Lurking Libertarian

And people have no concept of what “probable cause” actually is. People consistently assign far too high a legal standard for “probable cause”. “Probable Cause” is not absolute certainty. It’s not even a preponderance of the evidence (50%+1). It’s only a “Fair Probability.”


56 posted on 03/24/2008 2:42:10 PM PDT by freedomwarrior998
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

We’ve got a wireless network set up here at the house,can folks 1000 ft.down the road connect,?


57 posted on 03/24/2008 2:42:27 PM PDT by silentreignofheroes (Thank God for good directions,and turnip greens,,)
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To: freedomwarrior998

“Ah, juvenile antics. The retreat of libertines everywhere. How quaint.”

Dood, WTF - Any questioning of Law Enforcemnent and your automatically Libertine?

Freedom Warrior?? C’mon, listen to yourself.


58 posted on 03/24/2008 2:42:38 PM PDT by acw011 (Texan livin Up North.)
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To: dfwgator
So what is to stop somebody from finding out the URL for the link, and just for grins, put that link on their page, and label the link as something like, “Click here for more information....”, to trap unsuspecting people into clicking on the link?

Go to Professor Volokh's blog. He explains the program well.

59 posted on 03/24/2008 2:42:44 PM PDT by freedomwarrior998
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To: freedomwarrior998

Let’s say that a page has 23 legitimate links on it and one that seems to advertise kiddie porn. Have you never hit the incorrect link to a legitimate site? I have. Further, I have hit links to sites that seemed to propose one thing, and found myself located on a site offering up something entirely different.

I have also clicked on a photo on google that seemed tame and wound up on a very vulgar hard core porn site.

Over the years I have found myself on what appeared to be a kiddie porn site at least once. When I realized what the site seemed to be all about, I documented it and notified the local office of the FBI.

In the scenario played out in this sting, I would have been guilty of a felony for such an error, and would have to spend time in prison as well as register as a sex offender.

This may sound reasoned to you, because you think only people looking for kiddie porn wind up on those sites, but that is a totally false premise.

For the record, I don’t frequent hard porn sites or sites that reveal more than you would see at the beach.

It does bother me that when I put in some reasoned searches for non-sexual materials, I frequently run into some very vulgar materials on Google. I could change my setting, but I want to see what any kid frequenting Google would see if they were looking for educational or research materials, to keep tabs on what is going on out there.


60 posted on 03/24/2008 2:43:14 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Some think McCain should pick his No 2 now. I thought the nominee was No 2. And that No 1s me off!)
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