FBI Posts Fake Hyperlinks To Trap Downloaders of Illegal Porn

[KG4JYD]

Here is an article about an FBI operation in which agents posted hyperlinks which advertised child pornography, recorded the IP addresses of people who clicked the links, and then tracked them down and raided their homes. The article contains a fairly detailed description of how the operation progressed, and it raises questions about the legality and reliability of getting people to click "unlawful" hyperlinks (http://www.news.com/8301-13578_3-9899151-38.html?tag=nefd.pop).


With the logs revealing those allegedly incriminating IP addresses in hand, the FBI sent administrative subpoenas to the relevant Internet service provider to learn the identity of the person whose name was on the account--and then obtained search warrants for dawn raids. The search warrants authorized FBI agents to seize and remove any "computer-related" equipment, utility bills, telephone bills, any "addressed correspondence" sent through the U.S. mail, video gear, camera equipment, checkbooks, bank statements, and credit card statements. 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

[KB9YCO]

While I'm sure that many of these kiddie diddlers aren't the smartest bunch around, who would click on a link like that? I don't think I've ever seen a link like that. Obviously, just about anyone that uses the internet has seen links to "adult" websites, but I have yet to ever see one advertising illegal behavior, especially something as outrageous as child pornography.

Also, this seems somewhat like entrapment, even though people seeking that sort of thing probably deserved to be entrapped I really have to wonder how long it will take for there to be a legal challenge to that sort of thing. Also, raiding someone's house based on one click that could've been a mistake seems like it might be legally dangerous. They would have to prove that the person intentionally wanted this material, probably they would have to find other material in their house and on their computers beyond a single click to one particular page. Who knows? That's a good trick though.

[n2ize]

All the more reason to secure your wireless connection and/or shut down any ports or access points that are not needed. Or better yet, avoid wireless networking altogether , avoid DHCP,... manually assign IP addys to all machines on your network and go stricktly with a hard wired ethernet. All it takes is one person to piggyback a freebee off your wireless access point, click one of those links and BAM BOOM CRASH... the boys come buarging in, your entire life and everything you own is removed, and you end p in the tank taking the full blame.

[n2ize]

While I'm sure that many of these kiddie diddlers aren't the smartest bunch around, who would click on a link like that? I don't think I've ever seen a link like that. Obviously, just about anyone that uses the internet has seen links to "adult" websites, but I have yet to ever see one advertising illegal behavior, especially something as outrageous as child pornography.

Also, this seems somewhat like entrapment, even though people seeking that sort of thing probably deserved to be entrapped I really have to wonder how long it will take for there to be a legal challenge to that sort of thing. Also, raiding someone's house based on one click that could've been a mistake seems like it might be legally dangerous. They would have to prove that the person intentionally wanted this material, probably they would have to find other material in their house and on their computers beyond a single click to one particular page. Who knows? That's a good trick though.

It sounds extremely bad to me. And extremely easy to catch the wrong person. What's to stop someone from exploiting those hyperlinks ? Remember, anyone can put up a hyperlink to anything and they can name it anything they want. In other words, someone wants to get someone else in trouble. So they put a link on a web page that says something like ... "National Geographic" or "The history of Nixon". Or they put the link on a forum or blog ... Or even in an email attachment. But the link really links to the fbi entrapment site. The unexpecting victim clicks on it and the next think he knows he's in the FBI's honeypot and they've captured his IP addy and they dispatch the boys to bust him in a pre dawn raid.

It seems to me that such a move by the FBI has just made the Internet an extremely dangerous place. Might be a good idea to either shut down the internet connection and go back to using the old Atari or Commodore and floppy disks. . Or, move to a different country in the free world.

[ad5mb]

OK, some Internet evils to be aware of:

I once clicked on a link for an ABQ SCUBA shop. Porn sites started to blossom all over the screen. Next time I was in that shop, I told the owner about it. He was aware of this, and unhappy about it. Apparently people buy up URLs of defunct web sites and redirect them to porno sites.

Porno sites frequently have a bit of stupidity called Streamrotator. Click on this link, get sent to that site. Click on the same link, get sent to another site.

Porno sites link to each other. Nobody does any quality control, it's a case of "Click here to add a link to your site"

Internet Explorer has a habit of "punching through". You can open Favorites, click on a link and go there. If you double click, you may find yourself going to the link behind the Favorites page. I have "punched through" to R&L Electronics from QRZ two dozen times.

Put all this together: You try to go to a site that no longer exists. Thirty porno sites pop up. You get too enthusiastic trying to shut them down, and punch through to the wrong site. The FBI raids your QTH. They don't find anything, so your neighbors don't wag their tongues about it forever. Yeah, right...

I have stumbled up to, but not in to, one of these sites. You would have to be brain dead to click on any link or image on that page. It has "Sting" written all over it.

[n2ize]

OK, some Internet evils to be aware of:

I once clicked on a link for an ABQ SCUBA shop. Porn sites started to blossom all over the screen. Next time I was in that shop, I told the owner about it. He was aware of this, and unhappy about it. Apparently people buy up URLs of defunct web sites and redirect them to porno sites.

Porno sites frequently have a bit of stupidity called Streamrotator. Click on this link, get sent to that site. Click on the same link, get sent to another site.

Porno sites link to each other. Nobody does any quality control, it's a case of "Click here to add a link to your site"

Internet Explorer has a habit of "punching through". You can open Favorites, click on a link and go there. If you double click, you may find yourself going to the link behind the Favorites page. I have "punched through" to R&L Electronics from QRZ two dozen times.

Put all this together: You try to go to a site that no longer exists. Thirty porno sites pop up. You get too enthusiastic trying to shut them down, and punch through to the wrong site. The FBI raids your QTH. They don't find anything, so your neighbors don't wag their tongues about it forever. Yeah, right...

I have stumbled up to, but not in to, one of these sites. You would have to be brain dead to click on any link or image on that page. It has "Sting" written all over it.

But then again, what if some malicious person posts the FBI link somewhere under a different and harmless sounding name ?

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For example, a tinyurl link?

[K8YZK]

One that was popular several years ago was WhiteHouse.com,

Don't be confused with whitehouse.gov, and if the site is still as it was, do not let the kids go to it.

[N3ATS]

One that was popular several years ago was WhiteHouse.com,

Don't be confused with whitehouse.gov, and if the site is still as it was, do not let the kids go to it.

It's a political site now.

[w6ire]

This is proof that in spite of their claims to the contrary, the FBI's main charter is to spy on Americans. The Carnivore surveillance tool is a perfect example. The FBI still investigates crimes but the agency's focus has clearly changed to large scale domestic spying.

[KB9YCO]

This is proof that in spite of their claims to the contrary, the FBI's main charter is to spy on Americans. The Carnivore surveillance tool is a perfect example. The FBI still investigates crimes but the agency's focus has clearly changed to large scale domestic spying.

Well, I hate to sound pessimistic, but I will anyway. Is this really a surprise to anyone? Our bloated and overly-controlling government has been expanding and watching for quite sometime, it's only getting worse.

[NC5P]

Another excuse for them to harass people with no criminal past. They try anything and everything to sweep up everyone. It's Bush's economic stimulus program: Put more lawyers to work defending everyday people, put more people to work in the US attorneys' offices, create more corrections jobs. Yep, everybody wins.