Oh, look, now Virginia has their own 666 bill! I see a trend here

When I reported on Wisconsin's SB 666, I said that ALL sex offender bills should have a similar designation. Coincidentally, it seems the state with the slogan that implies they are the state for losers also have a 666 bill. Maybe this RSO laws are 666 is finally catching on. (Okay, so the House version is HB1190, but c'mon, SB 666 just stays with you.)

So what is Virginia's SB 666? Apparently, it will ban registered citizens from buying those obnoxious "specialty license plates" that benefit children's programs. I personally can't see why a registered citizen would bother buying one, especially one that benefits a children's charity. I wouldn't buy a Lauren Book license place, for example, much less subject a car to having such a tacky piece of pressed metal. But, different strokes for different folks.

It seems another activist has already done a very detailed analysis on this stupid bill. Check out the following link

http://restoringintegritytovirginiaregistry.blogspot.com/2016/02/legislative-predator-hysteria-continues.html

Pasco County FL keystone cop Carlos Ocasio admits to us what his county's residency laws are REALLY for

I believe this guy spells his own name. I think his last name is spelled with two S's, not just one. Pasco County Florida detective Carlos OcASSio was kind enough to admit to us what we already know -- the intent of all these residency laws and compliance check operations is to encourage registrants to leave the county. Quite frankly, I'd like to see OcASSio's papers.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/region-pasco/deputies-go-door-to-door-for-operation-predator

“We are just trying to keep the neighborhoods safe and our kids safe. Ocasio said. "If they have to go to another county, so be it, but they committed the crime.” 

In trying to find a picture of this cop, I stumbled on an older articles with MORE quotes from Ocasio.

http://m.baynews9.com/content/news/articles/bn9/2013/7/13/monitoring_pasco_s_r.html

One member of the task force, Det. Carlos Ocasio, logs hundreds of hours on the road.

His beat is the west side of Pasco County, where he knows all 260 registered sex offenders by name.

"We know them," Ocasio said. "If they're married, we know their spouse's name, their kids' names."
...
It's his business to know their business.

"The average neighbor knows that we are out there, keeping an eye on them," Ocasio said. "They have nothing to fear.

"Big brother is watching."

Finally, a SO-related bill gets the proper number it deserves-- WI's newest paedonymic bill is AB 666

Another year, another paedonymic law ("Alicia's Law) comes out of the woodwork to erode the rights of the accused even more. At least this bill gets the number all bills like this one deserve-- the MARK OF THE BEAST.

666

So anyways, this bill will allow the AG's office to issue "administrative subpoenas" against you under the guise of searching for internet predators under a lower standard of "reasonable cause."

From WisconsinWatchdog.org

http://watchdog.org/254433/constitutional-law-online/

‘Alicia’s Law’ raises serious constitutional concerns

By M.D. Kittle  /   January 19, 2016  /   News  / 

MADISON, Wis. — Alicia Kozakiewicz’s story is horrifying, heartbreaking.

A 13-year-old girl lured from her Pittsburgh home by an online predator, who kidnapped her, then raped and photographed her for four days. That is, until law enforcement was able to track the perpetrator online, crash into his home and rescue Kozakiewicz.

But the model legislation that bears her name and has been on a fast-track to passage in the Legislature raises some deep constitutional questions about how far cops and prosecutors can go in the name of protecting children from Internet criminals.

Critics of the unfortunately numbered Assembly Bill 666 fear the legislation as written would bypass judicial oversight to give law enforcement an extraordinarily powerful search and seizure tool.

“Alicia’s Law,” pushed by Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel and co-authored by state Rep. Joel Kleefisch, R-Oconomowoc, and Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, would authorize the attorney general “or his or her designee” the power to issue an administrative subpoena. The new authority, Schimel and the bill’s advocates insist, would help the state Department of Justice’s Internet Crimes Against Children task force more quickly and nimbly go after predators and other online criminals in “real time.”

As the law was originally written, an Internet service provider would be compelled to “produce documents or records helpful to an investigation of an Internet crime against a child.”

And administrative subpoenas would be issued without any judicial oversight, based on the wider standard of “reasonable cause,” not probable cause.

The Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Office has raised concerns about the potentially far-reaching nature of the subpoena power, asserting at a hearing last week before the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice & Public Safety that, “no matter the worthiness of the goal,” such investigative tools would expand the “government’s ability to obtain information on people, who, at that moment, are still presumed innocent by law.”

The bill does include an amendment that removes language compelling ISPs to hand over a customer’s “records, information and documentary evidence,” but discretion on when to issue the subpoena remains in the hands of the Attorney General’s office.

That power doesn’t sit well with state Rep. Fred Kessler, D-Milwaukee. Kessler, a member of the Criminal Justice Committee, said he could not understand why Internet crime investigators need to bypass the current and effective judicial oversight-based procedure.

“Why do we need an administrative subpoena when we can just walk down the hall to the duty judge and swear a witness and have an actually constitutionally protected search warrant issued?” Kessler asked Schimel at the Jan. 13 hearing.

The attorney general said what investigators seek are subpoenas, not warrants, and they would be used to track the computer addresses of those suspected of engaging in Internet crimes.

“It takes days before we have a subpoena signed and shipped to Internet service providers,” Schimel said.

The most powerful testimony came from the model legislation’s namesake, Alicia Kozakiewicz.

Now 27, Kozakiewicz described how a teen who came from a protective, supportive family met a “friend” online who turned out to be a predator.

“I was that terrified little girl who was lured from my home, taken across state lines, chained by my neck, forced into a disgusting basement dungeon and tortured, raped and photographed by a sadistic pedophile for four days and nights,” she told the committee. “I was that little 90-pound girl who cried for my mommy and daddy, who prayed for somebody, anybody to come find and save me from this hell.”

Kozakiewicz said she turned out to be that “lucky girl” because a child rescue team was able to track the predator’s online whereabouts.

“There was no other way to find me. No trail, no footprints in the snow,” she said.

But while Kozakiewicz’s case may illustrate the need for rapid law enforcement action, does such power come at the cost of civil rights?

In 2014, Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes discontinued the office’s use of administrative subpoenas because of the potential for abuse, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. His investigators, in most cases, have to get clearance from a judge.

“The wholesale writing yourself a note to go after that stuff without any check is too dangerous and the potential for abuse becomes too dangerous,” Reyes told the publication. “I think we can still win, but winning the right way is more important.”

He said the only time an administrative subpoena may be in order is an “emergency situation, like an Amber Alert with a predator whose information we absolutely had to access.”

Schimel said the number of referrals to Wisconsin’s DOJ from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has jumped from 266 in 2005 to 1,300 in 2015. Meanwhile, the resources to fight online predators hasn’t kept up, the attorney general said.

“Many child sex offenders go undetected because they cloak themselves in the anonymity of the Internet. Alicia’s law would give law enforcement and prosecutors tools to catch predators more quickly without compromising constitutional rights,” he said.

But Schimel and other supporters of the bill attempt to make their case by arguing Internet addresses and other online information don’t belong to the individual, but to the ISPs. That’s kind of like saying a homeowner who has a mortgage on her house has to open up the contents of her home to the bank anytime it wishes.

The bill also raises some questions of basic fairness.

To pay for the increased costs to administer the initiative, anyone convicted of a misdemeanor — any misdemeanor — would be assessed a $20 surcharge. Those convicted of a felony would be assessed a $40 surcharge.

A 2012 report by the Legislative Audit Bureau found the addition of surcharges and increasing court costs and fines decreased the likelihood the state would collect the full bill.

“More recent examination of this example of the law of diminishing returns has confirmed that as the monetary penalties levied as part of a sentence increase, the amount collected decreases,” the Public Defender’s Office wrote in testimony before the Criminal Justice Committee. “Surcharge revenue is proven to be an unstable funding source for important programs such as crime victim services or court operations at the county level.”

Another amendment would assess surcharges only on those convicted of Internet and child-related crimes.

Some also have expressed concern about the speed of “Alicia’s Law” moving through the Assembly. The bill was submitted for co-sponsorship Jan. 4, introduced Jan. 11, and two days later the Criminal Justice Committee held a hearing.

A vote on the bill could have come up for Assembly debate as early as Tuesday, but it was not on the calendar as of Tuesday morning.

Adam Plotkin, legislative liaison for the Public Defender’s Office, said it has been hard to get answers on the rapidity of the legislation. Kleefisch last week said he would like to pass the bill and have the governor sign it into law quickly because it “will save people like Alecia.”

The Public Defender’s Office has not taken a public position on the bill, only testifying in an information capacity.

But Plotkin said caution on the part of lawmakers is highly recommended.

“We thank the bill’s authors for addressing some of our concerns (through the amendments),” Plotkin said. “We want to make sure the Legislature is aware of those constitutional issues.”

He added that the goal of the bill is worthwhile, but “people need to make sure constitutional rights aren’t eroded over time.”

Paul Adkison uses Predator Panic to hock Cyber-security software, assumes we are "lurking"

Paul Adkinson associates registrants with terrorists, then tells people to assume we are always lurking and trolling for kids online. Can we assume this clown is always lurking and trolling for your money?

http://www.wsoctv.com/news/news/special-reports/9-investigates-sex-offenders-still-social-media/nqQ9Q/

Posted: 3:23 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016
9 Investigates sex offenders still on social media

By Joe Bruno

MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. — More than 1,000 sex offenders live in Mecklenburg County, and the sheriff's office is responsible for keeping track of them all.

"It's an enormous job, but it is something we embrace," Maj. Dan Johnson said.
But it's more than just keeping track of where sex offenders live.

North Carolina law bans sex offenders from social media. It's the sheriff's office's job to make sure they stay off.

The law has faced legal challenges since it was enacted in 2008. It was struck down by an appeals court in 2013, then re-enacted by the state's Supreme Court last November.

"We have to rely on is information coming from outside," Johnson said.

Channel 9 learned the sheriff's office doesn't actively check to make sure sex offenders are off social media websites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Johnson said there are too many websites and too many offenders to track.

"There is just no way to be able to look at each and every one of these offenders and make sure sites aren't being operated," Johnson said.

Channel 9 searched the names of random sex offenders from Mecklenburg County. Among the findings was the profile of Sadiq Abdullah.

He was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual contact in New Jersey while working at a psychiatric hospital. He went by the name Carl Ambrose at the time.

Channel 9 went to his house to ask him about his account. His most recent public post was just last month. Abdullah said he created the account for social networking.

Abdullah deleted his Facebook account after Channel 9 started investigating and said he wasn't aware that North Carolina law banned him from using one.

Cyber safety experts said it is a problem with no easy solution.

"All of these different applications are popping up from everywhere," cyber-safety expert Paul Adkison said. "Whether it is a sexual predator or teens or terrorists, all of them use these messages of communication because they are all point-to-point communications offered by private companies across the world, and they are really difficult to track."

Adkison developed software, Zabra, that allows parents to track their children's communication online.

His software monitors what children are saying and to whom, flagging conversations that may be of concern.

He said that with social media websites gaining popularity every day, keeping sex offenders off social media is only going to get more difficult.

"You have to make the assumption they are lurking," Adkison said. "You have to make the assumption that they are trying to approach kids."

According to Adkison, parents must remain engaged and warn children to use good judgment by not talking to strangers online.

Residency restrictions were restricted in Cali, so Sharon Runner wants to restrict the restrictions on the restrictions

I'm not surprised by this woman's actions, seeing as how she has drank the "sex trafficking" kool-aid.

http://runner.cssrc.us/content/sharon-runner-introduces-legislation-requiring-department-corrections-obey-jessicas-law

Sharon Runner Introduces Legislation Requiring Department of Corrections to Obey Jessica's Law
Friday, February 12, 2016

SACRAMENTO – Senator Sharon Runner (R-Antelope Valley) announced today she is authoring legislation that will stop the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) from allowing convicted sex offenders to live near parks and grade schools. Senate Bill 1021 will require CDCR to enforce the voter approved sex offender residency restriction under Jessica’s Law in all counties except San Diego.

Last year the California Supreme Court held that the restriction preventing registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park could not be upheld in San Diego County because of a severe lack of compliant housing. While the Supreme Court made it abundantly clear that the ruling applied only in San Diego County, CDCR immediately refused to enforce the law in any of the other 57 counties.

“The Corrections Department’s sweeping decision to allow convicted sex offenders to live next to where our children learn and play is unacceptable,” said Runner. “Under the department’s new policy, only 24% of sex offenders are still required to live within the limits set by Jessica’s Law. This means that 76% of paroled registered sex offenders are free to live next door to parks and grade schools, even before they complete parole.”

Equally as disturbing, the Department justifies its refusal to enforce Jessica’s Law upon the advice of the California Attorney General, but has refused to release the Attorney General opinion, despite repeated requests from legislators and the press.

Specifically, SB 1021 requires CDCR to enforce the 2,000 foot residency restriction unless the law is amended by the voters or Legislature, or it is found unenforceable by courts within individual counties.

SB 1021 also gives the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of each county primary jurisdiction to hear petitions challenging the 2,000 foot residency restriction as laid out in Jessica’s Law. The Court could grant relief if it is established that there was a pervasive lack of compliant housing in the subject county.

“State agencies are not exempt from following the rule of law,” said Runner. “Jessica’s Law was approved by over 70% of California voters. SB 1021 makes it clear that California’s bureaucracy cannot just ignore statues and voter initiatives it finds inconvenient.”

Runner authored voter-approved Jessica’s Law along with her husband, Board of Equalization Vice Chair George Runner, in 2006. In addition to mandatory residency restrictions for sex offenders, the comprehensive law increased penalties for the most egregious sex offenses and provides law enforcement with more tools to impede, apprehend and incarcerate sex offenders.

Well, if IML only applies to "registered pedophiles," then this law applies to no one, because...

...because obviously there is NO SUCH THING as a "registered pedophile."

Anyone who uses the P word so lackadaisically is nominated by default. Expect to see more International Megan's Law posts in the coming days.

It seems Senator "Mark the Jerk" Kirk has a chronic case of foot-in-mouth disease.

http://www.kirk.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1619

Senators Kirk, Shelby, Mikulski, & Representative Chris Smith Applaud Passage of International Megan’s Law
Tuesday, Feb 2, 2016
 Tweet 0 Share 0 +1 0 Print

WASHINGTON –  U.S. Senators Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), and U.S. Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.-04) today applauded House passage of H.R. 515, introduced by Congressman Chris Smith, which puts International Megan’s Law on the President’s desk for signature. H.R. 515 passed the Senate in December 2015. S.1867, the Senate companion bill, was introduced by Senators Kirk, Shelby and Mikulski. 

“Last year in Illinois there were 120 reported cases of human trafficking. This abuse of children must end.  International Megan’s Law will increase communication throughout law enforcement to help identify and apprehend pedophiles who prey on children for sex," said Senator Kirk.  “There is still more to do if we want to combat trafficking internationally and here at home, and as the author of the SAVE Act I will continue to lead the fight on behalf of those who are victimized.”

“It is great news for all Americans that the House passed International Megan’s Law today,”said Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL). “Crimes against children are a horrible plague on our society, and this legislation takes crucial steps to eradicate them.  In addition to streamlining domestic and international communication, International Megan’s law creates new procedures to advance ongoing efforts that will help us achieve one critically important goal: preventing horrific crimes against innocent children.  I urge the President to quickly sign this legislation into law so that we can begin to proactively protect families in the U.S. and around the world.”

“We have made some amazing progress over the years, starting out with billboards and milk cartons. But as crimes have grown more sophisticated, we’ve had to become more sophisticated,” said Senator Mikulski, Vice Chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee which funds the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice. “This legislation will give the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice the tools they need to protect children at home and abroad.”

“I applaud Congress, under the leadership of Senators Richard Shelby and Barbara Mikulski and Congressman Chris Smith, on the final passage of International Megan’s Law which will help ensure the effective monitoring and compliance of sex offenders who have harmed children and may pose a risk to children in the United States and abroad,”  said John F. Clark, President and CEO, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

“It is imperative that we take the lessons learned from Megan’s Law on how to protect our children from known child sex predators within our borders and expand those protections globally to prevent convicted U.S. sex offenders from harming children abroad,” said Congressman Smith, who first introduced the bill in 2008, naming it for Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old from his district who was sexually assaulted and killed in 1994 by a previously convicted sexual predator. “The reinforcing provisions of this carefully crafted legislation—advance notice of travel to countries of destination and the passport provisions championed by Sen. Shelby—will help stop those seeking to end run the registry and notification programs. This legislation is a product of effective bipartisan teamwork in both the House and Senate and we call on all agencies of the Administration for swift and faithful implementation.” 

International Megan’s Law:

Requires registered pedophiles to have a unique passport identifier to ensure that they can be identified at the border as they travel internationally in the event that advanced notification was not sent by the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Justice. 
Establishes the “Angel Watch Center” at the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that all destination countries receive a notification that a convicted child sex predator is traveling to their country.  The Department of Homeland Security’s responsibilities at the border and their unique relationships with border officials around the world will enable Angel Watch’s charge.
 Formalizes the process for the United States Marshal’s Service Sex Offender Targeting Center to provide advanced notice of travel by all registered sex offenders to destination countries using the Interpol notification system.
Coordinates communication between the newly established Angel Watch Center and the well-established United States Marshal’s Service Sex Offender Targeting Center and streamlines the international notification system to ensure that no registered sex predators are lost in the system when leaving the United States.
Designates the Angel Watch Center as responsible for receiving notifications of convicted sex offenders entering the United States.

It isn't kiddie porn distribution when the FBI does it, apparently

So apparently the FBI is short for the Feds Bestowing Illegal images. They also distribute malware, so not only does the FBI distribute child porn pictures, they peddle computer viruses as well.

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2016/01/28/how-the-fbi-became-the-worlds-largest-distributor-of-child-sex-abuse-imagery/

How the FBI became the world’s largest distributor of child sex abuse imagery

Bryan Clark by BRYAN CLARK   Tweet — 5d ago in INSIDER

For 12 days between February and March, 2014, the FBI was the world’s largest peddler of images and video depicting child sexual abuse on the internet.

In an attempt to catch criminals uploading, viewing, sharing and downloading these files, the US government authorized members of the FBI to run an operation — ‘Operation Pacifier’ — of dubious legality to catch pedophiles visiting Playpen, the world’s largest child sexual abuse site.

“There is something tawdry and sick about FBI agents peddling porn,” says famed civil rights trial attorney Norm Pattis.

In speaking with attorneys about Operation Pacifier, I heard words like: “shocking,” “disgusting,” and “vile”; they weren’t talking about the pedophiles. 

Playpen
Playpen launched in August of 2014 as a dark web site only accessible by ‘The Onion Router’, commonly known as TOR. Through use of TOR, users are able to access the Deep Web while routing web traffic around the world in an attempt to anonymize their browsing.

It’s not foolproof, but it’s the best weapon a Web user has to remain anonymous online. And anonymity, when peeking into the darkest corners of the web, is paramount.

Due to the nature of the site in question, I didn’t want to dig too far, but from FBI testimony on the topic, it contained files — mainly images and video — of some of the most extreme child abuse imagery one could imagine as well as advice on how sexual abusers could perpetrate their crimes without being caught.

For all intents and purposes, Playpen was amongst the darkest of the dark corners of the web.

Operation Pacifier
February 20, 2015 was an unremarkable day for Playpen’s users. At the surface, the site was operating as usual, but behind the scenes its server had been seized by FBI agents at a web host in North Carolina and moved to a secure government-controlled facility in Virgina.

No one noticed. And really, how could they?

For fear of raising suspicions amongst Playpen’s users, the FBI left the site fully operational while they sought a warrant to track users through what it refers to as “network investigative techniques” or NIT.

NIT, is a vague term for an exploit the FBI uses to gain access to a network or device. In this case, malware.

To be clear, ‘fully operational’ means just that. For two weeks, users had the ability to upload new files, view existing images or video and communicate with other pedophiles. Basically, it was business as usual, only the FBI was piloting the ship.

From February 20 until March 4, 2015, the FBI continued to operate Playpen while infecting users computers with malware in hopes that it would lead to identifying information, such as an internet protocol (IP) address.

During its 12 day reign as the king of all child sexual abuse sites, the FBI garnered some 1,300 of these IP addresses.

Sting operations featuring Deep Web honeypots aren’t new to the FBI.

In 2011, the bureau used NIT — albeit a different type of exploit — on three hidden services (Deep Web websites) hosting lewd images of minors. Users of these services were targeted through a Flash application that would ping a users real IP address back to an FBI-controlled server rather than routing the traffic through TOR, as intended.

But this operation, in comparison, was small potatoes in comparison to Pacifier. The FBI was only able to collect 25 IP addresses.

With Pacifier, the FBI went bigger. To catch a criminal, it seems, you have to become one. And that’s exactly what the FBI did, at least according to the legal professionals involved in the case.

Was the operation legal?
First, it’s important to understand that what the FBI did resides very much in the grey area of our legal system. As much as I tried, securing a conclusive and concrete answer to the legality of the FBI running this type of site proved elusive.

New York attorney Joseph Potashnik informed me that in federal cases this kind of conduct by law enforcment is legal. He wasn’t alone.

An attorney who preferred not to be named remarked that it was not only legal, but it was “abused by the government on a regular basis” in other cases he’s tried, citing an officer that committed a sex act with a prostitute and then charged her with prostitution.

Oddly enough, he wasn’t the only attorney to use that reference.

Others, like attorneys Mark McBride and Norm Pattis disagreed. According to McBride, who has defended these types of cases before, “It’s definitely not legal.”

Attorney Christopher Eskew noted that it wasn’t legal, but it wouldn’t be a case the US government would prosecute.

In short, there isn’t a clear answer as to the legality of what the FBI did. The agency did secure a warrant, but the warrant was strictly for the usage of the NIT, not running a lewd site disseminating explicit images and video of children.

It’s not even clear if the federal judge that signed the warrant understood the scope of what he was authorizing.

A Motherboard piece detailed this exchange between Judge Robert J. Bryan and defense attorney Colin Fieman, who is representing one of the accused, Jay Michaud:

“Do the FBI experts have any way to look at the NIT information other than going to the server?” Judge Bryan asked.

“Your Honor, they don’t go to the server,” Colin Fieman, replied.

“Where do they go? How do they get the information?”

“They get it from Mr. Michaud’s computer.”

“They don’t have his computer.”

“That’s what the NIT is for,” Fieman explained.

While Judge Bryan didn’t sign the warrant used to charge Michaud, it speaks to the complicated nature of understanding the scope of the malware under broad and vauge guidelines within its request.

There are several additional pages of transcripts that show Judge Bryan attempting to figure out just what this NIT is, and how it was going to be used.

All told, the court spent more than two hours on definitions and descriptions of NIT.

Lack of understanding aside, there are also issues with the warrant itself, most notably, jurisdiction.

Fieman, and Michaud’s other attorney, Linda Sullivan, argue that the warrant “is limited to persons and property in the Eastern District of Virginia.”

Keith Becker, an attorney for the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a hearing, that the warrant, “clearly requested the authorities to deploy to computers wherever located.”

Michaud’s attorneys then proceeded to call into question the legality of the sting operation itself, stating:

There is no law enforcement exemption, or statutory exemption for the distribution of child pornography.

In this case, it’s easy to see that the need to catch a criminal overshadowed the FBI’s desire to stop the flow of information, which arguably, is more important.  Sullivan and Fieman argued that the harm caused by the dissemination of child sexual abuse images is summed up on the DOJs own website:

Once an image is on the Internet, it is irretrievable and can continue to circulate forever

The defense used these arguments in a motion to dismiss and a motion to suppress the government’s evidence that they feel was illegally gathered.

Update: Both motions were denied. 

At this point, the only thing we can be clear about in terms of legality was that we’re really not sure, but it doesn’t seem as if it matters whether the FBI broke any laws.

As Eskew put it, it’s highly unlikely the government would prosecute FBI agents.

Do the ends justify the means?
Leaving the attorneys and judges to decide legality, it’s much easier to debate whether the methods the FBI used to catch pedophiles justified the means.

No one would argue the benefit of apprehending those that are creating and distributing child sexual abuse images and video, but is it ever appropriate to display these images to pedophiles in an attempt to catch them?

Pattis eloquently states:

They claim they do so to draw out defendants, and defeat the market for prohibited images, yet the demand for the images remains the same. Lawmen can’t stamp out desire; they can only join the fray, becoming as twisted as the folks they prosecute.

I spoke with both the FBI and DOJ regarding this matter. According to DOJ spokesperson, Peter Carr:

While [shutting Playpen down] would end the trafficking of child pornography taking place on that one website, it would do nothing to prevent those same users from disseminating child pornography through other means … At no time in an operation like this does the FBI post any images, videos, or links to images of child pornography. Any posting of child pornography images and links are done by users of the website, not by the FBI.

While it wasn’t actively contributing to the cache of images, videos or links, the FBI was facilitating the practice for others who were doing just that. No matter where you stand on legality, this has to bring questions of morality to the table. Is “not actively contributing” enough to negate government responsibility in Operation Pacifier?

McBride doesn’t think so, “taking down 10 perverts does not outweigh the damages of even one image being disseminated.”

It’s hard to argue his logic. If capturing and releasing a sexually explicit image of a child is a crime against the victim, every time it’s viewed and passed on is akin to recommitting the crime, only this time with a new offender. McBride was unwavering in this belief.

In other sting operations, investigations have revolved around enticing users into registration through use of suggestive, but not explicit, images of minors.

Let’s attempt to quantify the success of this operation.

Playpen had a total of 215,000 members. Operation Pacifier collected 1,300 unique IP addresses and led to 137 users charged, meaning, nearly 90 percent of those tracked were never charged with a crime nearly a year after the investigation concluded.

What’s not quantifiable is the reach of these images and just how much the government’s operation, or the facilitation of pedophilia, did to benefit — or damage — child sexual abuse rings.

At the end of the day, you have to weigh the ends, 137 men charged, against the means, being complicit in the dissemination of sexually explicit imagery, and attempt to make a judgement call as to whether becoming a criminal is worth catching one.

You've already gotten an 825 year sentence. Why not tack on five more years, just in case?

It's FloriDUH. Need I say more?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jan/27/judge-tacks-5-more-years-on-florida-sex-offenders-/

Judge tacks 5 more years on Florida sex offender’s sentence

By - Associated Press - Wednesday, January 27, 2016
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) - A judge sentenced a central Florida man to five years in prison for failure to register as a sex offender.

But the Daytona Beach News-Journal (http://bit.ly/1lRwYRL ) reports 41-year-old David Allan Hall has bigger problems. He was already sentenced last summer to 825 years after being found guilty of 55 counts of possession of child pornography.

Prosecutors sought to have the additional five years tacked onto the 825 years because there’s always the chance that a sentence could be overturned on appeal. Hall has already appealed the longer sentence.

It took jurors just 10 minutes to find Hall guilty after a three-hour trial.

State Attorney R.J. Larizza called Hall a “dangerous sexual predator with a history of targeting children.”

Is Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman even a real name? I doubt he's even a real journalist

Just one look at this clown and you have to wonder if this Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman is really a journalist. Maybe he just trolled The Trentonian because they published his writing.

Is it just me, or does Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman look just like the Genie from Peewee's Playhouse?

http://www.trentonian.com/social-affairs/20160201/congressman-chris-smiths-international-megans-law-bill-will-finally-reach-obamas-desk

Congressman Chris Smith’s International Megan’s Law bill will finally reach Obama’s desk

This is an undated family photo of the late Megan Kanka, a 7-year-old Hamilton Township, N.J., girl who was found murdered Saturday, July 30, 1994, in a nearby West Windsor, N.J, park. A neighbor Jesse Timmendequas, 33, a convicted sex offender was charged with the murder. AP Photo
By Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman, Sulaiman@21st-centurymedia.com, @sabdurr on Twitter
POSTED: 02/01/16, 6:58 PM EST | UPDATED: 2 HRS AGO 3 COMMENTS

Republican Congressman Chris Smith of Hamilton, New Jersey. 
HAMILTON >> American pedophiles will have a harder time raping children overseas.

After eight years of political legwork, the International Megan’s Law bill that was sponsored by Congressman Chris Smith (R-Hamilton) has finally cleared both chambers of Congress effective Monday and will soon arrive on President Barack Obama’s desk to be signed into law.

The International Megan’s Law to Prevent Demand for Child Sex Trafficking, also known as H.R. 515, is inspired by the domestic Megan’s Laws across the 50 states that require public notification of convicted sex offenders living in the community.

The international version authorizes U.S. authorities to notify other countries when a high-risk American child molester travels abroad. The international version also is intended to encourage other countries to notify the United States when foreign sex offenders seek to travel to America.

“It is imperative — and long overdue — that the United States take the child protection lessons it has learned domestically with the successful notification systems first created by Megan’s Laws and expand them globally to prevent convicted U.S. sex offenders from harming children abroad,” Smith said Monday in a prepared statement. “International Megan’s Law will ensure that potential predators are on the radar of U.S. and foreign law enforcement.”

Megan’s Law and Smith’s international version are named after Megan Kanka, a Hamilton 7-year-old who was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 1994 by a notorious sex offender, Jesse Timmendequas, who lived across the street, unbeknownst to residents in the neighborhood.

Before the International Megan’s Law bill passed Congress without any opposition, Smith on Monday afternoon gave a U.S House floor speech praising the “the extraordinary work by Megan’s courageous parents — Maureen and Richard Kanka” for them inspiring every U.S. state and territory to enact Megan’s Law.

“Because of this law, parents, guardians, school officials, sport coaches, law enforcement and the public at large are now empowered with the critical information they need to mitigate harm to children,” Smith said in his floor speech about the benefits of Megan’s Law.

In terms of his push for an international Megan’s Law, “We know from law enforcement and media documentation that Americans on U.S. sex offender registries are caught sexually abusing children in Asia, Central and South America, Europe — everywhere,” Smith said on the House floor.

Congressman Smith, who has represented the Central Jersey area since 1981, has been a longtime champion of human rights, having pioneered the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000 to clamp down on what he refers to as “modern-day slavery” — that is, children forced into prostitution.