The FBI seized and ran a child pornography service late last year as
investigators worked to identify its customers, one Western Washington
man allegedly among them.
Following a lengthy investigation, Nebraska-based agents raided the
large child pornography service in November hoping to catch users who
shared thousands of images showing children being raped, displayed
and abused.
The Bureau ran the service for two weeks while attempting to identify
more than 5,000 customers, according to a Seattle FBI agent's
statements to the court. Court records indicate the site continued to
distribute child pornography online while under FBI control; the
Seattle-based special agent, a specialist in online crimes against
children, detailed the investigation earlier this month in a statement
to the court.
The investigation appears to mark a departure for the Bureau and
other federal law enforcement agencies aiming to root out child
porn purveyors.
Historically, child pornography investigations stem from tips made to
law enforcement, interactions with undercover officers posing as
customers or reviews of documentation seized during searches of child
porn clearinghouses like the one recently raided in Nebraska. While
investigators are known to have posed as child porn dealers – a 2011
effort involved targeted emails to suspected pedophiles – it is not
apparent that the FBI previously dealt child porn as part of a sting.
For the rest of the story: www.sfgate.com/local/article/FBI-shared-child-porn-to-nab-pedophiles-4552044.php
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