The FBI launched Operation Pacifier well over a year ago and it's alleged that they received approval from executives with both the DOJ and the FBI, according to a court transcript.
Operation Pacifier involved the FBI taking over control of a prominent child porn site on the dark web and rather than close it down, they continued running it in an effort to track those who were accessing the material.
In taking this route, the FBI themselves engaged in questionable behavior by distributing the sensitive and illegal material.
The operation has been referred to by some law enforcement officials as one of the most historic investigations surrounding child sexual abuse online.
The FBI's hacking campaign ended-up going global, reaching Austria, Greece, Chile, the U.S., and other areas. The agency delivered malware to thousands of criminal suspects who allegedly visited the site. As a result of the operation, it's said that hundreds of paedophiles have been arrested and there have even been some children who've allegedly been rescued.
As a consequence of the operation, a Florida man has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for having created the website. And this is interesting considering that this sentence is less of a penalty than alleged Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht was given; he received two life sentences without any chance for parole.
Was it a success?
Well, the website allegedly had around 150,000 members and only around 870 people have been identified and charged so far around the world.
This is only about 0.58 percent of a success rate.
That's not all. Just a couple of months ago, it was reported that the DOJ filed a motion in court to dismiss their indictment against the site because they didn't want to release details about their hacking tool (NIT) in the discovery portion of the trial to the defense.
With them being reluctant to divulge this information and it causing classification issues with key evidence for the discovery process, it's suggested that it could contribute to the dismissal of all cases related to Operation Pacifier.
A Closer Look At The Details
Many legal experts have sternly criticized the FBI for their actions, insisting that the government should never have any part in distributing such material.
At least 30 different legal teams in the U.S. have come together to try and counter the evidence reaped from the hacking campaign.
They believe that the evidence should be dismissed in court because the warrant is said to be legally contentious. This is because the FBI went about allegedly hacking thousands of different computers from just one warrant.
When it comes to this sort of issue, because of it being an emotionally-charged topic, many might quickly think well to hell with having the proper warrants or following the appropriate procedures, because after all they're trying to catch child predators here. But the thing with due process is that if you don't respect that right for everyone, then you risk losing that right for your own self.
And after all of that work and ethical compromise, the DOJ then goes and drops charges against suspects involved in the case because they don't want to reveal details about their tools.
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Sources:
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/doj-fbi-child-pornography-sting-playpen-court-transcripts
https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/01/27/the-ethics-of-a-child-pornography-sting/the-government-shouldnt-distribute-child-pornography-period
https://steemit.com/politics/@doitvoluntarily/ross-ulbricht-s-defense-team-files-appeal
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/child-porn-sting-goes-global-fbi-hacked-computers-in-denmark-greece-chile
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/fbis-mass-hack-playpen-operation-pacifier-hit-50-computers-in-austria
http://www.newsweek.com/child-pornography-fbi-investigation-operation-pacifier-sentence-593223
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/europol-fbi-joint-investigation-operation-pacifier-uncovers-global-paedophilia-ring-870-arrests-a7722821.html
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/here-is-the-warrant-the-fbi-used-to-hack-over-a-thousand-computers
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/dozens-of-lawyers-across-the-us-fight-the-fbis-mass-hacking-campaign-playpen
https://thenextweb.com/insider/2017/03/06/court-ruling-leaves-fbi-the-only-proven-criminal-in-child-porn-case/#.tnw_B7bPEEhy
https://www.deepdotweb.com/2017/05/24/topic-dojs-operation-pacifier-acquittal/
https://www.wired.com/2017/03/feds-rather-drop-child-porn-case-give-exploit/