(January 21, 2016 at 7:08 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: I don't know that there is a loophole, but if there is it ought to be shut. We Americans hold the view that allegedly, no one is above the law. Given the 0.0014% efficiency of the operation, the justification seems especially weak.
If you're going to violate the laws you set out to enforce, at least make a good show of it. From the numbers, it appears that the FBI has provided child porn to well over 99,000 viewers. Even from a practical standpoint, the operation doesn't seem justified, and that's not addressing the principle of the matter.
From what I can tell from the Article (which isn't much), the FBI merely kept the site open and left it open for 13 days (after which time they shut it down). During which time they had 100,000 viewers, and were only able to get the actual address for 1300 of them. When they started the operation they had no idea how efficient it would be, or how many arrests they would be able to make. We also have no idea how many arrests or the efficiency rate of other such operations that may have justified such an action. We also have no idea how many of those were outside the jurisdiction of the FBI. What one might see as unsuccessful, others might see as successful. Bringing down 130 something out of 100,000 seems like a small drop in the ocean, but what if those 130 some people lead to taking down even more websites, which in turn leads to more arrests?
