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This caught my attention, given the seemingly-coincident and
innocently-enough labeled "temporary service suspension" at yahoo groups
this past weekend. I doubt the whole system would have had to have been
taken down to transfer the information pertaining only to this child porn
investigation. Probably more along the lines of intimidate Yahoo using the
child porn investigation into giving access to their computers, perhaps
insinuating it may be necessary to "investigate" other "porn" groups
besides the one in the announced bust, as a pretext to COPYING the whole
contents of yahoo groups system (messages, registration information) so
that FBI can put armies of people on it to scour for new types of
"criminality" to go after (for example, the USDOJ's recent report on the
"threat of the drug culture on the internet", with attendant
recommendations on the "TARGETING of drug policy reform activists because
they apply pressure on politicians to change the drug laws". I don't know
why political lobbying groups (drug policy reform) must be TARGETED,
considering their activities (political lobbying and public information)
are Constitutionally protected activities, not subject to harassment or
encroachment by government.
Many dissident groups exist on yahoo groups (kind of like this one), many
of which the US Federal Regime would love to silence. Is this "child porn
probe" (and make no mistake, I do not like child pornographers!) merely a
pretext to gather information for future "TARGETS" of US Federal
persecution for the newly evolving concept of "thought crimes"? Is this
merely practice of the techniques which will be required to hunt down and
prosecute political dissidents in the US in the near future?
-Max
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Dozens arrested in child porn probe
50 more arrests expected by week's end
March 18, 2002 Posted: 5:21 PM EST (2221 GMT)
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The FBI said Monday 27 people who have confessed to
molesting 36 children have been arrested in a major ongoing investigation
into child pornography over the Internet.
"When we pursue child pornography, the path often leads to evidence of real
sexual predators who have abused real children," said U.S. Attorney General
John Ashcroft.
The investigation, dubbed "Operation Candyman," focused on an e-group, or
online "community," whose 7,000 members uploaded, downloaded or traded
images of sexually exploited children.
"Forty individuals in 20 states are now in custody, with another 50
expected by weeks end," FBI Executive Assistant Director Bruce Gebhardt.
"They include members of the clergy, law enforcement officers, a nurse, a
teachers aide, a school bus driver, and others entrusted with protecting,
nurturing and educating the American youth," he said.
Gebhardt said special priority was placed on arresting suspects in
positions of trust.
"These individuals must be stopped," Ashcroft said during the news
conference at FBI headquarters in Washington.
"There will be no free ride on the Internet for traffickers of child
pornography," Ashcroft said, warning those who engage in that activity
would be tracked down and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
The 14-month investigation of the international ring involved all 56 FBI
field offices across the country and law enforcement in other countries.
Officials said the images used by the ring were not child erotica or images
of nude children playing.
Mike Heimbach, chief of the FBI's Crimes Against Children unit, described
the images as "very explicit ... hard-core sexual exploitation of our
children.
Investigators identified 7,000 e-mail addresses linked to the "Candyman"
e-group, with 4,600 in the United States and 2,400 in other countries.
Subpoenas were issued for addresses in the United States.
The FBI office in Houston, which led the investigation, then focused on
1,400 subjects, breaking them down into two groups.
Those suspects were then prioritized by the amount of activity -- how many
images they would upload, download or trade.
Within that group, special focus was given to people who held positions of
trust -- including clergy, members of law enforcement or the military,
teachers' aides and others.
Ashcroft shows a map of locations where Candyman probe took place.
Two of the pornography ring suspects are Catholic priests, the FBI said.
Since January, accusations have led to dozens of priests nationwide being
suspended or forced to resign and priests' names being turned over to
prosecutors.
The operation was named after an e-group the investigation centered on --
thecandyman -- in which individuals communicated about and distributed
child pornography.
"As its name indicates, the Candyman e-group had a single purpose in mind
as well: To exploit and degrade children," Gebhardt said. "The FBI is
committed to protecting America's children from pedophiles and pornographers."
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from Yahoo groups privacy policy...
http://privacy.yahoo.com/privacy/us/
Information Sharing and Disclosure
� Yahoo! will not sell or rent your personally identifiable
information to anyone.
� Yahoo! may send personally identifiable information about you to
other companies or people when:
� We have your consent to share the information;
� We need to share your information to provide the product or service
you have requested;
� We need to send the information to companies who work on behalf of
Yahoo! to provide a product or service to you. (Unless we tell you
differently, these companies do not have any right to use the personally
identifiable information we provide to them beyond what is necessary to
assist us.);
� We respond to subpoenas, court orders or legal process; or
� We find that your actions on our web sites violate the
� Yahoo! Terms of Service, the � Yahoo! GeoCities Terms of Service,
or any of our usage guidelines for specific products or services.
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http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/candyman/candymanhome.htm
Innocent Images
Operation Candyman
Phase I
March 18, 2002
Accomplishments & Occupations | Arrests | Innocent Images National Initiative
Bar Charts | Candyman Home Page | Press Release | FBI Home Page
On 01/02/2001, FBI Houston initiated an investigation after an undercover
agent identified three Yahoo! Egroups involved in posting, exchanging and
transmitting child pornography. One website depicted the Egroup as the
following: "This group is for People who love kids. You can post any type
of messages you like too or any type of pics and vids you like too. P.S. IF
WE ALL WORK TOGETHER WE WILL HAVE THE BEST GROUP ON THE NET." (SIC)
An Egroup is described as an "Electronic Group" or "community" of people
communicating via the Internet, for one purpose and/or issue (ie: child
pornography). These groups can be "closed" or "open" communities. In a
closed community you must be invited in by a member of the group and the
identity of the group cannot be identified by non-members searching the
Internet. In open communities, such as "Candyman," any person searching the
Internet can conduct a search by title or category, locate the group, and
may be granted membership by the monitor of the group. The monitor may be
the creator of the group or a member selected by the group.
Through the issuance of a court order to Yahoo!, FBI Houston concentrating
on the Candyman Egroup, identified 7,000 unique E-mail addresses with 2,400
of the addresses outside of United States and 4,600 located domestically.
Subpoenas were issued on all of the Internet providers for the addresses
within the United States. Information on approximately 1,400 subjects were
provided to Houston. Due to the large volume of subjects, Houston divided
the investigation into two Phases. In Phase I, Houston set leads on 707
subjects. At least one subject was located in every FBI field office's
territory with some field offices having up to 45 targets within their
respective territories.
On 03/18/2002, FBI Houston is coordinating a Nationwide enforcement action
against certain individuals who have been associated with Egroup, Candyman.
To date, 231 searches have been executed, 86 individuals have been charges
in over 26 states, 27 of these individuals admitted to the prior
molestation of over 36 children. Many more arrests are anticipated during
the week of 03/18/2002 and coming months. The occupations of some of the
subject's have been a school bus driver, photographer, law enforcement
personal, members of clergy, and teacher's aide.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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