Posted on 04/25/2019 3:28:06 PM PDT by SMGFan
The Department of Justice has been dismissing child pornography cases in order to not reveal information about the software programs used as the basis for the charges.
An array of cases suggest serious problems with the tech tools used by federal authorities. But the private entities who developed these tools won't submit them for independent inspection or hand over hardly any information about how they work, their error rates, or other critical information. As a result, potentially innocent people are being smeared as pedophiles and prosecuted as child porn collectors, while potentially guilty people are going free so these companies can protect "trade secrets."
The situation suggests some of the many problems that can arise around public-private partnerships in catching criminals and the secretive digital surveillance software that it entails (software that's being employed for far more than catching child predators).
With the child pornography cases, "the defendants are hardly the most sympathetic," notes Tim Cushing at Techdirt. Yet that's all the more reason why the government's antics here are disturbing. Either the feds initially brought bad cases against people whom they just didn't think would fight back, or they're willing to let bad behavior go rather than face some public scrutiny.
An extensive investigation by ProPublica "found more than a dozen cases since 2011 that were dismissed either because of challenges to the software's findings, or the refusal by the government or the maker to share the computer programs with defense attorneys, or both," writes Jack Gillum. Many more cases raised issues with the software as a defense.
"Defense attorneys have long complained that the government's secrecy claims may hamstring suspects seeking to prove that the software wrongly identified them," notes Gillum. "But the growing success of their counterattack is also raising concerns that, by questioning the software used by investigators, some who trade in child pornography can avoid punishment."
Courts have sought to overcome concerns that scrutiny would diminish the effectiveness of the software for law enforcement or infringe on intellectual property rights by ordering only secret and monitored third-party review proces
I wouldn’t be terribly surprised... governments of yesteryear were often less inclined to play Satan. These pictures have a curse on them, agreed. So delete them, especially in the halls of the men who are supposed to be the good guardians of our freedom.
True... the worse that Crime X is, the worse the unfair stigma of being wrongly smeared with Crime X.
People argue over McCarthy today (a thread about that is living yet on FR, I think) but his enterprise’s loose nature is kind of why his activity got the fatal slap from Eisenhower. Smelling rat isn’t the same thing as pinpointing rat, and if being rat is heinous enough, smearing with accusations of rat is heinous too.
“Well, in this case warrantless searches wreck prosecutorial viability.”
You don’t really believe you live in a constitutional republic do you? Pffft! That’s so 18th century.
You don’t really believe that Barack Obama didn’t appoint federal judges who will use any viable pretext to protect pedophiles do you?
Pfft! You didn’t pay attention to his background or presidency at all.
Yeah but you got a gift for getting the word across in a layman’s way. Sometimes i have to look up some of the words lol but not that often.
God’s the ultimate teacher but he has teacher’s assistants :)
Most of them kinda suck. The ones I’ve heard through my life. Either boring as a doorknob or not educated enough to be teaching such a subject.
I don’t usually, or really EVER say this, but you kinda got a gift put putting 2000 year old words into modern terms and if all gifts come from God, he might be wanting you to share it.
But that’s just my opinion :)
And boy is it needed.
I would love to do it at the right time in the right way.
I dived into this thing with a lot of ignorance about what was going to come my way as a result. Guess what, I got faceful after faceful of Satan, which I wasn’t prepared to address with the way I used to live, by wits alone. It knocked me flat.
Above all, I need to take continual stop-worrying breaks now. Not every answer is like a microwave oven in coming. Some of them are like crock pots. But oh, the delicious feast afterwards.
One doesn’t cover Stink A with Stink B. One gives Stink A a good cleansing, using the time-old formula.
The last sentence is GREAT.
Ya know, there was something special about waiting over a year or more for a movie you loved to finally come on TV with a million commercials :)
It was RARE and it brought my whole family together in front of the TV.
You were patient and it felt like you got rewarded.
As far as things like that go these days, don’t have to wait much on anything.
So it gets harder to be patient for the more important things.
And even the most important things.
“Can’t imagine more of a horror than being accused of being a pedophile and charged with it because of a “glitch””
Agreed.
What’s more, even if the accused is ultimately exonerated, their reputation is ruined for life.
It’s done.
I must admit if I knew someone who was charged and got off, even family, I fear some amount of wondering “maybe” would go on in my head.
I agree — everything-on-demand resulted in less and less appreciation of what came at its proper time. It atomized us into individualists.
But “God puts the lonely in families, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.”
I spent almost a year in Gainesville, Florida after a failed attempt at taking a job there, which turned out to be corruption ridden and I was spiritually ill prepared to deal with the problems. They let me go, but with an open invitation to go on unemployment (like they knew I was right, but couldn’t tolerate me rocking their boat either).
I don’t know what’s hanging over Gainesville, but perhaps it is a consortium of evil spirits that get many, many people to carry a “sun scorched land” along with themselves.
By the good grace of generous good friends, I ended up back in Illinois at my old home church which had gotten a new pastor, a rare bird of a Jewish Christian, who was instituting a concentrated focus on the family aspect of Christian faith. Oh, what a difference, even from when I had last known it. The kind, holy fire is being stoked.
Rumors can certainly swirl.
It’s right for society to be outraged about it, but it’s also right for society to have a hefty amount of caution in how it looks into such things.
To hate the crime is to also hate putting a wrongful stigma on anyone on account of the crime. The two evils are linked.
I call BS. Something else is a factor
But LEO’S may Access to Your iPhone...
Democrats probably implicated. It possibly went back to the Clintons.
Oh, there can be many vices in the halls of government.
“in order to not reveal information about the software programs used as the basis for the charges.”
Uh ... yeah. No. That’s not what/who they don’t want to reveal information about.
How do you know the feds didn’t hack your computer as you wrote that and uploaded a folder called “little boys” full of kiddie porn? It would take about 20 seconds. you would never know it was there. Not only did they upload the folder, they also loaded up a firefox type browser with viewing/downloading history over the past 6 months.
The feds will kick in your door in about 20 minutes and seize your computer. They will have a dozen agents and endless prosecutors and expert witnesses. You can only afford the lawyer with whatever cash you have in your bank account and whatever your house is worth, if you even own a house.
Let me know how it goes, good luck.
And don’t tell me your computer is “unhackable” because it has an Apple logo on it or you use Linux or whatever....
Why do you trust the government?
After what they did to President Trump with a fake witch hunt, you want to give the federal government unlimited power to arrest and destroy people’s lives over files on a computer hard drive? That could easily be copied remotely to your computer without you ever knowing it?
Everyone is for protecting the children and our law enforcement efforts should be used in catching real verified criminals. But the government should have to prove its case in a court of law, if it can’t, it should drop it. Just like every other case.
I don’t want people falsely accused or unable to challenge. There should be ways to stipulate the info gathering without giving it away.
Like how no one has the right to see a legal document but then attorney can write a letter to the court that such a document exists.
It is atrocious to be accused of child molestation but it’s worse to have a child molested.
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