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
You sure do assume a lot about me.
While the subject gets me passionate about it, this is not any sort of theme in my life nor do I live as a victim. 99% of my life, this subject doesn’t come up.
Cracking down on pedophiles and child sex slavery is essential, and Gd will have a way for us to do so while not risking innocents being falsely convicted.
It’s a bit presumptuous of you to assume things about my life like you have, from some higher position you seem to have climbed to.
If the spy methods are not actually reliable, they should not be used, goes without saying.
But like with terrorism, we don’t have to inform the rest of the terrorists what we are privy to.
I don’t trust the government.
I believe the kicker here is that the reason the feds are able to ID these people is because the feds are running most of the CP sites to begin with, and are promoting these sites as entrapment schemes. As effective as this might be it’s totally illegal, because of course the fact that it requires promoting and distributing said content.
After what we have seen these agencies do, there’s no reason to believe anything they assert is on the up-and-up without seeing the whole of the facts.
So Q is wrong
You do NOT want to stand before God with this stuck to you.
Repent NOW!
God loves sinners and is anxiously awaiting their repentance.
God will forgive you, but you will still have to deal with those you harmed, they won't forgive so easily.
This is the unfortunate truth!
So what is the use of the new surveillance gear if it can’t be used in court? It seems to be simply peeping tom software for perv feds.
Agreed. Because it's impossible to prove a negative. Once charged, it hangs with you forever.
Seems to me that it's pretty obvious they haven't found that way or they'd be willing to give up the source code of their programs/methods.
The biggest problem they face is that to uncover these cretins, they may have to go right up to the line of what is permissible in a free society. If they go beyond that line, it can't be allowed, or any of us can become victims, because there is no way to limit those methods to only be in the case of child molesters.
“I for one am perfectly fine with the government preventing discovery on all the techniques they use to track down the scum of the earth who should be hung in the public square”
Right.... So trust them, that the evidence was not faulty. No no, you the accused don’t get to know how it works or anything. No we can’t tell you how we know, but for sure you are guilty. Would not want you to have a chance to defend yourself. Technology never fails! Just trust it!
Tell that to the passengers of the 737MAX.
As angry as it makes me at first...I find it hard not to blame them in a world where leaked classified intel will be disseminated to every hostile actor ON THE PLANET in a matter of days or less.
These systems are needed to catch people who are actually dangerous to our national security. People who would happily set off a suicide bomb in a crowded mall, or a jerryrigged nuke in New York, or hijack planes for ANOTHER kamikaze mission into the nearest skyscraper.
If they go to court and are forced to reveal actionable info on how they find the bad guys, it won’t be just a few kiddy fiddlers who use it. It’ll be the Iranians, the Norks, the Russians, and every dime-bag terrorist on the face of the Earth.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.