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US Intensifies Fight Against Child Pornography

TechnoGuyRob writes "BBC News is reporting that the Bush administration has recently stepped up its measures against child pornography. From the article 'Sadly, the internet age has created a vicious cycle in which child pornography continually becomes more widespread, more graphic, more sadistic, using younger and younger children. [...] Mr. Gonzales also said that he is investigating ways to ensure that ISPs retain records of a user's web activities to track down offenders.'"

663 comments

  1. Great.... by Unlikely_Hero · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I know its been said before,
    but come on.
    When will the think of the children bullshit stop?
    It's obvious why they want all this data retention, and it AINT child porn.
    dataveilance...
    oh, and btw
    FIRST POST!

    --
    Happiness does not come from having much, but from being attached to little.
    1. Re:Great.... by sqrt(2) · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I agree, but the sad part is that this tactic often works. Few people want to challenge things like this because they don't want to look like they're defending child porn (or not doing the most they can to stop it.).

      --
      If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
    2. Re:Great.... by aloeppert · · Score: 0, Troll

      True dat... oh and BTW: in case you thought the bush admin. gave a crap about children, good old John Yoo should put this to rest: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11 488.htm

      "John Yoo publicly argued there is no law that could prevent the President from ordering the torture of a child of a suspect in custody - including by crushing that child's testicles."... So taking pictures of children's testicles... OH NO!!! Putting children's (ANYONES!!) testicles in pliers and applying force, Good to Go! *

      * not to be taken to mean I think taking perverted pictures of kids is ok.

    3. Re:Great.... by the_humeister · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Hey, parent should be modded higher, not lower!

    4. Re:Great.... by Hao+Wu · · Score: 1

      This image is amplified when most people don't care to begin with; they may not be pro-child porn, but neither would they show that they're not.

      --
      I suggest you read Slashdot
    5. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      And that's the same thinking that made all the invasive anti-terror laws we're still stuck with okay, too.

      "I hate the law, but if I say that it'll look like I support terrorism..."

      At some point you have to man up and realize you have to speak up no matter how it looks.

    6. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's no law that would prevent children of suspects being pounded in the ass or chopping them into little bits and making a pot pie out of them either. Why would Bush take such sweet sweet pleasure in doing this to the little ones?

    7. Re:Great.... by TooMuchEspressoGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful
      The "think of the children" argument is a form of non-sequitur caused by an extreme appeal to emotion and hysteria. It also often involves the fallacy of the excluded middle. The line of reasoning often operates like this:

      Person 1: You! You're against the exploitation of children in child pornography, right?

      Person 2: You bet I am!

      Person 1: Then you'll sign a petition in support of this bill that turns the United States into a police state?

      Person 2: Heck no! I'm against police states, too.

      Person 1: Then you support child porn?

      Person 2: Didn't I just say that I don't?

      Person 1: But you won't sign my petition! Look, you're either with me or you're with the kiddie-porn photographers.

      Person 2: But there's probably more sane ways to go about-

      Person 1: Bah! It's bleeding-heart liberals like you that make this country full of kiddie porn makers, potheads, and atheists! Go back to Soviet Russia, you commie pinko!

      Person 2: But-

      Person 1: EVERYONE! This man supports kiddie porn! Let's think of the children and BURN HIM!!

      (Hordes of angry people tie Person 2 to a stake and light him on fire. Person 2 burns to death.)

      Person 1: (Turns to another passerby) You, sir! You're against the exploitation etc. etc.

      And so on.

      (Footnote: The above may not be entirely accurate. Please do not lynch, behead, or negative-moderate the Author due to thoughtless ad-hominems. I swear, I never meant to insult anyone. Well, except maybe furries. I hate furries.)

      --
      Many Bothans died to bring you this sig.
    8. Re:Great.... by spirality · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The tactic totally works because we don't put freedom first. Instead we continually compromise a little bit of our freedom here and there for our pet concerns. We don't consider the worst way in which a new government power may be used and use that as the criterion for whether it should be granted. We assume the government will always use its powers for good when governments haven proven time and again that they don't. American exceptionalism not withstanding. The people are dupes for a bunch of demagogues.

      Frankly, and I know this is cynical as all hell, I really think the child porn thing is just an excuse to aggrandize their power. I mean, the child porn people are smart. They'll just encrypt their traffic. Thus the power will never be used for its intent, but they certainly will not *ever* relinquish it. Once the government has its hands around something it holds it like a crack head holds his pipe.

    9. Re:Great.... by shmlco · · Score: 4, Informative

      When do we start putting cameras inside the home?

      "Most sexual abuse is committed by men (90%) and by persons known to the child (70% to 90%), with family members constituting one-third to one-half of the perpetrators against girls and 10% to 20% of the perpetrators against boys" (Finkelhor, 1994).

      --
      Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
    10. Re:Great.... by From+A+Far+Away+Land · · Score: 1

      "created a vicious cycle in which child pornography continually becomes more widespread, more graphic, more sadistic, using younger and younger children. "

      Soon the children exploited will be so young that they won't even have been born or conceived yet.

    11. Re:Great.... by laughingcoyote · · Score: 4, Insightful

      While this might be hyperbolic (for now!) it is not by any means a troll, and is actually an excellent way of summing up the situation. Never have my points when I need them, someone correct this?

      --
      To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
    12. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I can remember sexual thoughts when I was six years old-- I had no idea what they were, but I know I knew the teacher was totally hot.

      I know I had erections when I was eight or so, but my eleven year old brother couldn't tell me what was going on.

      Now I'm a parent of two girls, 2.5 and 4 years old. Both masturbate so furiously that it's embarassing. The youngest one has even invented a word for her clitoris-- we parents try not to talk about it.

      Why the hell is sex taboo?

      It is natural and inevitable.

      By the way-- how many murders can you see in a week on tv? How many sex acts?

      Which one is legal?

      Odd eh?

    13. Re:Great.... by aussie_a · · Score: 1, Insightful

      The tactic totally works because we don't put freedom first. Instead we continually compromise a little bit of our freedom here and there for our pet concerns.

      Well what ARE you more concerned about? Your privacy, or the safety of America's children? I won't judge your answer, but for many people, one IS more important then the other, and for the other people, the other option is more important.

      What needs to be done is a REAL investigation on how effective these measures would truly be. Then if it's enacted, a study after a trial period to determine how effective the new laws really have been, and how much they've been used against other cases.

      But America's political system doesn't encourage this. Instead it encourages people to pick a side and stick with it no matter what. Democrats will yell "civil liberties" while the Republicans will yell "think of the children" with one side winning, the other losing. The American people being the biggest losers with inadequate representation.

    14. Re:Great.... by Fulcrum+of+Evil · · Score: 1

      Soon the children exploited will be so young that they won't even have been born or conceived yet.

      It's worse than that - I have it on good authority that some people get off on having sex with children at the moment of conception! The sick bastards.

      --
      "We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
    15. Re:Great.... by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      Does anyone really believe child molestation videos are made for the money?

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
    16. Re:Great.... by honkycat · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It's not just a matter of what you're most concerned about, it's a matter of putting things in perspective. I'm MOST concerned about the next breath I take containing enough oxygen to sustain life. That's generally so certain that I don't bring it up. Obviously, I would post my credit card numbers on Slashdot if it would prevent a child from being raped -- I don't think there are very many people who are truly more concerned about their privacy than bodily harm being inflicted on a child.

      It's all about perspective. Will this law have enough of an effect protecting children (or insert whatever issue you want to discuss) to warrant the risks it poses to my privacy. That is where the widest disagreement arises, IMO. I think you understand this, because that's what studies on efficacy would actually let people evaluate.

      Frankly, from the numbers I've seen, I would say that the rate of crimes against children is quite low. It's tragic that it's nonzero, but it's low enough that a measure would have to be EXTREMELY effective to affect a substantial number of cases. That's why, in general, I am very suspicious of laws that are put forth purporting to "save the children."

      As someone suggested above, if that's really the reason for the need for a broad search power, then limit the use of evidence discovered through that power to the prosecution of child pornography/molestation crimes. That will make it very hard for the law to be misused. Sure, some crimes will go unpunished, but one of the founding principles of our justice system is that we must accept guilty going free to protect the innocent from wrongful prosecution.

    17. Re:Great.... by mr100percent · · Score: 1

      I smell a campaign issue in 2008!

      Think about it. Bush got laughed at for talking about "human animal hybrids" in his 2006 State of the Union speech. He wanted a perfect wedge issue, like how gay marriage helped him get re-elected.

    18. Re:Great.... by adrianmonk · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Frankly, and I know this is cynical as all hell, I really think the child porn thing is just an excuse to aggrandize their power. I mean, the child porn people are smart. They'll just encrypt their traffic.

      Somehow I doubt they'll encrypt all their traffic. They're quite likely to leave the source and destination IP addresses of pretty much all the packets unencrypted. Doing otherwise tends to have a negative effect on the ability of packets to reach their destination and replies to return on the way back. If the authorities can figure out the IP addresses of web sites they hit and at what time, then they can figure out whether they are visiting child porn web sites, provided they know the IP addresses of child porn web sites.

      Yes, there are ways around that too, surely, but now you're getting into the realm of setting up special servers and/or writing special network protocols to do fancy stuff, and even if child pornographers aren't dumb, that may be beyond the level of skill that most of them have.

      For what it's worth, I think it's quite possible that the Internet has made child porn more common and is increasingly doing so. The Internet lets people with similar interests get together and get in touch with each other in a way that is difficult otherwise. That applies to child molesters just as much as it applies to car collectors, computer nerds, and so on. Actually, it might apply to child molesters even more, because certain avenues of communication aren't available to them. They can't exactly place an ad in the newspaper or in the back of a magazine to get in touch with each other.

    19. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Frankly, and I know this is cynical as all hell, I really think the child porn thing is just an excuse to aggrandize their power."

      Agreed. Power, and catering to the strings of the masses to win votes.

      "I mean, the child porn people are smart. They'll just encrypt their traffic."

      Or not. It doesn't matter. The mere fact that they might will be created otherwise, so either way it will lead to two immediate further actions by said Attorney General: he will then look into ways to ensure encryption is illegal or that ISPs will not pass odd encrypted traffic resulting in bother to non-pedophiles; he will expand the legal definitions of what constitutes child porn, similar to how the CDA tried a few years back might have made it illegal for the suggestion of underage sexual acts to be illegal (so any mass TV show or movie where teenage lovers are suggested to have had sex but of course not shown would be in question).

      How the hell is it legal for an Attorney General or any member of government to use his office to force the private sector into doing something (data retention) that is otherwise not required (and thus optional) by law? Isn't that abuse and illegal, tantamount to blackmail (we'll take you to court over X, Y, and Z if you don't do A, B, and C for us)?

    20. Re:Great.... by paeanblack · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well what ARE you more concerned about? Your privacy, or the safety of America's children?

      If America sacrifices its ideals and stops being America, there won't be any "American" children to protect. Your proposal is not a solution to the problem.

    21. Re:Great.... by spirality · · Score: 1

      I suspect in a lot of cases we are not talking about America's children, but children of other countries. I'm sure you have heard about the disgusting reasons some pedophiles travel to SE Asia. Anyway, I have a feeling a lot of child porn does not originate in America, but this is pure speculation.

      I do care about freedom more than the children, most of whom will not be victims of this sort of crap and will grow up just fine. I can not justify sacrificing the liberty of 200 million+ people and their unborn children and grandchildren and so on to save some unknown and statistically insignificant number of children now. Is this heartless, probably to some, but I find it more offensive to deprive future generations of their liberty.

      That said, I would however support physically castrating pedophiles, most especially repeat offenders. It's not cruel and unusual. It's a punishment fitting the crime. Perhaps punishments like that would deter those bastards.

    22. Re:Great.... by spirality · · Score: 1

      Yes, I agree with all of your points. I had overlooked some technical details...

    23. Re:Great.... by plalonde2 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Sadly, punishment is a poor deterent.

      Certainty of being caught is a good deterent.

      Prevention works even better.

      But punishment satisfies man's need for revenge and so will continue to be the first response.

    24. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think there might be a way to stop this:
      -start a movement to get the government to spend a shitload of money on catching and restraining more pedophiles, using the exact same reasoning. (mainly on undercover cops)
      -emphasize the potential for the systems of a police state to be used by pedophiles. They do have a record of seeking positions of authority to get access to children.

      I'm not sure exactly how the first part would work. It might convince people that we're already doing everything posible, or it could make them so sick of it that they'd stop being overly emotional about the issue, or stop pretending to care about it.

    25. Re:Great.... by $!*_ForeignApes · · Score: 1

      It's obvious why they want all this data retention, and it AINT child porn. You could call it another form of a trojan

    26. Re:Great.... by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Not only that, but it's an election year here in the U.S. (Congressional midterm elections this November), and Bush is so low in the polls that there are fears that he will drag down the rest of the GOP with him.

      It's a shame about Rumsfeld screwing up in Iraq. That's been really hurting the President. Still, you don't always have the luxury of going to war with the Secretary of Defense that you want, sometimes you have to go to war with the Secretary of Defense that you have.

      Anyway, back to the topic at hand, this is the same old bullshit that has happened at election time from time immemorial. If you're the incumbent and you're facing trouble, bust some whorehouses and some drug users, make some headlines to remind people that you're "tough on crime".

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    27. Re:Great.... by mpe · · Score: 1

      Well what ARE you more concerned about? Your privacy, or the safety of America's children? I won't judge your answer, but for many people, one IS more important then the other, and for the other people, the other option is more important.

      Ignoring that the argument is a false dicotamy anyway...

      What needs to be done is a REAL investigation on how effective these measures would truly be.

      Including the possibility that they may actually turn out to be "worst than useless"...

      Then if it's enacted, a study after a trial period to determine how effective the new laws really have been, and how much they've been used against other cases.

      Just as important is where they fail to be used in apparently relevent cases.

    28. Re:Great.... by Schraegstrichpunkt · · Score: 5, Insightful
      Well what ARE you more concerned about? Your privacy, or the safety of America's children?

      It's quite possible that increasing government surveillance will result in an increase in neither.

    29. Re:Great.... by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      You're smelling November, 2006. Midterm elections.

      If the GOP loses control of either chamber (or both chambers) of Congress, the administration is going to have a tough time of it. No more carte blanche for illegal domestic spying, for one thing.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    30. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      That said, I would however support physically castrating pedophiles, most especially repeat offenders. It's not cruel and unusual. It's a punishment fitting the crime. Perhaps punishments like that would deter those bastards.

      It's likely to be rather ineffective. For starters it is impossible to castrate women. Women pedophiles most certainly exist however politically correct it might be to deny that. Let alone those who try and excuse sickos like Mary Kay Letourneau.

    31. Re:Great.... by tomjen · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Person 1: But you won't sign my petition! Look, you're either with me or you're with the kiddie-porn photographers.

      "I am neither with you nor against you"

      And if the person continue to insist state again that you are neither with nor against him. It is the only reason against such simple minded people.

      --
      Freedom or George Bush
    32. Re:Great.... by Loonacy · · Score: 0, Troll

      Try telling that to George W. and see how fast you get thrown in Gitmo.

    33. Re:Great.... by aichpvee · · Score: 1

      So would you say that George Bush is a great president or the greatest president ever?

      --
      The Farewell Tour II
    34. Re:Great.... by arivanov · · Score: 1
      "I am neither with you nor against you"

      Once upon a time my grandgranddad told this to a southerner. The southerner answered with a thick southern accent: "Who is not with us is against us" and continued about "We the good peace loving folks of ***..." (country omitted for sake of argument). 3 years later my grandgrandmom received a letter that grandgranddad was executed as an enemy of the state (in fact he was shot one more year later).

      Any similarities with a current southerner whose favourite saying is also "Who is not with us is against us" are mere coincidence I guess...

      --
      Baker's Law: Misery no longer loves company. Nowadays it insists on it
      http://www.sigsegv.cx/
    35. Re:Great.... by shadowmatter · · Score: 1

      Did you just make this altercation up or is this a transcript from the O'Reilly Factor?

      - shadowmatter

    36. Re:Great.... by fbjon · · Score: 1

      I think I read somewhere some kind of paper that said that most of all child pornography is committed 9 months before conception.

      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
    37. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      is it human to leave 99 perverts alive because one of them wasn't guilty ? you have to draw the damn line somewhere.

      You'd have no problem if that 1% of the non-guilty included you? Sure you wouldn't.

    38. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...you're christian, aren't you?

    39. Re:Great.... by Orionetheus · · Score: 1

      Bah, I ran into child porn in my early days of the interenet...I did a search for Snoop dog and got Ddogg on kazza/limewire and I was at an age where i clicked without thinking bleh :-S those poor kids.

      --
      To each his own.
    40. Re:Great.... by Yvanhoe · · Score: 1

      Speaking of that... Don't you feel it is paradoxical that the free circulation and sharing of child-pornography generates profit for child-porn makers whereas the free circulation and sharing of songs throws Madonna in the street ?

      --
      The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
    41. Re:Great.... by Bin+Naden · · Score: 1

      EVERYONE! This man supports kiddie porn! Let's think of the children and BURN HIM!!!!!! ;)

      --
      There should be a "-1:Groupthink"
    42. Re:Great.... by JonathanR · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This exact train of logic was used by GWB to summons allies to the War on Terror(TM).

      "Over time it's going to be important for nations to know they will be held accountable for inactivity", Bush said. "You're either with us or against us in the fight against terror."

    43. Re:Great.... by got2liv4him · · Score: 1

      Everything is Bush's fault.... you guys are doing the same thing on the other side of the aisle... is that ok?

      --
      King of kings and Lord of lords
    44. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I mean, the child porn people are smart" Do tell?

    45. Re:Great.... by gweihir · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "Who is not with us is against us"

      The only answer to these poeple is to be against them. They have it exaclty right. These people are intolerant and power-greedy and want to dominate everybody. Civilisation as a whole benefits if such people are neutralised and put in a place where they cannot cause damage. A cell on that certain island sounds like a good solution.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    46. Re:Great.... by Odocoileus · · Score: 1
      The people are dupes for a bunch of demagogues.
      I think it is time we start addressing the real problem: Television.

      Television simply has to much influence over people. It is the ultimate propaganda machine for those subtle enough to use it. More than that though, I feel like television just makes people fat and dumb.

      Without television, the people would not be as easily pacified. Without television, the sheep would not be sheep.

      --
      ...
    47. Re:Great.... by smchris · · Score: 1

      I mean, the child porn people are smart.

      Oh, I'm not so sure. In our area, we've had a high school teacher order from a decoy site for delivery to his school mailbox and a tenured religion professor at the local U resign after students complained about his office porn cruising.

    48. Re:Great.... by loafswell · · Score: 0

      How do you sell freedom? The freedom to do what, abuse children and track everyone on the internet. Freedom for whom to do what? Our freedoms are based on our moralities. And whats being sold here is morality. The argument is that "morality" is more important than freedom. The only way to get this to work is to make our government a bigger enemy than child pornographers. While many of us have a healthy distrust for people with power, our dually elected representitives for example, it's a far cry from declaring them enemies of the people or a greater danger than child pornographers.

    49. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If child molestation is their actual concern, then why don't we put cameras in Catholic Churches?

    50. Re:Great.... by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

      "Well what ARE you more concerned about? Your privacy, or the safety of America's children?"

      And what happens when these new government tools are used by government officials to molest children? If the next Brian Doyle is able to use his power and influence in the federal government to use these records to determine who's really a fourteen year-old girl and who's state law enforcement, where will we be then?

      "Then if it's enacted, a study after a trial period to determine how effective the new laws really have been, and how much they've been used against other cases."

      And these studies won't be slanted towards keeping the laws on the books? As I recall, the Digital Milennium Copyright Act calls for frequent studies like what you're calling for, and yet the Library of Congress keeps saying it's A-OK.

    51. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ...that most of all child porn...

      As opposed to "...most of some child porn..."?

      ...committed 9 months before conception...

      Did you mean 9 months before birth?

      Geez, in a one sentence post, you made two mistakes. The Preview button is your friend.

    52. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm fairly sure that it's only the Victorian hangover - that sex is dirty and shameful - the only thing that's causing the problem. If we all chilled out about sex... I'm scared to even finish the sentence.

    53. Re:Great.... by Scrameustache · · Score: 1
      It's a shame about Rumsfeld screwing up in Iraq. That's been really hurting the President. Still, you don't always have the luxury of going to war with the Secretary of Defense that you want, sometimes you have to go to war with the Secretary of Defense that you have.

      Wednesday, April 19, 2006
      Rumsfeld Under Attack

      Donald Rumsfeld is under pressure to resign, first by a cadre of retired generals, now by Senior Democrats for his handling of the war. What do you think?
      Jacob Oakley,
      Teaching Assistant
      "It's unfair. You don't go to war with the Secretary of Defense you want, you go to war the Secretary of Defense you have."
      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    54. Re:Great.... by IHC+Navistar · · Score: 1

      My freedom. I have guns to protect my children.

      --
      Knowing Google's lust for data collection, the Soviet Union is still alive and well inside the psyche of Sergey Brin....
    55. Re:Great.... by spirality · · Score: 1

      This is porn or child porn?

    56. Re:Great.... by moro_666 · · Score: 0, Troll

      actually if i'd go down with 99 perverts, i wouldn't blink an eye.

      --

      I'd tell you the chances of this story being a dupe, but you wouldn't like it.
    57. Re:Great.... by Eivind · · Score: 1
      You're rigth. One needs to prioritize. Even when one wants to claim otherwise.

      A human life does not, infact, have infinite value. Sounds fine in speeches, but in the real world it does not work like that.

      I'm *not* willing to give up a lot of fundamental liberties in order to have say 90% smaller chance of dying in a terrorist-attack.

      The chanse is already down in the noise, 90% reduction sounds like a lot. But if it means my chanses of dying like that fall from 1/1 million to 1/10 million, it doesn't practically improve my expected lifespan by more than about 6 minutes. Thanks, but not thanks, I'll take my 79 years 364 days 23 hour 54 minute free life rather than a 80 year police-state life.

    58. Re:Great.... by fbjon · · Score: 1

      ..eh, I mean, where's my preview button when I need it.

      --
      True confidence comes not from realising you are as good as your peers, but that your peers are as bad as you are.
    59. Re:Great.... by dedeman · · Score: 1

      Well what ARE you more concerned about? Your privacy, or the safety of America's children?

      Apples and oranges. What you don't realize is that only one of these is a truely pressing issue, and the other is a scare tactic.

    60. Re:Great.... by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 1
      Well what ARE you more concerned about? Your privacy, or the safety of America's children?

      But it's not just my privacy. It's yours, and my neighbors' - and that of the adults these children will grow up to be.

      --
      Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
      You cannot wash away blood with blood
    61. Re:Great.... by Eivind · · Score: 1
      Certainty of being caught is a good deterent.

      That's the theory followed by the Norwegian police on minimizing murder. They investigate, then they investigate some more. If that doesn't help, they quadruple the resources and try again. If needed, they keep this level of investigations, with several full-time investigators only investigating this single murder for literally decades.

      They get 98.7% of all murders cleared up. Basically, they say, the only chanse of getting away with murder is doing it in such a way that it's never investigated as a "suspicious death" in the first case. How often this is successfully pulled-off noone knows.

      But atleast everyone knows: if you kill someone, we will happily spend say 10 million tracking you down. If we need to, we will interview and track the movements of every single one of several thousand tourists visiting say Geiranger that day. We will collect all the photos and all the video taken by all these thousands of tourists. We will work until we know who every single person in every single of these pictures are, and down to the minute when every single picture was taken.

      The intended message: You *will* get caugth. (the Geiranger-case is a real one, and yes the murderer was caugth)

      You can't get rid of all murders this way. There's a certain portion that is dones essentially in a fit of rage where the perpetrator is not thinking clearly (if at all!) and is basically acting only in rage. You'll always have those.

      The USA has like 5.5 murders pro 100.000 inhabitants. For norway, the corresponding number is 1 pro 100.000 capita.

    62. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Daily Show made that joke (or one similar - I don't remember) a long time ago.

    63. Re:Great.... by shma · · Score: 2, Insightful



      I appreciate the attempt to provide numbers with a reference, but I think you know the response that a citation like that would get from a supporter of these new regulations. 1994 was not exactly a banner year for the internet, and people could easily argue that those numbers changed drastically in the last 12 years (or more, since I assume the study was done well in advance of the publishing date) as more and more people came online. If you could show that those numbers haven't changed over the period where the internet gained widespread appeal, then you'd have something we could really use against the 'child-molesters are everywhere' crowd.

      --
      I came here for a good argument
    64. Re:Great.... by Foobar+of+Borg · · Score: 1
      "I am neither with you nor against you"

      And if the person continue to insist state again that you are neither with nor against him. It is the only reason against such simple minded people.

      When the Irish Republican Army took over the Dublin GPO in 1916, they displayed a banner that read "We Fight Neither for King Nor Kaiser" to emphasize the fact that they hated Britain, but they sure as hell weren't doing this for the Germans.

      They were all killed anyway.

    65. Re:Great.... by Unordained · · Score: 1

      I don't know if anyone truly does (most likely, yes, someone somewhere does) but it makes for a really convenient argument. Instead of being restricted to going after producers, you can now use basic economics to prove you should be able to go after consumers. You can equate the situation to buying stolen goods -- go after those who buy it rather than just those who steal it in the first place. As with drugs, you arrest consumers and get them to testify against dealers; you arrest dealers and get them to testify against producers. And all the while, you get to arrest a lot of people, as opposed to just a very tiny minority at the top, which helps prove you're doing something about the problem. On the downside, this line of reasoning implies that child molesters producing the videos in the first place are rational individuals, businessmen, who simply want to make a buck and will stop when they can't. I think that's a really dangerous thought to introduce into the discussion.

      We're probably (my own opinion) dealing with people who would molest/rape/kill regardless, but happen to also make a buck off the videos, sometimes. But I would also expect them to give them away, out of hubris, showing off their accomplishments. Unlike stolen goods and drugs, the market doesn't require unique items to be shipped, bought and sold. There's not necessarily a chain of evidence to follow. There isn't necessarily money flowing. Consumers may have no clue where the stuff came from. Producers may not be making any money off of it. It's different, and it should be recognized as such.

    66. Re:Great.... by Peaceful_Patriot · · Score: 1

      It's a shame about Rumsfeld screwing up in Iraq. That's been really hurting the President. Still, you don't always have the luxury of going to war with the Secretary of Defense that you want, sometimes you have to go to war with the Secretary of Defense that you have.

      Bush -'The Decider' (Koo-koo-ka-choo)

      --
      There is nothing so powerful as an idea whose time has come.
    67. Re:Great.... by heinousjay · · Score: 1

      The fact that it's hyberbole means it's not an excellent summation, by definition. A summation sticks to fact. Hyperbole inflates it.

      What you mean to say is "I know this isn't real, but I agree with it, so mod it up, please."

      --
      Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
    68. Re:Great.... by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      I appreciate the attempt to provide numbers with a reference, but I think you know the response that a citation like that would get from a supporter of these new regulations.

      I appreciate his efforts as well, since he is apparently doing more to understand the validity of the government's claims than the government is doing. I also agree with you about the likely response from government supporters in this matter. But that only means that there is a major problem with those supporters and their belief systems, and probably an even bigger problem with the regulations.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    69. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because that's a quotation from Bush...? Care to provide your liberal quotation of exactly the same thing? Or are you trying to argue that post without actually reading it?

    70. Re:Great.... by rpdillon · · Score: 1

      The fact that is hyperbole means that it *is* an excellent summation. GP was right - often hyperbole (and other non-literal descriptions like analogy) is the best way to sum up a situation because it takes the bare essence of a tactic (or situation) and brings it to light. Then, you can focus on the reasoning used in the argument without muddling your thinking about purly emotional response to the subject the reasoning is being used to promote.

      In other words, isolating the reasoning from the argument often makes analysis of it more objective. And, in that way, it makes for an excellent summation of just how invalid that reasoning may be.

    71. Re:Great.... by doc+modulo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I don't like this tactic either, it appeals to the cognitive dissonance of the voters which promotes bad thinking, in my opinion.

      The people who don't want to speak up against manipulation are afraid their names will be linked to child pornography so they won't speak up either. This is ALSO a form of appeasement towards the illogical thinking of voters. Which is also wrong.

      However, I do think both parties are just reacting to reality. Irrational voting because of child pornography is just something which is real and something that you have to deal with as if it is real. The fear of being stigmatized because you voted against the law is real.

      And let's not forget that child pornography is also real.

      However, all the advantages are in the hands of the Bush Administration at the moment, and I like a fair fight so I'll see if I can balance the power equation a little.

      A counter-tactic you can use is this:
      The fear of the democrats is that they'll be linked to child pornography if they speak up against laws which don't prevent it, but mention it in their rationale.

      What you CAN do is to applaud the efforts of the BUSH administration for their efforts against CHILD PORNOGRAPHY as often as possible in as many publications as possible. You could say, for example, that you really hope that the law that is being drafted by PRESIDENT BUSH will be successful against CHILD PORNOGRAPHY.

      That the CHILD PORNOGRAPHY laws that PRESIDENT BUSH is drafting have their hearts in the right place but need some adjustments.

      That the CHILD PORNOGRAPHY laws of PRESIDENT BUSH should be replaced by laws that REALLY PREVENT CHILD PORNOGRAPHY and that PRESIDENT BUSH should think them over but that you agree with them in principle.

      And the trick here is quantity, not quality.

      --
      - -- Truth addict for life.
    72. Re:Great.... by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      Why do you hate America?

    73. Re:Great.... by heinousjay · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Hyperbole and analogy and all related techniques are used to steer people emotionally past reason into a line of thought desired by the speaker. You don't achieve a more objective analysis of something by attempting to draw unrealistic relationships to emotionally charged topics.

      --
      Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
    74. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Goddamn traitorous politicians! They don't serve the citizens!

      What gives Gonzales the right to spy on people not viewing kiddie porn??! Are we willing to give up the rights of 300 million people so that a few thousand can be caught doing something illegal?

    75. Re:Great.... by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 2, Informative

      >When do we start putting cameras inside the home?

      The February 2006 Houston plan for police surveillance cameras in private homes has been postponed, so I don't know the answer to "when".

      If you're not outraged you're under general anesthesia.

    76. Re:Great.... by Robocoastie · · Score: 1

      yup so true. ---- Think of the kittens! Every time you mast--ate god kills a kitten!

    77. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Frankly, and I know this is cynical as all hell, I really think the child porn thing is just an excuse to aggrandize their power. I mean, the child porn people are smart. They'll just encrypt their traffic.


      Then we must outlaw the private use of encryption! Think of the children!

    78. Re:Great.... by obsol33t · · Score: 1

      hi rez pics pleez! *ducks*

    79. Re:Great.... by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      Dammit why don't we just go for anarchy and hand guns out to the citizens with free ammo on mondays?

      I know the consequences, but sometimes you stop and think... shooting fucktards in the face on sight has the potential to solve a lot of issues.

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    80. Re:Great.... by aussie_a · · Score: 1

      Guess you don't understand the concept of "more." It assumed you have some concern for both, but asks you to make a decision on which you think is more important.

    81. Re:Great.... by aussie_a · · Score: 1

      And what happens when these new government tools are used by government officials to molest children? If the next Brian Doyle is able to use his power and influence in the federal government to use these records to determine who's really a fourteen year-old girl and who's state law enforcement, where will we be then?

      If it stops thousands of molestations, but enables 1, don't you think it's a bit better to have the law (ignoring privacy concerns, strictly talking about effectiveness in molestation cases)?

      And these studies won't be slanted towards keeping the laws on the books? As I recall, the Digital Milennium Copyright Act calls for frequent studies like what you're calling for, and yet the Library of Congress keeps saying it's A-OK.

      Guess you miss the part where I said "REAL study" which does in fact recognize the current government won't put together investigators that will be able to reasonably put aside their biases and merely look at the facts.

    82. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you really want to get rid of child porn, then I think it's time to prosecute the biggest importer of child porn in the USA, the federal government! I don't have the stats handy but as I recall in order to catch all those sick bastards out there that the feds import 90% of the child porn available in order to run their sting operations (as well as keep certain members of the department of homeland security supplied).

    83. Re:Great.... by walmartshopper67 · · Score: 1

      I think that might be the single most intelligent post I have read on Slashdot yet. What's fucked up is, Stephen Colbert does this type of thing on his TV show, and sound exactly like guys like Bill O'reilly and Rush Limbaugh. This tactic seems to be being used more and more by the religious right to shut up their oppostion. It's the new McCarthyism.

    84. Re:Great.... by notbob · · Score: 0

      I wish i had mod points, thats the first rational suggestion yet!

    85. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, this is a very old and VERY inaccurate statistic (note it's from 1994, over 10 years old). Most "facts" from that era were trotted out by radical feminist institutions like N.O.W.. In many cases there was never a study (or a small junk study) to support them, but the media jumped on the numbers and reprinted them until it became "fact". Recent objective studies have actually shown that sexual abuse of children is almost evenly balanced in gender for abuser and victim. In some studies women abused at higher rates than men.

      Of course one can question methodologies and scientific process for all studies. But both genders have sexual urges that we now know are almost equal in "drive". The laws of genetics will also create a roughly equal number of persons in each gender predisposed to any particular perversion. Social conventions can influence this a bit, but not much.

      Also, it's important to know that sexual abuse of boys by adult women is massivly underreported.

      Boy has sex with 8th grade teacher = stud
      Girl has sex with 8th grade teacher = victim

      This perception is changing slowly, but it's still a HUGE factor in abuse statistics.

      Just so you don't dismiss me as a "men's rights" crackpot or someone with an axe to grind you should know that I was abused. My ex wife was abused and we both worked in the system to help kids for many years. I am speaking from a position of extensive experience and research.

    86. Re:Great.... by npsimons · · Score: 1
      That reminded me of this:

      A disturbing fact continues to surface in sex abuse research. The first
      best predictor of abuse is alcohol or drug addiction in the father. But
      the second best predictor is conservative religiosity, accompanied by
      parental belief in traditional male-female roles. This means that if
      you want to know which children are most likely to be sexually abused by
      their father, the second most significant clue is *whether or not the
      parents belong to a conservative religious group with traditional role
      beliefs and rigid sexual attitudes*. (Brown and Bohn, 1989; Finkelhor,
      1986; Fortune, 1983; Goldstein et al, 1973; Van Leeuwen, 1990).
      (emphasis in original)
              -- "Sexual Abuse in christian Homes and churches", by Carolyn
              Holderread heggen, herald Press, Scotdale, PA, 1993 p. 73

    87. Re:Great.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Once again, you have to look at the time period of these "studies". Pretty much ANYTHING produced before 2000 or so is junk. Even a cursory examination of these shows massive flaws in methodology. Brown and Bohn for instance, they never even looked for abuse by mothers. It wasn't even part of the research.
      If you look at the title of the work you quoted from them you would see that's it's full version is "Christianity, Patriarchy, and Abuse". Note the use of the word "Patriarchy", a term used almost exclusively by radical feminists. Indeed the work was funded by radical feminist think tanks and is a favorite reference of anti-christian and misandrist advocates as you can see here:

      http://www.ualberta.ca/ST.STEPHENS/CHRTP316.htm

      Finkelhor also failed to include women in any of his studies as is documented in his own work here:

      http://paedosexualitaet.de/lib/Finkelhor1986/c3.ht ml

      pertinant quote - "Frend (1967a, 1967b) and Freund and collegues (1973, 1976), in a series of studies, investigated penile responses to slides of female and male children and adults. They found significantly more arousal to children in a group of molesters, both female-object and male-object, than in either of two control groups (homosexual and heterosexual males)"

      Note that he did no research on any female subjects.

      Of Carol Holderhead Heggen, one only need to read her blog here:

      http://monado2.blogspot.com/2005_05_01_monado2_arc hive.html

      to see that she is a radical feminist with a serious grudge concerning organized religion. All "facts" coming from someone with such an obvious advocate position should be seen as suspect.

      It's important for us as a society to get a CLEAR head on this subject and that takes OBJECTIVE data, not feminist/socialist screed pieces that start with a conclusion and work backwards to present the case they want.

    88. Re:Great.... by Guppy06 · · Score: 1

      "If it stops thousands of molestations, but enables 1, don't you think it's a bit better to have the law"

      So it's all about the numbers? What if that one child is yours or a friend's? And what about the fact that you, a voter, would facilitate it by both supporting the law and helping to support the molester in office?

      "Guess you miss the part where I said "REAL study""

      In reality, those "real studies" don't happen. Power corrupts.

    89. Re:Great.... by LifesABeach · · Score: 1

      I can't help but wonder if business owners haven't figured out that they to have been the victums of this weak president's need to spy on americans.

    90. Re:Great.... by Maggott · · Score: 1

      I'll step up and defend child porn. I'll say it straight out: I'd rather my dad rape me than the Bush administration get it's way. Because either way, the problem isn't rape--the problem is that one person has power over another that they're abusing. The difference is, when you turn 18 you can get away from your dad, or your creepy uncle, or whatever. What's more, if you're assertive you can fix things before that.

      But there's no crisis hotline for an abusive dictator. When he hurts you, degrades you, steals away your life and virtue for your pleasure, there's no getting away from it. And anyone who thinks this doesn't happen needs to learn to read.

      Having suffered plenty of myriad abuses as a child, I can say that adults do not protect children from intentional abuse as a rule. Sometimes the abuse comes from adults, sometimes by other children, but knew people who's parents beat them and such. The one thing we had in common was that adults would not help us. They would take away our comic books or our rock music or our television priviledges as part of the latest "Protect the Children" campaign, and when you told them you had been attacked by another child with a pocket knife, they would push for more rules on on scissor safety.

      Anyone who claims protecting the children as a reason to make a law is a liar. Laws cannot, do not, and will not protect children. The thing that protects children is stopping the person who's hurting them. How does impounding Google's search results stop a penis from penetrating a crying girl? Perhaps more pointedly, how does it stop a mob of twelve other boys at the bus stop from throwing rocks at the fat kid until he's bleeding? And how am I supposed to trust that they'll use the information wisely when they ignore the fat kid take no action when he says "X, Y, and Z throw rocks at me every day, please help me?"

      Imprisoning some 28-year-old virgin who's swapping kiddie porn pictures in his basement isn't going to fix anything. Turning the internet into a police state will reduce information dissemination among pedophiles. That's all. It will also enact far more grievous costs on everyone else, and children will still be raped by their uncles nearly as much as they are now.

      I don't buy this "If we can save even one child" mentality. Child abuse is a real problem. Internet jackbooting is an imaginary solution, and it sickens me that they're wasting so much effort on it while real children are ignored because their problems aren't the sensitive issue of the week.

      So I say screw everybody who's against child porn. They're not about solving problems or preventing harm. They're about stepping up in the brave crusade against the shadows while they turn a blind eye to the very real monsters that cast them.

    91. Re:Great.... by LunaticTippy · · Score: 1
      GP understands "more" just fine.

      You don't understand GPs point that this bill could lead to less privacy AND less safety for children.

      A valid point.

      --
      Man, you really need that seminar!
    92. Re:Great.... by Some_Llama · · Score: 1

      So drug dealers are in the same class as child rapists?!?!? How about drug users?

    93. Re:Great.... by Josh+Hiles · · Score: 1

      Yeah but typically you see that kind of behavior from unpopular district attourneys. It's unfortunate the president has to resort to dredging up dirt. Especially since NASA and the DHS are apparently riddled with child-pornographers. BTW re: Rummy; Rummy is not screwing up Iraq, being in Iraq is a screw up and Bush as the C-in-C and Rumsfeld's boss is responsible directly for this.

  2. OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Poppler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Mr. Gonzales also said that he is investigating ways to ensure that ISPs retain records of a user's web activities to track down offenders.

    And I'm COMPLETELY sure that these records will only be used to fight child porn... this is frightning.

    --
    What's the ugliest part of your body? Some say your nose, some say your toes, but I think it's your mind. -Zappa
    1. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by sconeu · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Child porn is the root password to the Constitution. "Terrorism" is the alternate password.

      --
      General Relativity: Space-time tells matter where to go; Matter tells space-time what shape to be.
    2. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Kjella · · Score: 1

      Mr. Gonzales also said that he is investigating ways to ensure that ISPs retain records of a user's web activities to track down offenders.

      I found that entire section odd, since usually it has been sites that have been busted with IP logs that track back to users (and they all keep IP/account pairs already). Maybe they think that they can use one person's web activity to find new sites or something.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    3. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Poppler · · Score: 1

      "Terrorism" is the alternate password.

      Wow, we need some better security. At least "communism" doesn't work anymore.

      --
      What's the ugliest part of your body? Some say your nose, some say your toes, but I think it's your mind. -Zappa
    4. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Hahaha all the more reason to leave my wifi totaly unsecured! When they monitor my every move on the internet I can say it wasn't me!

      Cause i highly doubt they will use this just for child porn they can use it to help the mpaa and riaa which they are good buddies with. I mean when has the goverment not abused it's power?

    5. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by NitsujTPU · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Naw. Now that the USSR is out of the way, all of the communist hippies have made their way into the government.

      Being openly communist in the US will probably become fairly prevalent once communism is no longer considered a dirty word.

    6. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by iminplaya · · Score: 1

      I always thought it was the name of a fish.

      --
      What?
    7. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Eideewt · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Or maybe it's not at all about child porn, and more about being able do spy on citizens as much as they want.

    8. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Firehed · · Score: 2

      Well "citizen" (and perhaps "consumer") is the American "comrade", so while communism may remain a dirty word, there will almost certainly become sort of neo-communist word that becomes the norm.

      --
      How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
    9. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by stinerman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If its *truely* about child porn and nothing else, insert a provision into the law that any and all data requested as part of a child porn investigation cannot be used in any other investigation.

      If Gonzales et al. agree, then we have a deal. If they don't, they've tipped their hand.

    10. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by darkonc · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Well "citizen" (and perhaps "consumer") is the American "comrade",

      I think that the word you're looking for is 'patriot'.

      --
      Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
    11. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Firehed · · Score: 1

      How many patirots do you know? How many citizens do you know? I used the word I was looking for - a generic term for fellow members of [country].

      --
      How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
    12. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by EnronHaliburton2004 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "War on Drugs"

    13. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If they want to take down Child Pornography, wouldn't it be smarter to go after the distributors? This is like battling the war on drugs by arresting every 20 year old with 1/4 oz of marijuana.

    14. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Jackie_Chan_Fan · · Score: 1

      There is nothing anyone can do. The government does what it wants, usually under the guise of "for the the children".

      This is not for the children, this is for America, the Imperialistic wishes of our government. It wants to control online activities for law enforcement. It may help stop child porn, but thats not the goal. The goal is to police Americans online.

      It just so happens that "child porn" is the angle they chose to push their police state agenda.

      It's really funny with all of the hub-bub about the Chinese President coming to America, and the so called "human rights abuses" that take place in China. How arrogant are we?

      We're just as imperialistic, albiet in more subtle ways.

    15. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by c0dedude · · Score: 1

      The fact is child porn is such a heinous violation of basic human decency that severe abridgment of constitutional rights is justified, even required, to prevent it.

      --
      Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
    16. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by An.+(Coward) · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Nice idea, and if it were any other president, I'd agree. But after witnessing George Bush attaching a bogus "signing statement" to John McCain's anti-torture law basically saying he won't torture anyone unless he wants to, claiming he has the right to conduct warrantless surveillance on international calls despite a law to the contrary, and refusing to acknowledge that he doesn't have the right to do so for purely domestic calls...do you really think that such a provision would make the slightest difference to the fascist criminals currently running this country?

      I'd like to see such monitoring restricted to Republicans only, given that they seem to have issues with this sort of thing.

    17. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by ClamIAm · · Score: 1

      "Redcoat"
      "Kraut"
      "Commie"

    18. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      If you're serious, and not being sarcastic, then, for the good of the children, I place you under arrest, relieve you of all your constitutional rights, and forbid you from accessing the internet.

      If you're innocent, you won't mind having your constitutional rights abridged.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    19. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 1

      After all, it says
      >ensure that ISPs retain records of a user's web activities
      and not
      "ensure records of a *suspect*'s web activities."

      That distinction is vital and not at all subtle.

    20. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by gzearfoss · · Score: 1

      > If they want to take down Child Pornography, wouldn't it be smarter to go after the distributors?

      The problem with that thinking is that some of the distributers are located overseas. Since they're beyond the reach of the US Government, the next best thing is to go after those who are within reach. In order to keep arrest numbers high, and the statistics impressive, they arrest those they can. It's the difference between saying "We arrested ten child pornographers" and "We arrested two hundred people in the War on Kiddie Porn."
      Though the second sounds more impressive, the first may have more of an impact on actually *winning* the War on Kiddie Porn, not just *fighting* it.

    21. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Splab · · Score: 1

      I just don't get it.

      We got something just like it here in Denmark, where the politicians are trying to force ISP's to be able to show all emails that have been sent and on top of that be able to show who did what when. In our case it's the terrorism that got them worked up, but won't be long before somebody yells "think of the children!"

      Whats the point in doing it? I mean, theres alot of anonymizing software out there, some of it is even fairly easy to install - so what you get is the average citizen is being watched for every bad move they MIGHT make, but the criminals/perverts still think of it as buissnes as usual.

    22. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by SQL+Error · · Score: 1

      See also: 18th Amendment.

      Some countries are just slow learners.

    23. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not really a fair criticism. It's not just Bush and the Republicans specifically who threaten the First Amendment; I certainly wouldn't trust a President Clinton or Kerry with the same information. This is a bipartisan problem.

    24. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What a load of McCarthyist bull. Suggesting communists would even want to take part in US government (as opposed to bringing it down) means you don't no zip about communism. You're simply making good use of the dirty word by sticking it to people that aren't.

    25. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by purple_cobra · · Score: 1

      Now you know why Bush is so friendly with Hu Jintao: he has plans to implement the same sort of constant surveillance of the American people that Jintao enjoys of the Chinese.
      Perhaps this explains the recent meeting between Bill Gates and Jintao?

    26. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ISP's should start a whitelist - Google, on-line banking, ebay and all .gov sites, piped to bit-bucket. Let em have partial, but not carte-blanc. And .gov pays ISP's for storing this crap.

      An idea like this might have legs - when they figure how to eliminate spam, because that will be what fills up space.

    27. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Frozen+Void · · Score: 1

      the real idea behind is moral panics and excuses to grab more power.

      Moral panics are political dream.
      if you make your laws justified by some
      excuse which is reasonable it doesn't matter what the laws turn out to.
      Terrorism,child porn,bioweapons,rebellion,
      anything scary enough to use.
      Its goose that lays the golden eggs.
      Manipulating society emotions,fears,attitudes,trends for own causes is extremely efficient tactic.
      People at large are sheep(yes,that right.Rigid self-enforcing system beased on memeplexes(a codes of memes) people replicate and absorb from authority)),since "normal" social structures are built to rule the sheep.
      few people fight against indoctrination and social rules.Easy to be a sheep.

      Its like a lever.To turn it you need excuses.When you got an excuse you turn it.turning it back requires much effort and much better excuses.Excuse is power.

      I'm sure the Patriot act was seen as
      measure to fight terrorism.But terrorism isn't a real force/army/organization,it a movement[Notice the -ISM:Fascism,Communism,terrorism].Abstract definition of
      "insurgent activity" or "rebellion" doesn't make it different from usual murder/kidnapping/civil disobedience.

      Terrorism is a control system: "rule by terror" the -ism implies that terror is
      the desired objective.To make it
      more powerful it needs victims to manipulate.Furthering the cause of terrorism advertising it effects and exxeragating the threats make terrorism
      what it is.

      Its not a war,its intimidation,War on terror is war on Fear.Ignoring your fear is different then making it a central opponent,and telling everyone how you prepared to fight it.
      Scare tactics benefit only when there is way to scare.

      If you see further terrorism is what media tells us is.What if media was under control of goverment and labeled
      terrorist symphatizers or terrorists any group that opposes goverment's politics
      (which is the case of USSR http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_state http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_people ). ex:If you oppose current Bush administration(doesn't have to be terrorism related) you're suddenly terrorist symphatizer or unpatriotic.

      So Eradicating something Requires measures that interfer with all
      potential terrorists,a convinient domestic terrorism category and some redefinitions to help cover as much it
      can extend to "a terrorist who was not an agent of a foreign power could be the target of a federal investigation of foreign intelligence" "Excludable Aliens." "lone wolf terrorists" and such nonsense(that has as much relation to terrorism as weapon manufacturers and psychos have).

      Surveilance of Financial help to terrorists,Potential communication to
      potential terrorists,potential terrorist activity,collecting information relevant to terrorism(or information that helps figthing terrorism) etc.One step closer to 1984
      Some of these "potential communication"
      maybe even yours.Wiretapping ISPs.

      Forget about child porn,thoughtcrimes,terrorism, ,the real idea behind this is getting more information (and control).
      Surveillance
      is easy to coerce when you have the moral backing and justification.No one thinks about it: what authority does with information they collect is their own business.There is no feedback.They may use it for any purpose,they already have the data.NSA and ATT datamining story just shows what going behind the scenes. http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/04/07/12 46259&from=rss
      They want it to become legal.Child porn
      is a best excuse they can conjure at the moment.

      Now you get to arguments "If you're innocent you have nothing to worry about" and the slippery slope of "innocent" "Loyal" "patriotic".With a
      slight redefiniton of innocent every step

    28. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by NitsujTPU · · Score: 1

      I live in Ithaca, NY, which prints its own currency and has an active socialist party. This isn't McCarthyist bull, this is an "as I see it," point of view. Heck, I don't even mind. I'm a Libertarian, and would love to see more variety in the political process. Perhaps in 20 years, it'll be the Libertiarians duking it out against the Socialists in presidential elections. I say, bring it on.

    29. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by jafac · · Score: 1

      BS.

      They'll agree, and simply ignore it.

      USA PATRIOT has a clause that limits it's use to Terrorism only (which is a fairly elastic term to begin with) - and yet it has been used for many other purposes in several documented cases.

      Last January, when the congress hemmed and hawed over modifications of the USA PATRIOT act (to supposedly protect our civil liberties) - and finally agreed on a watered down suite of protections; Bush signed it with a "signing statement" that basically says he (and the enforcement agencies under his office) intend to ignore it and act as if it does not apply to them (arguing that it does not, in fact, apply, in light of the constitutional war powers held by the president) - again, bogus argument afger bogus argument. End result: we live in a police state, and we paid these bastards to argue and fight to protect our rights, and they only pretend to do so.

      --

      These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
    30. Re:OMG Think of teh Children!!!!1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I certainly wouldn't trust a President Clinton or Kerry with the same information. This is a bipartisan problem.

      It's not a bipartisan problem until we have another President Clinton or Kerry doing this. Until that happens, this is purely a GOP problem.

  3. What would you say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    that we open, photocopy and file away every piece of correspondence that passes through the US Postal Service?

    Didn't think so.

    1. Re:What would you say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They would if they could...

    2. Re:What would you say... by Jackie_Chan_Fan · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What would you say if we logged all traffic from every public official and made it publically available on a webpage for all to look at and study?

      Hmmm.......

    3. Re:What would you say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mailmen and the parcels that they transport have the some of the greatest legal protection in this country. These laws come from days when data transfer was to be secret and reliable. However, those who have power fear nothing more than the loss of their power. Bottom line, don't mess with the Mailman, and use fear (of consequences, loss of reputation, or smiting by a higher power) to influence public thought to go after unprotected freedoms.

    4. Re:What would you say... by mcrbids · · Score: 1

      What would you say that we open, photocopy and file away every piece of correspondence that passes through the US Postal Service?

      You know that won't pass. But, even in the case of web request logging, it doesn't keep a copy of the *content* of the webpage, just a simple log of the original request.

      It's basically a copy off Squid invisible proxy logs. Easily done, hard to detect, and gives a reasonable history of what's done by end user. Example: Google search for "banana republic" returns the URL http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=banana+republ ic&btnG=Google+Search which makes it pretty clear what you were looking for. But the CONTENT of the website hits aren't logged. More lke a copy of the to/from addresses on the outside of the letter... .

      --
      I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
  4. Yah, right. by Secret+Rabbit · · Score: 5, Funny

    Mr. Gonzales also said that he is investigating ways to ensure that ISPs retain records of a user's web activities to track down offenders.

    Wholly 1984 Batman!

    1. Re:Yah, right. by gmby · · Score: 2, Interesting

      The telecoms giant says that its servers block 35,000 attempts to view child porn each day

      If the ISP is blocking "child porn" and you are thier customer and "accidently" surf a porn site you thought was a legit site; are you responsible? Keep in mind that you beleve your safe from bad sites because your ISP is blocking and protecting you from underage porn sites.

      It would be cool to surf porn and not worry about sites from other countries where the legal age is 16 or 17 when your in a country with 18 or more as a legal age.

      After all if you hit a underage porn site; it's already to late; the pictures are in your cache!
      Short of a vat of acid for your hard drive; your screwed if you get "caught!"

      And NO THIS IS NOT A JUSTIFICATION FOR WILLINGLY SURFING "CHILD PORN!" You ass wads out there harming children need to spend some time in a Texas Prison!

      --
      I don't want a pickle; I just want a Motor-Cycle! A four foot cop arrived with a five foot gun!
    2. Re:Yah, right. by Secret+Rabbit · · Score: 1

      Just wondering how your reply is related to mine. Why did you reply to me again?

    3. Re:Yah, right. by Schraegstrichpunkt · · Score: 2, Interesting

      What about pre-caching "web accelerators"?

    4. Re:Yah, right. by gmby · · Score: 1

      "Secret Rabbit (914973)"
      What do Rabbits do?

      hehe... just teasing...

      --
      I don't want a pickle; I just want a Motor-Cycle! A four foot cop arrived with a five foot gun!
  5. Who believes this crap? by Smitedogg · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Who in their right mind believes this crap about child pornography? Can't they at least come up with less transparent excuses?

    1. Re:Who believes this crap? by prurientknave · · Score: 3, Insightful

      transparency is the enemy of tyranny

    2. Re:Who believes this crap? by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1
      Who in their right mind believes this crap about child pornography?

      Most people are not paying attention. Thus, they know of no reasons not to trust the Government. The Government wouldn't lie to us.

      --
      If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    3. Re:Who believes this crap? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

      The Republicans don't need better excuses. The party consists mostly of a few easily manipulated groups:

      Group #1) Religious zealots. This group is (obviously) uncritical and extremely trusting. Just tell them that you love their God and that you're doing his works, and they'll back you, never stopping to think that maybe, just maybe, you're full of shit.

      Group #2) Tax-reduction zealots. This group doesn't give a shit about civil liberties or anything else, so long as they get their tax cuts.

      Group #3) Unthinking "Patriots". Yet another uncritical, unthinking mass, that cares more about worshipping the president than the ideals of the country

      Group #4) Business zealots. The people who want welfare for their businesses (but not for poor people), and will vote for whoever gives it to them.

      Given this core, the Republican party can do any fucking thing they want, so long as none of the groups realizes that their needs aren't being served. This despite the fact that none of their needs are being served.

      All they need to do is say "abortion, gay marraige, tax cut, 9/11" and they win, because Americans really are that fucking stupid.

      Well that, and the Democrats haven't been able to find a reason for their existance, so they can't mobilize lots of extra voters, and get the majority voice of America heard. And third parties are a joke, because of the nature of our electoral system.

      Fuck the GOP. Fuck the Democrats. America is fucked.

    4. Re:Who believes this crap? by typical · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Can't they at least come up with less transparent excuses?

      The Bush Administration had to go through something like four different excuses for invading Iraq, all of which fell through, and *still* the primary reason for Bush losing popularity over Iraq is not that we invaded an innocent country, but that people feel that he's not doing a good job of handling the occupation.

      --
      Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
    5. Re:Who believes this crap? by TapeCutter · · Score: 1

      Are you saying that child porn does not exist on the web and are you saying that the interpoll busts that have nabed some high profile rock spiders have been a complete waste? Or mabe you are saying rock spiders that post child porn should not be investigated via their ISP logs?

      BTW: I do not belive Gonzales when he says "think of the children", I belive it's a trawling excersice aimed at monitoring all kinds of "social networks".

      However, that does not mean rock spiders should be allowed to manipulate privacy and free speech issues into a green light to post anything they like over a semi-public network. If the government actually worked with ISP's and the porn industry in a genuine attempt to collect evidence against these predators (eg: dob in a kiddy-porn site), it would be a good thing. Unfortunately many politicians are blind to the difference between porn, prostitution and abuse. OTOH: To be fair to politicians in general, there are grey areas, cultural differences and some in the porn industry are actively involved in the abuse.

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
    6. Re:Who believes this crap? by Fyz · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But apparent transparency is prerequisite for tyranny.

    7. Re:Who believes this crap? by Proc6 · · Score: 1

      Then explain Vista's Aero Glass UI.

      --

      I'm Rick James with mod points biatch!

  6. this might be a bad idea... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Would this be a bad time to bring up the Aristocrats? I love that joke!

    And I'm going to hell...

    1. Re:this might be a bad idea... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Would this be a bad time to bring up the Aristocrats? I love that joke!"

      Man.. I can't believe it! Bob Saget made me... laugh?

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    2. Re:this might be a bad idea... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      His comedy used to be pretty good, but I think he sold his soul to network TV.

    3. Re:this might be a bad idea... by SirSlud · · Score: 1

      Clearly you've never sucked dick for crack.

      --
      "Old man yells at systemd"
    4. Re:this might be a bad idea... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      "Clearly you've never sucked dick for crack."

      I'm flattered you've noticed!

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    5. Re:this might be a bad idea... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  7. This isn't about child porn. by Generalisimo+Zang · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Is anyone actually dumb enough to think this is about child porn?

    This is yet another attempt by the Bush administration to increase domestic surveilance, and to create a de-facto state of permanent constant survelliance on all Americans.

    They're just trying to sell it as "anti child porn" in order to get the gullible people to go along with giving up the remaining shreds of personal privacy.... and to keep the gutless wonders (of both parties)in Congress from trying to oppose it.

    1. Re:This isn't about child porn. by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      /rolls eyes

      Yea because everything is about YOU and you disagreement with the elected administration...

      To paraphrase Freud, "Sometimes a pervert is just a pervert".

      --
      "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
    2. Re:This isn't about child porn. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, you've got to can that /rolls eyes thing. It was old back on dealmac, it's old now. Please come up with a new cliche for expressing your disagreement. It just makes you look retarded.

    3. Re:This isn't about child porn. by leereyno · · Score: 1

      If Gore or Kerry had been elected chances are they'd be doing the same thing. In fact the odds are even greater given that their approach to terrorism would be to ignore the problem just like Clinton did.

      Remember the CDA? Guess which party was in the white house when that came along?

      Those in power are always corrupt, and will always try to find new ways of undermining the soverignty of the american people. Representative democracy is the process of choosing the person who you believe is going to screw you the least and setting the ambitions of those who thirst for power against each other so that none become too powerful to depose.

      The price of freedom today is the same as it has always been, eternal vigilance.

      Lee

      --
      Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.
  8. Younger and younger children? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny
    1. Re:Younger and younger children? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Works for me! ;)

    2. Re:Younger and younger children? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wikipedia propagates child porn! Take down Wikipedia!

    3. Re:Younger and younger children? by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      You think that's sick? That's nothing!

      Now, this is really perverted.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  9. Will someone please think of the children? by ZiakII · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Will someone please think of the children?

    One thing I'm surprized is that the RIAA/MPAA haven't tried to shut down the P2P programs with the goverment saying that they harbor child pornography. It is simply amazing what bullshit laws you can get passed if you play it off that it is in the best interest of the "children". But, dear god forbid some of the parents actually pay attention to what their kids are doing....

    1. Re:Will someone please think of the children? by ZiakII · · Score: 5, Interesting

      One thing I'm surprized is that the RIAA/MPAA haven't tried to shut down the P2P programs with the goverment saying that they harbor child pornography.

      Never mind seems like they already have.

  10. Just an excuse by stox · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The real issue is not child pornography, the issue is anything to get access to your personal records. They are persistent. Every excuse they find, they use towards this goal. I, for one, am not falling for it. Be afraid, very afraid. The concept of personal freedom will soon be a ghost of what it once was unless we wake up NOW!

    --
    "To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
    1. Re:Just an excuse by log0n · · Score: 1

      I think a lot of people are awake and angry, it's just pretty obvious there's nothing we can do anymore. Peaceful protest doesn't work, politicians are corrupt and only think of their personal agendas or careers. Or they are just headstrong and do what they want regardless because of some conscious (or not) power trip. Consequently our rights are being ignored and trampled.

      I'd vote Hillary in if she ran simply because I can't think of a better way to say F-U to the current admin. But I'm pretty frightened of what she'd do as well.

      Guy Fawkes in '08!

    2. Re:Just an excuse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      "I think a lot of people are awake and angry, it's just pretty obvious there's nothing we can do anymore. Peaceful protest doesn't work, politicians are corrupt and only think of their personal agendas or careers. Or they are just headstrong and do what they want regardless because of some conscious (or not) power trip. Consequently our rights are being ignored and trampled."

              When all peaceful avenues are blocked or removed, then only the non peaceful ones remain. Unless your willing to fight for what you believe, and stand up to those who oppress you, then you really have no right to complain. Life is rarely if ever simple, and nether are our decision. Perhaps it hasn't gotten so bad as to leave us no other choice but it's getting there. Stand up and fight or sit down and shut up, but in the end both decisions are far from easy.

    3. Re:Just an excuse by fafalone · · Score: 5, Interesting

      You don't want the protectors of your freedom to have access to your personal records? WHAT ARE YOU HIDING???
      To finally end the production of child pornography, unlicensed private possession of photographic equipment is now to be banned. Requirements for a license to possess photographic equipment will include background checks, fingerprint and DNA collection, as well as locks on all photographic devices that require submitting a copy of every image taken with that device to law enforcement agencies before they may be viewed/developped by anyone. Not only will this prevent perverts from taking pictures of naked children, but it will also stop terrorists from photographing buildings and other illegal photographs to plan their attack on our freedom. Anyone found to be in possession of a photographic device without a license, or bypassing the mechanism to submit copies of all images taken to the government, will be imprisoned with tough mandatory minimum sentences regardless of the content of their photographs. Selling these devices illegally will result in a 10 year mandatory minimum sentence. This new prohibition will be just as effective as our prohibition on drugs; it will solve our nations child pornography problem by keeping cameras and camcorders out of the hands of child molestors.

      If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to be afraid of. Having all your photographs viewed by law enforcement a small price to pay to protect our children and protect our freedom! If you oppose this new policy, you're either a child pornographer or a terrorist, and will be arrested for treason.

      You know what the saddest thing is, I had a conversation with a friend who actually believed that such overt invasions of privacy were completely justified to protect the country. Including warrantless interception of every single phone call, even completely domestic. She even said it would be fine if the government wanted to read her diary for no reason. A device in your car that automatically ticketed you for going 1mph over the limit? You're breaking the law, so you deserve punishment. Preventing people from breaking the law was much more important than privacy. She was dead serious, and of course a fanatical right wing republican. She was otherwise intelligent too, science major at my (tier 1) university. This was the last conversation I ever had with her. People like her show what's wrong with this country that allowed these kind of measures to pass.

    4. Re:Just an excuse by i_am_not_a_bomba · · Score: 1

      I had a similar conversation once while at work with a female colleage.

      It was in regards to a crime commited by a few people in a footy team here in Aus, the cops were demanding the entire team hand over DNA evidence, i think one refused. It was being discussed and i mentioned that i wouldn't hand it over without a court order.

      After she sputtered and spurted and finished ranting about how "it would prove your innocence so why wouldnt you" she dropped lthis little bombshell, "I think we should have a national DNA database, then the police could just solve crimes like that", and clicks her fingers, i tried to point out the total insanity of what she was suggesting.

      The only way i got her to concede a little was when i asked "Who will manage this database". You see we were working for a department in the federal government, in IT no less, she had *first hand knowledge* of corruption that comes with power when one of the IT Consultants developed a crush on her and she realised he was reading her emails on the mailserver, totally outside of his area of responsibility.

      Anyway point is i should have only had to say i dont have to prove *my* innocence to anyone and that should have been it, instead it was only the mechanics that managed to take the edge off her argument. It seems for most people liberal western ideals are viewed as naive, and that police state authorarianism is "how things are in the real world".

    5. Re:Just an excuse by Schraegstrichpunkt · · Score: 5, Interesting
      WHAT ARE YOU HIDING???

      • My plans to vote against the current administration
      • My political strategy for running against the current administration
      • My communications with police from another state because the local police are corrupt
    6. Re:Just an excuse by FhnuZoag · · Score: 1

      She was dead serious, and of course a fanatical right wing republican.

      One wonders what the hell happened to the right wing.

    7. Re:Just an excuse by .ishiki. · · Score: 1

      Hearing that she goes to a "tier 1" university makes her comments quite a bit scarier....

    8. Re:Just an excuse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your mistake: stopping talking to her. I agree that choice makes your life easier (I have chosen similarly in the past) because you will spend less of it being exasperated by idiots, but unfortunately she is also a voting citizen. In some areas (like science), she seems to be a rational person. Only through continuing rational discussion with her could you hope to change her views.

      Bonus points if she's hot. ;)

    9. Re:Just an excuse by KakarisMaelstrom · · Score: 1

      While I'm not entirely against formation of a police state, the whole discussion reminds me loosely of a roleplaying game called Paranoia where "I have nothing to hide" except that when I thing about it, I'm actually a commie mutant traitor, so buying into the "I have nothing to hide" philosophy because it is the popular choice is actually going to get me shot. I have nothing to hide, true, but I do. Just like everyone. The laws are there to create a semblance of order, but ultimately that order is based on people's acceptance of it. Considering the way otherwise honest people duplicate MP3's illegally, you have to consider that virtually everyone has something to hide. Oh well. Would be asking alot for the economy to support the way people actually act so honest people weren't getting the shaft. But then again, that would take a police state for the offenders.

  11. First Amendment Nullified by MisterSquid · · Score: 4, Informative
    I recently blogged on this issue because I'd discovered that a Virginia man (Dwight Whorley) was sentenced to 20 years in jail for downloading cartoon pornography.

    I don't think Whorley or his ilk are the best arguments for the importance and necessity of free speech, but Whorley's plight is of particular concern because the material he has been convicted of downloading was concocted from imagination. They were cartoons. In other words, Whorley has been jailed for what can only be seen as pure speech. Whether the current administration really is interested in protecting society from child pornographers is irrelevant. Whorley's successful conviction and extraordinary sentencing set the precedent that pure expression (which may have harmed no one) can be found illegal.

    We live in dangerous times and I worry that it won't be long before critics of the US government and/or political opponents of the powerful find themselves in straits similar to Whorley's.

    --
    blog
    1. Re:First Amendment Nullified by TooMuchEspressoGuy · · Score: 1
      This is definite proof that they're not out to "protect the children." They want to legalize thought crimes.

      I mean, if they're censoring artistic depictions of child pornography that, you know, don't actually harm any children, then maybe next they'll ban some of my favorite works of fiction. Stephen King's It, for example, contains a few passages that very vividly depict scenes right out of a pedo's pipe dreams. I wonder if we'll see any banning of that in the future.

      ...and then what?

      --
      Many Bothans died to bring you this sig.
    2. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Kjella · · Score: 1

      Well, it says it's a 2003 law, I assume this is a new one after the Supreme court struck down the last one in 2002. I assume this one will do the same, I certainly don't feel I'd have anything to lose that point... 20 years for downloading anime, perhaps resembling real but still... in my country you wouldn't get that if you abducted and violently raped a real girl.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    3. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Henry+V+.009 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It may suck to be cartoon guy—but I'm sure glad that I don't live in your country.

    4. Re:First Amendment Nullified by TooMuchEspressoGuy · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Well, it says it's a 2003 law, I assume this is a new one after the Supreme court struck down the last one in 2002.

      Yep, it's a new one, and they haven't tested it in the Supreme Court yet.

      I assume this one will do the same, I certainly don't feel I'd have anything to lose that point... 20 years for downloading anime, perhaps resembling real but still... in my country you wouldn't get that if you abducted and violently raped a real girl.Actually, if I remember correctly, Mr. Whorely also possessed *actual* child pornography. However, the non-photographic artwork that he possessed weighed heavily upon his sentence.

      Think about it: This artwork harmed no one in the making. Mr. Whorely didn't harm anyone by possessing it. One can't even make the argument that he was harming himself by looking at it, unless you want to really stretch it and say that it was causing him psychological trauma or somesuch drivel.

      Actual child porn aside, this was a nonviolent thought crime, pure and simple.

      --
      Many Bothans died to bring you this sig.
    5. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All I can say is wow. And that this truly scares the ever living fuck out of me.

    6. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 5, Informative

      Actually, if I remember correctly, Mr. Whorely also possessed *actual* child pornography. However, the non-photographic artwork that he possessed weighed heavily upon his sentence.

      The linked article said that there were no photographs of actual children. Just drawings.

    7. Re:First Amendment Nullified by QCompson · · Score: 1

      That is truly disturbing. Land of the free indeed.

    8. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Chowderbags · · Score: 1

      Trying to prohibit virtual child porn isn't new, and the Supreme Court ruling (if they bother to follow precident) would be the same: There was no actual abuse of children, thus there's no reason to regulate it.

      How the conservative shift of the court views the matter now... that's what I fear. Not nessicarily because I'm for lolicon in particular, I just don't think it's the government place to regulate acts that don't harm anyone.

    9. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Kenrod · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      It has only been very recently (the past 40 years) that pornograpy has enjoyed any constitutional protection at all. People were routinely sent to jail before the 1970's for producing and distributing pornography. It is still quite normal for communities to restrict the manufacture, sale, and distribution of pornography in an entirely legal manner, per the Supreme Court test, although lengthy jail sentences are rare.

      Whorley was sent to jail for violating a federal law, he is free to challenge his conviction on 1st Amendment grounds, but it is likely he will lose because he fails the Supreme Court's test for pornagraphic material. From your short description of the material he possesed, I'm guessing it doesn't have 1st Amendment protection.

      Calling something "pure expression" because it does not contain images of living persons (or a victim in the case of child porn) isn't legally meaningful. A written description of child rape is just as legitimate a target of legal restriction as an actual picture. The idea that something can't be restricted because there is no victim is also without legal foundation and is libertarian nonsense.

      I'm extremely amused by your Gov't bashing as well. Equating a crackdown on child porn with a coming assault on political speech is idiotic and without foundation - we aren't any closer to being packed into boxcars today as we were when Clinton was president, or Eisenhower, or Lincoln. Your real gripe is with the Supreme Court, which in spite of being exceedingly liberal in the past 40 years has allowed modest restriction on porn and somewhat tighter restrictions on child porn.

      Guys like Dwight Whorley deserve to be in jail. I'm glad society isn't forced to tolerate his sickness.

      --
      Good heavens Miss Sakamoto - you're beautiful!
    10. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Fulcrum+of+Evil · · Score: 1

      I'm extremely amused by your Gov't bashing as well. Equating a crackdown on child porn with a coming assault on political speech is idiotic and without foundation

      Don't you get it? Child porn is just an excuse. What they really want is access to your records.

      --
      "We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
    11. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Guys like Dwight Whorley deserve to be in jail.
      And you think this WHY, exactly?
    12. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whorley had a prior conviction for possessing child pornography. And was discovered under similar circumstances of being dumb enough to download it in a public library. A search of his house revealed a large stash child porn and a printed and bound collection of emails related to child porn.

      He was still under probation for this offense when he was sentenced under the new law. What made this so easy for the DA was not the new law, but Whorley being a total idiot and having a prior conviction.

    13. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Scarletdown · · Score: 1
      One can't even make the argument that he was harming himself by looking at it


      Carpal tunnel or "tennis elbow" perhaps?

      --
      This space unintentionally left blank.
    14. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Phocas · · Score: 1

      "Guys like Dwight Whorley deserve to be in jail. I'm glad society isn't forced to tolerate his sickness."

      I wonder how many millions of Americans have read Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" or seen the British TV mini-series "Queer as Folk" (which depicted sex between a 15 year old and a 29 year old) or watched the movie "y tu Mama Tambien" (which depicts teens having sex).

      The feds are going to need a lot more prisons to hold all those people.

    15. Re:First Amendment Nullified by NMerriam · · Score: 1

      he is free to challenge his conviction on 1st Amendment grounds, but it is likely he will lose because he fails the Supreme Court's test for pornagraphic material.

      On the contrary, anyone with a newspaper subscription knows without a doubt that the man will be free as soon as it get to appeals court. The Supreme Court has already stated explicitly that imaginary porn is not porn, and that drawings or renderings of children engaged in sex acts are not child porn because there are NO CHILDREN in it, no victims whatsoever.

      This law and the conviction are nothing more than shallow attempts by elected officials to manipulate voters and look like they're doing something, even though they all know they are wasting money on a case that will be overturned on appeal. Maybe YOU appreciate seeing your law enforcement tax dollars wasted in such a manner, but some of us would prefer the police pursue real child molesters with that time and funding, and get convictions that will stand up in court as well as saving actual children from abuse.

      --
      Recursive: Adj. See Recursive.
    16. Re:First Amendment Nullified by myowntrueself · · Score: 3, Insightful

      When they came for the pedophiles, I didn't speak out; the only porn site I go to is Aunt Judies.

      When they came for the bestiality fans, I didn't speak out; the only porn site I go to is Aunt Judies.

      When they came for the hentai fans, I didn't speak out; the only porn site I go to is Aunt Judies.

      When they came for the bukkake fans, I didn't speak out; the only porn site I go to is Aunt Judies.

      When they came for viewers of porn involving mature women there was noone left to speak out for me...

      (My stated favorite porn site is purely fictitious and serves only as an example, I am not actually a subscriber to Aunt Judies. Honest.)

      --
      In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
    17. Re:First Amendment Nullified by deblau · · Score: 2, Interesting
      At first, I was ready to jump on the bandwagon with you. I have since read several of the recent Supreme Court cases on child pornography, and United States v. Whorley, 386 F. Supp. 2d 693 (E.D. Va. 2005). I think the conviction was proper.

      Quoting from the case:

      The universe of child pornography is comprised of materials in two broad categories, those involving depictions of an actual child, and the others portraying simulated representations. The former class of materials need not satisfy the legal definition of obscene to be banned. This category enjoys no First Amendment protection because the underlying production necessary involves the sexual exploitation of children. The latter class of materials, involving simulated images of children engaged in a sexually explicit conduct, can only be prohibited if they [are obscene].
      Whorley, 386 F. Supp. 2d at 696. The Supreme Court held in Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (1969) that a person was entitled to possess and watch obscene materials in their own home for their own intellectual stimulation, because the State cannot control what people think. However, the Court has consistently rejected constitutional protection for obscene material outside the home. United States v. Orito, 413 U.S. 139, 143 (1973). On the same day it decided Orito, the Court gave obscenity a definition, in Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973). That case, in turn, held that obscenity could be suppressed over First Amendment objections due to the governmental interest in preventing "a significant danger of offending the sensibilities of unwilling recipients or of exposure to juveniles." Miller, 413 U.S. at 18-19. Miller and Stanley compliment each other: a person can watch obscene porn in their home, but not where the public or young people can see it. IMHO, that's a sensible approach.

      Mr. Whorley downloaded child porn at work: strike one. He would have had to transport it from his work to his house through public places where it might have been exposed to unwilling recipients or juveniles: strike two. Did I mention, he worked for the State of Virginia, at a Virginia Employment Commission office? Strike three, he's out.

      Note: the following is personal speculation. There's a difference between downloading obscene porn at work and at home. At work, other people might see it. At home, that's much less likely. The only people who 'receive' the porn in a p2p download are the common carrier ISPs in between the sender and receiver. Generally speaking, the Bush administration notwithstanding, carriers aren't required to monitor the content of the bits they push, nor should they be due to Fourth Amendment policy reasons. Some do voluntarily -- that's up to them. If they do intercept the content and analyze it, they are no longer 'unwilling recipients', and since child labor is outlawed, they aren't juveniles either. Therefore, the justification in Miller for suppressing the content-based speech shouldn't apply. (And for goodness sake, ISPs already know that most of their traffic is porn anyway. It's not like they'd suddenly be taken by surprise.) Courts should be required to find some alternate reason to justify the speech suppression, or they should allow the download, despite its obvious obscenity, on First Amendment grounds.

      If someone is convicted of downloading virtual child porn at home, then I'd start to worry about the Bill of Rights being eroded. Until then, I'm going to stick with guarded optimism and counting the days until January 20, 2009.

      --
      This post expresses my opinion, not that of my employer. And yes, IAAL.
    18. Re:First Amendment Nullified by MisterSquid · · Score: 0
      That's a fairly well-researched reply and you deserve to be moderated much more highly than you have been.

      Regarding your optimism, I want to say that I hope you're right. If Whorley's conviction turns on the fact that his activities were done in public, so to speak, as opposed to in his private domicile, I in principle might agree that Whorley has broken the law according to its letter and that the 30 November 2005 ruling against him does rely on precedent.

      Where I don't agree is in the specifics of the conviction. Presuming Whorley was using computers to transport obscene comics, convicting him for public distribution and/or viewing is a legal contortion at best. The article is vague about which law was used to prosecute Whorley. The article to which I originally linked states "[Whorley is] the first person convicted under a 2003 federal law that criminalizes the production or distribution of drawings or cartoons showing the sexual abuse of children." So, Whorley's conviction does not appear to have anything to do with the venue in which Whorley obtained and/or distributed the cartoons in question.

      While the report lacks crucial detail (it's barely more than a blurb), it does indicate that the law under which he was convicted is about the existence and transmission of cartoons, which regardless of the vile content is still, as others have remarked, a thought crime.

      --
      blog
    19. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Kjella · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Mr. Whorley downloaded child porn at work: strike one. He would have had to transport it from his work to his house through public places where it might have been exposed to unwilling recipients or juveniles: strike two. Did I mention, he worked for the State of Virginia, at a Virginia Employment Commission office? Strike three, he's out.

      You really have to work better on that one. Exposing children to regular pornography is also illegal, but I never heard of anyone being sued for walking home from the video store with their XXX rated DVD concealed in a bag. Do you think the images in question would jump off the CD, print themselves and hand themselves to bypassers?

      How does the fact that he worked for the government and not a private entity factor into this? Not at all, as far as I can see. The people that could have been exposed are co-workers and network admins, same as in a regular workplace. Yes, he did it in a misunderstood conception of "privacy" at the workplace.

      However, in the verdict most of the arguments focus around "interstate commerce", that is Internet. I think this one pretty well sums it up: "The latter class of materials, involving simulated images of children engaged in a sexually explicit conduct, can only be prohibited if they meet the definition of obscenity set forth in Miller." and "For this Court to adopt the defendant's position and expand the contours of the zone of privacy articulated in Stanley to include the transportation of material in interstate commerce would be a clear break with long-established precedent. Even in the context of recent technological advances, this Court declines to do so."

      So basicly what the court said was that in your own home, you enjoy the protection of the Stanley case. But when passing it around on the Internet, it is not protected from obscenity laws, covered by the Miller test and states may ban its exchange. I believe this is already the case with some kinds of porn, that suppliers will not ship to certain states. What they've done though, is to place a massive penalty on the private aquisition of such material. Personally I think this is a huge abuse of the Miller test because you're using a public standard to regulate private actions.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    20. Re:First Amendment Nullified by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 1

      Think about it: This artwork harmed no one in the making. Mr. Whorely didn't harm anyone by possessing it.

      It may not have harmed anyone, but it offended peoples sensibilities. That's much worse.

      --
      May the Maths Be with you!
    21. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Either way, the reason Whorley was jailed was because he was on probation, and the probation terms specifically forbid possession of any kind of pornography. Everytime someone starts thumping their chest over this case, that tiny bit always seems to be overlooked, whether you're for or against people looking at japanese porn.

    22. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Guys like Dwight Whorley deserve to be in jail.

      Pray tell, why?

    23. Re:First Amendment Nullified by deblau · · Score: 1
      Whorley was charged under sections 1462, 1466A, and 2252A of Title 18, United States Code. I don't know which counts he was convicted on. (Thanks, PACER.) 1466A was passed as part of Pub. L. 108-21, on April 30, 2003, so I believe this is the law the article refers to. 1466A(c) states that it is not a required that the minor depicted actually exist.

      1462 and 1466A lie within the general obscenity chapter, not within the child exploitation chapter, and the congressional findings and policies for regulating each differ. The point was that Whorley was convicted of receiving obscene materials. The fact that they were cartoons, or wholly the products of the human imagination, was likely not ultimately determinative.

      Presuming Whorley was using computers to transport obscene comics, convicting him for public distribution and/or viewing is a legal contortion at best.

      That's very similar to how the court came out in Orito . In Orito, the defendant was convicted of transporting 83 reels of film containing obscene materials on a public airline from San Fransisco to Milwaukee. The statute forbidding that behavior didn't rely on the government's direct interest in preventing obscenity, but rather the (indirect) interest in preventing obscene materials from entering interstate commerce. In other words, they relied on the Interstate Commerce Clause, similar to the Lottery Case .

      The issues are slightly different here. The big issue is that the district court found 1466A was not overly broad, and fell within the umbrella of Miller, which would mean that you'd have to be pretty creative to get it overturned. Granted, 1466A hasn't been tested in an appellate court yet, but the prospects don't look good.

      Whorley did use a channel of interstate commerce (his ISP) to transport obscene material, so the ICC argument could be made to defend the constitutionality of 1466A. There's an argument to be made that ISPs are different from airlines, in terms of their inspection requirements. There are serious Fourth Amendment objections to ISPs inspecting the bits they push, similar to the USPS opening your mail at each mail hop. If the transaction in the materials was totally private between consenting adults, using the ISPs as "secure, ignorant intermediaries", one could argue that the Stanley protections apply.

      --
      This post expresses my opinion, not that of my employer. And yes, IAAL.
    24. Re:First Amendment Nullified by deblau · · Score: 1
      Do you think the images in question would jump off the CD, print themselves and hand themselves to bypassers?

      No, but apparently the court didn't have a problem convicting Orito of transporting 83 reels of film on an airplane, where "the images in question wouldn't jump off the reel, print themselves and hand themselves to bypassers." The obvious difference is that in one case, there is interstate commerce, and in the other there isn't. Yes, my second 'strike' argument was pretty weak. On the other hand, it's not determinative, and neither is your argument. The argument about transporting from work to home not being interstate commerce is good, but the interstate commerce (the download) has already happened by the time you get to that point. (My 'three strikes' argument was more motivational than anything. If I were a juror, I'd think his place of employment was damning, even if it wasn't relevant. 'Not supposed to, happens anyway.')

      As for 'private acquisition': I don't believe that downloading porn at work on a computer that isn't yours is 'private'. This is my personal opinion. I think employers have the right to require that their computers be used only for work purposes. This goes double for government employers, whose equipment is paid for using tax dollars. I've worked at some jobs where such restrictions were in place, and I don't think those restrictions involve Bill of Rights issues. IMHO, if you're going to download porn, that's fine, but do it at home. Common sense would tell you not to do it at work. Why? Because you don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy at work! I think it's hard to argue private action on the Whorley facts.

      The Whorley court didn't rule on downloading obscene materials at home (or any place where you have a reasonable, legitimate, or justifiable expectation of privacy). That's why I'm still hopeful.

      --
      This post expresses my opinion, not that of my employer. And yes, IAAL.
    25. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Additional comments to the article also point out:

      This is horribly irresponsible and misleading reporting.

      1 The man was already a convicted sex offender, who had served 46 months of prison for a child pornography charge from 1999.

      2. In 2003, he was sentenced to an additional 12 months for violating his probation stemming from the previous incident.

      3. In addition to the cartoons, he received 14 digital photographs of real children engaging in sexually explicit conduct, and sent and received 20 obscene E-mails which graphically described, among other things, parents sexually molesting their own children.

      additional info: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/article.php?id=853 6

      This is NOT a case of a guy getting 20 years for just looking at 20 cartoons. I'm embarrassed on behalf of ABC for running the story without fact checking it.

    26. Re:First Amendment Nullified by leereyno · · Score: 1

      "We live in dangerous times and I worry that it won't be long before critics of the US government and/or political opponents of the powerful find themselves in straits similar to Whorley's."

      In other words, business as usual. We have alwasys lived in dangerous times and we always will. The only thing that protects our rights and freedoms is our willingness to fight for them. Freedom is fragile and under constant attack from those who would enslave their fellow man. This is true everywhere. The only difference between the US and China is that our nation is founded upon the principles of liberty and we have a society and a culture that cherishes freedom. The day the American people lay down their arms and surrender to the perpetual forces of tyranny is the day our country will become a police state. When this day comes it won't matter who is in the white house, who is in power in congress, or who is warming their butts on the bench of the supreme court. The responsibility for preseving and protecting your liberty begins and ends with you. Others may want to help you, and you should accept that help, but don't ever rely upon them or their good intentions. To do so is to put your freedom at their mercy.

      Lee

      --
      Muslim community leaders warn of backlash from tomorrow morning's terrorist attack.
    27. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Scudsucker · · Score: 1

      Good points. The man deserves to be fired, given some community service, and be referred to treatment. But I think any jail term for virtual obsence material is going to far, much less a sentance of 20 years.

    28. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1. and 2. are immaterial. What he did in the past (and served his sentence for) does not make something he does today that should not be a crime a crime (if the terms of his probation forbade it then the "PROTECT" act law would have been unnecessary to his prosecution) . 3. shows that while the government will go after real contraband child pornography (the photos), they also go after false criminal material (the graphic descriptions of things the government does not like in the emails). I am sure the judge knew it when he saw it (and read it). That does not excuse ignoring the Supreme Court precedent with respect to cartoon depictions of sex. Or pretending that textual content can be obscene in a manner that allows the government to censor it. You are ceding your rights when you argue on behalf of the government prosecuting this guy for cartoons and written stories. And while he may be a despicable human being, that does not mean I am going to cede my rights and join you. I like the Constitution and what it protects: freedom of expression and freedom of thought.

    29. Re:First Amendment Nullified by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the reason Whorley was jailed was because he was on probation

      Nope. He was prosecuted and charged for 50 plus counts separate from his probation violation. He is in prison now not merely for violating his probation (he got a year for that) but for violating the on-its-face unconstitutional "PROTECT" act (the Supreme Court already ruled quite clearly that cartoon depictions of sex are not contraband child pornography).

      Tell us again what is being overlooked, other than the United States Constitution.

    30. Re:First Amendment Nullified by hackstraw · · Score: 1

      You really have to work better on that one. Exposing children to regular pornography is also illegal, but I never heard of anyone being sued for walking home from the video store with their XXX rated DVD concealed in a bag. Do you think the images in question would jump off the CD, print themselves and hand themselves to bypassers?

      OK. You've been charged with possession of child pornography. The acquisition was at your place of employment, which has nothing to do with children. The contraband was then transported from work to your home.

      In a court of law, regardless of your innocence, you would have a lot of explaining to do.

  12. Study? by NitsujTPU · · Score: 1

    Is there a study somewhere indicating the prevalence of child pornography, preferably one that has been carried out over a number of years, and perhaps has a timeline that one could compare against the prevalence of Internet access?

  13. I feel a lot safer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's really great what the Department of Homeland Security is doing to protect us.

  14. I am scared of Big Brother too . . . by idesofmarch · · Score: 0

    . . . but the proposals the article mentions, which are to force webhosts to report child-porn websites, seem completely reasonable. The article also says that Gonzalez is looking at ways to force webhosts to track user activity, but this could easily mean just tracking user activity to the illegal child-porn websites, which also seems reasonable. Until we see an actual proposal on activity tracking, there is nothing to get into a fuss about.

    1. Re:I am scared of Big Brother too . . . by bblboy54 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The article also says that Gonzalez is looking at ways to force webhosts to track user activity, but this could easily mean just tracking user activity to the illegal child-porn websites, which also seems reasonable.
      How do you log only child pornography? Sure, you could filter out keywords but if that is what they are trying to accomplish, then Google already provides this so why do we need to log anything in the first place?
      I hate to say it, but the comment you made is the exact reason why we are losing our privacy.

    2. Re:I am scared of Big Brother too . . . by mrchaotica · · Score: 1

      Think about this, though: It is impossible for ISPs to police the entire Internet, and there will almost certainly be child porn sites they don't know about. Therefore, if this law is passed the government instantly gains the ability to shut down any ISP they want at will for failing to report it. Not to mention that they could even make just up a child porn site themselves instead of bothering to find a real one.

      I could easily see them using this tactic against an ISP that did something as heinous as, say, hosting a site with information about DRM, or the site of an organization critical of the Bush Administration, or any number of other things that the Powers That Be don't like.

      --

      "[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz

    3. Re:I am scared of Big Brother too . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have this nice bridge for sale. Interested?

    4. Re:I am scared of Big Brother too . . . by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      These are the same guys who have been illegally spying on telephone calls since 9/11, because they thought it would be 'inconvienient' to get easily accessable warrants. So, lets trust them to do the right thing, eh?

    5. Re:I am scared of Big Brother too . . . by idesofmarch · · Score: 1

      I was thinking in terms of an ISP that is hosting the website. It would not be hard for them to log traffic to the website, once they know the website is a child-porn website. I do suspect that when a proposal comes out, it will not be as restrictive as what I am suggesting. But do think of the children.

    6. Re:I am scared of Big Brother too . . . by bblboy54 · · Score: 1

      Yes, we certainly do have to think of the children but there truly are enough ways that we can prosecute offenders under current laws. It's human nature to make excuses to give when we want to do something (or have done something) that is not going to be a popular thing. This is what the government is doing. Child porn is disgusting but the government is using child porn to accomplish their own disgusting goals. Something to think about is this.... Would you allow the government to put cameras in your computer room so that they could verify that you were not interested in child pronography? Any other legal activity that you did would be monitored.... even looking at what is legal pornography. The question is where do we draw the line and, more importantly, at what point do we hit the "point of no return" in which the government has too much power and we are powerless?

  15. The Ultimate Horror! by MOtisBeard · · Score: 1
    > From the article 'Sadly, the internet age has created a vicious cycle in which
    > child pornography continually becomes more widespread, more graphic, more
    > sadistic, using younger and younger children.

    This, of course, has led to hordes of scientists meticulously documenting the wanton torture of stem cells. If it goes on, we'll soon be seeing the entire population of Earth making holograms of themselves setting fire to the concept of a zygote.

    http://www.secret-cinema.com/ Cult, Arthouse, Badfilm, and more!

  16. Lets protect the children by argoff · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Funny thing is, I can take measures to protect my daughter from sex perverts, but how do I protect her from a government that is slowly turning into an orwellian police state?

    1. Re:Lets protect the children by qqqqarl · · Score: 1

      slowly?

    2. Re:Lets protect the children by kryten_nl · · Score: 1

      Voting? Running for political office? If you feel strongly about changing the system, then change the system.

      --
      For the perfect anti-Unix, write an OS that thinks it knows what you're doing better than you do and let it be wrong.
    3. Re:Lets protect the children by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Guns, of coarse.

    4. Re:Lets protect the children by nEoN+nOoDlE · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Step aside citizen, parenting is no longer your responsibility. We'll take care of that for you.

      Sincerely,
      The Government

      --
      Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
    5. Re:Lets protect the children by cortana · · Score: 1

      Leave. You can't beat 229,999,999 other idiots.

    6. Re:Lets protect the children by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you want to see what is really behind the child abuse in this country:

      http://www.vote.org/silence/

  17. Homeland Security official in child porn sting by Gary+Destruction · · Score: 4, Informative
  18. In my humble opinion by WormholeFiend · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Just enforce existing laws.

    1. Re:In my humble opinion by QuantumG · · Score: 1

      the laws that make it illegal to posess works you had no part in creating? The laws that make it trivial to be arrested and possibly incarcerated because you make enemies with the wrong guy on irc?

      --
      How we know is more important than what we know.
  19. New technology by Kjella · · Score: 1

    New technology such as file-sharing meant that law enforcement agencies are no longer able to control child pornography.

    Napster came out in 1999, and I think it's getting rather late to call p2p "new" technology. And if they can't even control regular p2p, what will happen when we finally manage to get well working anonymous networks? Yes, I know about Freenet, TOR, i2p, ants etc., none have mass market penetration. Also, they speak about "molestation on demand" which is in other words pedos on webcam. Big surprise that they might take use of them like the rest of us. Everything gets so distanced away when they want to talk about pedos. Do you have a "Home Kiddie Porn Photo Lab" aka digicam at your house? This can't really come as a surprise to anyone that's taken a look at technology and tried to apply it to a pedo community.

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  20. Target by Databass · · Score: 1

    Do they mean track down ALL users or those who have specifically had a warrant filed against them?

    Usually any time information is collected, they also file gag orders against the ISPs preventing them from telling anyone what information was taken, or why.

  21. Remember - Child pornography is illegal, after all by 0star · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Child pornography is illegal - and vile. Possession of child pornography is illegal - and vile.
    RTFA:
    The proposals have been sent to Congress and include new laws that will require ISPs to report child pornography and bolster penalties for those companies that fail to do so.
    Mr Gonzales also said that he is also investigating ways to ensure that ISPs retain records of a user's web activities to track down offenders.

    As long as the ISPs themselves report the violations of EXISTING law, I have no problem with the first part, and neither should most rational people. I could easily have a problem with the second, but that is not a proposal to Congress yet - just a potential future idea.
    Now, could this be expanded on to cause problems in the future? Yes, of course. But just because something may have the potential of being expanded upon later and misused does not mean never do it. New technologies bring new areas of illegal activity that current laws cannot naturally handle. A free society needs to remain vigilant against the natural tendency of government to seek more control, and make sure those new laws aren't misused.

  22. fetuses gone wild by vistic · · Score: 2, Funny
    "more widespread, more graphic, more sadistic, using younger and younger children."

    Hey... I've got some HOT sonograms of NAKED PRE-natal fetuses... interested?

    They're WET in amniotic fluid and there's no telling what these NAUGHTY fetuses will do when they think no one's watching!
    1. Re:fetuses gone wild by Winlin · · Score: 1

      Got any hot zygote pics? cause after those cells start multiplying..well that's way too old.

    2. Re:fetuses gone wild by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's nothing. I've got shots of embryos doing what only they can do.

      That's right... twins, baby, twins!

  23. Another Boogeyman by miyako · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The thing about this is, these figures are absolutely empty. The "1 in 5 children is solicited online" thing gets me particularly. I would really like to know what they count a solicited. Anyone who uses AIM or Yahoo chatrooms (can't speak for the MSN chatrooms, but I would assume it is common in those as well) and to a lesser extent, IRC has experienced bots that automatically solicit people- usually trying to trick people into pay porn sites or to the peronsons personal escort service. If they are counting this as solicitation (and it seems the most likely way that they would get the 1-in-5 figure) then it's really not nearly as much of a danger as they are making it seem. If a parent has properly configured their network connection, the vast majority of sites that spambots in chatrooms would send children to would be blocked anyway; and it's not as though there is an actual person on the other end who is actively trying to lure a child into meeting for a sexual encounter.
    Furthermore, I wonder if they cound instances of flirtation where the adult ceases communication with the child if/when they become away that the person with whom they are talking is a child. Once again, this isn't a case of an adult actively conspiring to lure a child to them in order to commit sexual acts- but both instances could be used to support the 1-in-5 statistic.
    One thing that gets me too is, they are talking about cracking down on child porn, but in my experience this isn't really the case. Last year someone on a newsgroup I was on (this wasn't a pornographic newsgroup, but the person who posted it was someone I had seen post before, I can only assume that they must have posted to the wrong newsgroup or something) posted bunch of child porn photos. When I saw it I got all of the relevant information I could gather and called the local FBI office, and the local police department. Neither group even seemed interested in my call. The FBI told me to contact my ISP, my ISP told me to contact the local police, local police told me to contact the FBI- and after a day on the phone getting the runaround I ended up just posting the information I had to a child abuse pervention website and hoping that they could find the right people to talk to catch the guy.
    No, instead of taking information that someone was trying to give them to catch a child pornographer, they want to log everyone's online activity. The thing is, logging all of that activity will do nothing to help catch child pornography. The amount of data would be such that it would still require someone to find and report the activity- and if someone can find it and report it, then there should be enough information already to catch the person.
    This leads me to believe that the interest in logging all of this is in no way related to catching child pornographers. Instead it seems like the neo-cons are doing what they do best- brewing up an invisible boogeyman and using the threat of this boogeyman in order abridge the rights and privacy of the citizens. After all, if anyone tries to stand up against it, then they "are just a prevert who doesn't care about exploited children being used for sex and porography"- the same as with the patriot act and anyone who opposed it being "a commie american hating terrorist".
    Of course, most people on slashdot probably already realize this, and other people aren't going to bother signing onto slashdot to read this post- let alone rethink their position based on it.

    --
    Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
    1. Re:Another Boogeyman by radicalskeptic · · Score: 2, Informative

      The "1 in 5 children solicited online" statistic comes from a study done in Feb 2001. And actually if you read the study (which the government is probably hoping we won't), it turns out HALF the solicitations were from other children, NOT adults. Kinda changes the whole context, doesn't it?

      The report found that almost half of the solicitations reported did not come from an adult, but from other children: 'juveniles made 48 percent of the overall and 48 percent of the aggressive solicitations.' (9) The report also points out that only 'one quarter of young people who reported these incidents were distressed by them' (8). 'Sexual solicitations' between children in an internet chat room are the online equivalent of adolescent fumbling, a world away from the threat of paedophilia.

      Article here, and more commentary here.

      --
      WARNING: If accidentally read, induce vomiting.
    2. Re:Another Boogeyman by barefootgenius · · Score: 1
      "Neither group even seemed interested in my call. The FBI told me to contact my ISP, my ISP told me to contact the local police, local police told me to contact the FBI- and after a day on the phone getting the runaround I ended up just posting the information I had to a child abuse pervention website and hoping that they could find the right people to talk to catch the guy."


      I agree. I have had the same problem in New Zealand when an online friend had run into an msn chatroom that seemed to be a meeting point for parents swapping children for sex. We got the times, screen names, chatroom name, screenshots, and screenshots/copies of the conversations and then I rang the police. They referred me to the detective in charge who was unavailable. The next day I took all the data to the local station and filed a report. Two weeks later, a detective called. It turned out that he was the only person working on online child molestation in the entire Police force and was snowed under. Nothing, as far as I know, was ever done.

      --
      /. bug #926803 - Why I can post.
    3. Re:Another Boogeyman by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't forget 72% of statisiticss are made up on the spot.

      Also, how many 'childern' are actually childern IRL and how many childern say they're under 16/18/21/etc when they are online?

    4. Re:Another Boogeyman by Gleemonex · · Score: 1
      When I saw it I got all of the relevant information I could gather and called the local FBI office, and the local police department. Neither group even seemed interested in my call. The FBI told me to contact my ISP, my ISP told me to contact the local police, local police told me to contact the FBI

      A buddy of mine once got a 3-way runaround (for a far less serious issue than yours, of course), and solved it by calling all three parties on a conference call and having them duke it out in full view.

      It gets pretty hard to bullshit about someone when you're speaking directly to that someone.

      -Glee
      --
      Many a true word hath been spoken in jest -- mod funny posts "Informative".
    5. Re:Another Boogeyman by DoctorFrog · · Score: 1
      The "1 in 5 children is solicited online" thing gets me particularly. I would really like to know what they count a solicited.



      Here's a pdf of the report, have at it:


      http://www.missingkids.com/en_US/publications/NC62 .pdf

    6. Re:Another Boogeyman by BalanceOfJudgement · · Score: 1

      The last time I was in a chat room was over 4 years ago. One of the reasons for that is I got sick and tired of people coming in saying they were a hot "17wf" when it was obvious from their conversation that they were some stupid 22 year old college frat boy trying to give people a rise (even followed a few of them around chat rooms to see all the different identities they'd give themselves).

      I just figured, if I can't interact honestly with people [online], why interact with them at all. I'm something of a draconian at heart in that regard. If someone is going to bullshit me, I won't even bother to call them out on it; I'll just walk away. My time is too precious for someone else to waste it.

      Now ME wasting it on the other hand...

      --

      We are the fire that lights our world.. and we are the fire that consumes it.
  24. The two aren't mutually exclusive by Infonaut · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Is anyone actually dumb enough to think this is about child porn?

    I am!

    This is about the Bush Administration wanting to satisfy its socially conservative base. They don't like child pornography, and they'd like to eliminate it. I see no duplicity in their goal of eliminating child pornography. Their preferred means of fighting child porn simply dovetails with their overall approach to "securing the homeland" from domestic and foreign threats of all kinds. Whenever possible, obtain maximum lattitude to conduct surveillance on Americans and foreign nationals.

    The Administration's desire to fight child porn with more surveillance helps them satisfy Bush's core constituents, while furthering his goal of broadening the Executive Branch's surveillance capabilities.

    --
    Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
    1. Re:The two aren't mutually exclusive by Mistshadow2k4 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How many people are online? How many of those are surfing for child porn? A depressingly larger number than we'd want, yes, but compared to how mnay people aren't? So they're going to keep records of everyone's activities online and sift through all of that to find the people surfing kiddie porn? Wouldn't it be easier and faster to surf the internet for kiddie porn and bust the sites that are spreading it? Hey, maybe we could have the FBI do that.... no wait, theye're too busy working for the RIAA and the MPAA instead investigating dangerous crimes like they used to.

      This is pure BS. If they really wanted to do something about child pornography, they have the power to do so without spying on every citizen in the US. Like you say, they want to satisfy their socially conservative base, but they're just outrightedly lying about what they want to do this for. They want more power to abuse.

      --
      I dream of a better world... one in which chickens can cross roads without their motives being questioned.
    2. Re:The two aren't mutually exclusive by zenthax · · Score: 1

      Some how i doubt spying on citzens would satisfy any citzen base? Hence why it is masked as child porn...though they with out a doubt want more power to abuse, I say we get some of that power back. If only they didn't castrate the 2nd admendment...

    3. Re:The two aren't mutually exclusive by woolio · · Score: 1

      So they're going to keep records of everyone's activities online and sift through all of that to find the people surfing kiddie porn?

      Of course not.... Haven't you noticed that "data mining" is a hot Computer Engineering research topic? perhaps only second to Wireless Sensor Networks.

      THEY know what they are doing....

    4. Re:The two aren't mutually exclusive by mpe · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't it be easier and faster to surf the internet for kiddie porn and bust the sites that are spreading it? Hey, maybe we could have the FBI do that.... no wait, theye're too busy working for the RIAA and the MPAA instead investigating dangerous crimes like they used to.

      You probably wouldn't want want the DHS doing it either.
      Maybe set up a special agency to do it, but to save costs just jail anyone who applies for a job there.

    5. Re:The two aren't mutually exclusive by Xyrus · · Score: 1

      Even better, how many people online are actually terrorists? How many people in the world are terrorists?

      Our laws are funny, in a sad sick twisted kinda way. I'm always amazed that our freedom and ideals aren't being taken away by a foriegn power, but by our own damn people.

      Perhaps future generations will think back on what the United States was, laugh nervously, then change the subject.

      ~X~

      --
      ~X~
    6. Re:The two aren't mutually exclusive by garylian · · Score: 1

      Considering the fact that a large portion of underage nude modeling comes from former Soviet countries, how exactly is the U.S. government going to shut them down? We can't control drugs in our own country, but we are going to knock out kiddie porn?

      Also, what are they defining as child porn? I still remember the one woman here in Texas that was arrested, along with her husband, for taking a picture of her play-nursing her 1yr old and 16yrs old are probably crossing a line that shouldn't be crossed. But, there is no international law that we can all fix our hat onto, and until there is, I say that nothing will happen that is effective.

      Besides, go into Usenet in almost any binary group, and someone will eventually spam some underage pictures to it advertising some website that we still haven't taken off the net. It's hard to take down a server in Russia or whatever that the country's mafia is running, when you don't have jurisdiction, and that country's government is afraid of them.

      George "Orwell" Bush is with us. Be very afraid!

  25. where is the evidence? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    To my knowledge there is no data suggesting that child pornography is getting "increasingly more vulgar", "more widespreads", "more this and that and this and that...". I wonder what drives a man in such a position to make these sorts of claims without any supporting evidence. Perhaps an agenda of expanding anti-democratic surveilance even further?

    1. Re:where is the evidence? by ZachPruckowski · · Score: 1

      Yeah, but to refute that, you'd have to do some kind of study. I mean, the fact is that if you're going to jump and say someone in authority is wrong, you need some sort of proof, even if they're equally empty handed (which isn't exactly fair, but that's how it is). Considering you can't confess to seeing child porn in the past or presently, you certainly can't draw a comparison. Neither can I (because I'm not a pedophile), and neither can anyone else, except a pedophile, who certainly can't be trusted to be non-biased.

      Great thing to claim, something that no one can easily refute.

    2. Re:where is the evidence? by Zelucifer · · Score: 1

      The thing though is, if child porn is indeed becoming more graphic, violent, and subversive (I'm not sure how it could involve younger kids... unless they really are talking about zygotes), shouldn't there have been significantly increased rates of child sexual abuse reported? Wouldn't everyone remember some kid on the news who was rescued after being in a pornographic video at the age of 6? Or do they censor the kids faces, so that they have some privacy after being abused in these videos? I call Shenanigans on "Mr" Gonzales as I'm sure almost everyone on here does.

      --
      The corner of a round room
    3. Re:where is the evidence? by Wilson_6500 · · Score: 1

      Considering you can't confess to seeing child porn in the past or presently, you certainly can't draw a comparison. Neither can I (because I'm not a pedophile), and neither can anyone else, except a pedophile, who certainly can't be trusted to be non-biased.

      Didn't the AG admit to seeing child porn? Does that make him a pedophile? What if a guy was employed by an ISP to look at every picture passing through their pipe and he saw child porn on a daily basis? Does that make him a pedophile?

    4. Re:where is the evidence? by TooMuchEspressoGuy · · Score: 1
      I mean, the fact is that if you're going to jump and say someone in authority is wrong, you need some sort of proof, even if they're equally empty handed (which isn't exactly fair, but that's how it is).

      Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. You just demonstrated the fallacy of appeal to authority.

      The fact is that it's not the authority itself, but the evidence, data, and conclusions which that authority brings to the table, that makes what an authority has to say important.

      To draw an example: Say that your friend is a meteorologist. One day, he says to you that it's going to rain kumquats tomorrow. When you ask him why, he says that he doesn't have anything to bring to the table, but he's the Authority, so he knows. Does that mean that kumquats are going to start pouring out of the sky tomorrow?

      --
      Many Bothans died to bring you this sig.
    5. Re:where is the evidence? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      I mean, the fact is that if you're going to jump and say someone in authority is wrong, you need some sort of proof, even if they're equally empty handed (which isn't exactly fair, but that's how it is).


      Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. You just demonstrated the fallacy of appeal to authority.


      No, he just demonstrated how public "debate" works.
    6. Re:where is the evidence? by ZachPruckowski · · Score: 1

      Wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong. You just demonstrated the fallacy of appeal to authority.

      The fact is that it's not the authority itself, but the evidence, data, and conclusions which that authority brings to the table, that makes what an authority has to say important.


      No, I agree with you that that's how it should be, but that's not how it is with the US government. I wish they would have to back their statements up, but they have set everything up so it looks like they're talking fact and anyone who challenges them is a pedophile/communist/terrorist/pirate (depending on the issue), which is regrettable, but that's how it seems to be going right now. I hope it changes.

    7. Re:where is the evidence? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, since th term Pedophile refers to what someone finds sexually attractive, i'm guessing that no, seeing it doesn't make you a pedophile.

      Especially when you consider that some 78% of people in one study were sexually aroused by child porn, so by far most pedophiles don't view child porn anyway.

    8. Re:where is the evidence? by Hairy1 · · Score: 1

      You can't prove a negitive. If there is a statement that child porn is increasingly using younger children, and you are using this as a basis for a new law, you *better* come prepared with some evidence to back up your position. Even then you better make sure the new bill is also targetting the crime at issue.

      The problem here is that keeping these records is only incedentally useful, and may not even be admissible in a court of law, since you can't prove that they user of the account is also the computer operator. There may also be more than one user of a computer, and it may have been hijacked.

  26. Re:ATTENTION by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I'd like to propose a new mod category for the above: "-1, Foul"

  27. No. by Inoshiro · · Score: 1

    Anyone who puts "FP" or any permutation of "first post" in their otherwise useful post should be moderated down, because it's stupid *.

    * Except for posts where people put it in to illustrate how stupid it is.

    --
    --
    Internet Explorer (n): Another bug -- that is, a feature that can't be turned off -- in Windows.
  28. Some months ago by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    some troll posted a link to a site with some suspiciously young girls with a misleading link text here. Consider now that someone who is politically active and displeases bushco got trolled and clicked it...

  29. Except on Second Life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Where you can have sex with child avatars. Someone should clean that place up.

    1. Re:Except on Second Life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Has any child been exploited in direct connection to the creation or use of those avatars?

      If yes, then provide evidence, please. If no, then STFU; nobody's done anything wrong.

      You know, there's a reason why written, drawn, or animated material depicting acts that would be illegal to do in real life are, in fact, protected speech.

    2. Re:Except on Second Life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Second Life allows children to easily access their system through cell phone authorization, which many children have and most have access to. I have seen many of them openly admit that they are less than 18 years old.

      Second Life is full of BSDM, fetishes, fully equipped furries, bestiality, prostitution, etc. Sooner or later, some parent is going to walk in and find their 14 year old playing a game where he has a gag ball in his mouth, getting gang raped by a bunch of male furries, for the equivalent of $3.

      Full nudity is common even in PG areas. It would hard to argue that children haven't been exposed to these things. So even if the child avatars aren't problem directly, they promote a behavior that will sooner or later escalate in real life. By allowing this activity, sooner or later people start to think "it must be okay".

    3. Re:Except on Second Life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except for the kid part, that's a really good idea. Hunting club for furry's. What they do with their prey is up to them. :)_

      But yeah, the kid's begging for money in the casino's need to go.

  30. Notice to all trollhunters. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    feel free to contact the author at sia.animenfo.com for questions.

    1. Re:Notice to all trollhunters. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      more like talk to the author at this address: ip70-177-61-97.br.br.cox.net

  31. Not the internet's fault by urinetrouble · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think child ponography is just part of a huger social problem affecting most of the world. Pedophilia stems from somewhere, right? I'm going to point my finger at our culture. It's kind of fucked up how we can condone stuff like letting elemetary schoolgirls to dress up like hoochies, "Child Beauty" pagents, and the like. If you can't pull your own head out of your ass and see what's going on right around you, look at Japan. General society out there basically tolerates a lot of weird shit that you'd normally only see on 4chan.org's /b/ imageboard, such as lolicon art.

    If the government was actually interested in curbing child pornography, they'd attack it at the source: Fucked up society. It may sound a little hard to reach a proactive solution, but really, the solutions aren't that hard seeing how easy it is to veil larger, equally scary ulterior motives under getting rid of something that everyone accepts as evil without the majority of the general public batting an eyelid.

    So, even if these measures that they're planning don't mean to harm people's personal freedoms all 1984 style, they're just giving a reactive and therefore non-effective solution to just a small part of a much, much broader problem.

    1. Re:Not the internet's fault by Chowderbags · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But history doesn't support that there's a problem with society. It's not uncommon throughout all of human history for 13-15 year old girls to get married (with all the nighttime activities that entail). To say that the age of 18 is the age of "sexual maturity" is bullshit. Biologicly, most females are able to get pregnant in the mid teens, yet mental maturity for the average human is reached in the mid 20s. So 18 means... what? It's an arbitry time, with no actual meaning. Why is it considered illegal to photograph a nude 17 year old girl's breasts, yet on her 18th birthday, she can be in hardcore porn? Yes, I understand the point of a limit, but why 18 instead of 17? Why not let a 16 year old masturbate on camera? Why the sudden cuttoff where it's socially unacceptable to find a woman attractive?

    2. Re:Not the internet's fault by urinetrouble · · Score: 0

      Because I'm not just talking about nude teens, I'm talking about jacking off to pictures of prepubescents as well. The way youth is represented sexually in our society is kinda messed up, and I'm not just talking about 13-18 year olds.

    3. Re:Not the internet's fault by mpe · · Score: 2, Interesting

      But history doesn't support that there's a problem with society. It's not uncommon throughout all of human history for 13-15 year old girls to get married (with all the nighttime activities that entail). To say that the age of 18 is the age of "sexual maturity" is bullshit. Biologicly, most females are able to get pregnant in the mid teens,

      Historically the age of sexual maturity has been falling in many societies at the same time that the age of "legal adulthood" has been rising. Thus having a group of sexually mature people who are legally "children" is something which has only happened fairly recently.

      yet mental maturity for the average human is reached in the mid 20s. So 18 means... what? It's an arbitry time, with no actual meaning.

      A simple comparison of ages of consent will show exactly this...

    4. Re:Not the internet's fault by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The government IS doing what they have to. This of course won't STOP a pedo's desire though, it's the government's job to EXPOSE the sick people and it's OUR job to make their lives hell. I hate pedo's just as much as any RED BLOODED AMERICAN and if I heard that someone near me was a PEDOPHILE, well, I wouldn't STOP until he OFFED HIMSELF or MOVED TO ANOTHER COUNTRY. SIMPLE AS THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    5. Re:Not the internet's fault by Guppy06 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "If the government was actually interested in curbing child pornography, they'd attack it at the source: Fucked up society."

      You're forgetting that democratic governments tend to reflect the society in question. The only way things are going to change is if people decied to change themselves.

    6. Re:Not the internet's fault by urinetrouble · · Score: 1

      What, so it can't go the other way in the form of social programs, education, and other such fun? I mean, I know that it's incredibly naive and idealistic to say that those would completely eradicate the problem by themselves, but the government could at least take some initiative.

    7. Re:Not the internet's fault by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  32. Mod parent down. by PabloJones · · Score: 1

    Insightful? By that logic, it means a higher up in your business/organization/whatever is a pedophile, then so are 50% of the others.

    1. Re:Mod parent down. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And you're implicitly defending them.

      You sicken me.

    2. Re:Mod parent down. by PabloJones · · Score: 1

      So you advocate guilty until proven innocent? You sicken me.

  33. WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I thought the Supreme Court had already ruled that cartoons are not able to be consider child pornography. How the hell can the judge sit by and allow the case to go forward with that precedent already mandated?

    What the hell is wrong with our country? Cartoons are not reality. Fire the guy and maybe give him one or two years for theft of services (using his work computer for non-work, and that depends specifically on his work contract). But the criminal charges based on his looking at, receiving, soliciting, possessing, or viewing cartoon depictions of anything are fucking bullshit.

    1. Re:WTF? by cowscows · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, it's like the AG said, the internet is creating a feedback loop where younger and younger children are exploited. Since there's a lower limit to how young a child can be, those sickos have gone on to fantasize about children that aren't even born yet! That's why they're using cartoons, because they can't take pictures of people who haven't even reached the stage of fertilized egg yet. They're being victimized years before they'll even exist. Think of the future children!

      --

      One time I threw a brick at a duck.

    2. Re:WTF? by Toba82 · · Score: 1

      Feedback loop? Um, does that theory even apply to what we're talking about?

      --
      I pretend to know more than I really do by mooching off google and wikipedia.
    3. Re:WTF? by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 1

      Keep in mind that was the old Supreme Court, before two Bush cronies were affirmed, so the ruling on the same thing might not get the same ruling now. Also, generally, people that oppose a given ruling try again and again to get it reversed, changing their tactics slightly every time in the hope that something sticks. This is a given, no matter what agenda or political affiliation there is.

    4. Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So are we in posession of child pornography whenever we decide to shake the dew off the ol' lily?

      Think of the billions of innocent DNA strands!

  34. I do not see what is so wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    in my home country of thailand little girl is sent to do the sex act many times for rich fat white americano so that her parents can eat

    is capitalism in purerest form. who are you to say this is wrong?!

    1. Re:I do not see what is so wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rich fat white American? Excuse me sir, but Michael Jackson is skinny, not fat.

    2. Re:I do not see what is so wrong by Jackie_Chan_Fan · · Score: 1

      Thank you sir for entertaining our Senators, Congressmen, President and his cabinet. Sincerely, Karl Rove.

    3. Re:I do not see what is so wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      YHBT you worthless nerds.

      You people are so fucked up

    4. Re:I do not see what is so wrong by KarmaMB84 · · Score: 1

      They said little girl...

  35. Re:ATTENTION by Comen · · Score: 1

    I would say you gots BALLS, for even putting that shit on the net at all.
    But it is more like stupid, let me know when the cops come knocking at the door.

  36. It's called "good case -- bad law" by darkonc · · Score: 1
    That's the term that's bandied about in the legal profession... It's the kind of case which might just make a judge want to do away with those pesky things known as civil liberties and constitutional rights.

    Sometimes a judge takes the bait. Sometimes they can be talked out of it. In any case, the full cost of such a decision may be felt months, years or even decades later.

    In any case, the real impediment to persecuting(sic) child pornsters is resource allocation, not a lack of civil liberties and privacy. Is anyone actually dumb enough to think this is about child porn?

    --
    Sometimes boldness is in fashion. Sometimes only the brave will be bold.
  37. The constitution is a law, too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Article: The proposals have been sent to Congress and include new laws

    You: As long as the ISPs themselves report the violations of EXISTING law

    I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about, but it isn't this article. You're talking about expanding on things to cause problems in future. We're talking about the problem of things being expanded on right now, such that laws are being changed with the stated goal of going after child pornography but with the actual goal of going after everybody else, you know, those of us who aren't child pornographers. Unfortunately the current administration has done enough "strange" things that we no longer trust them when they say that child pornography is what this is about.

  38. Perv-levels by Supurcell · · Score: 1
    But, dear god forbid some of the parents actually pay attention to what their kids are doing....
    Wouldn't it be less perverted for a child to look at pornographic images of someone who is his own age than an adult looking at those same images?
    1. Re:Perv-levels by ZiakII · · Score: 1

      Wouldn't it be less perverted for a child to look at pornographic images of someone who is his own age than an adult looking at those same images?

      TBH... I'm not sure how to anwser that I was thinking about this eariler, When I look at porn, its usally teen's 19-23, but I'm 20 years of age. Does that mean when I'm 40 I'm going to be looking at mature porn, or will I actually not have the need because I will be hopefully married? (cue the nerd jokes) What are some other slashdoters oppion?

    2. Re:Perv-levels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Does that mean when I'm 40 I'm going to be looking at mature porn, or will I actually not have the need because I will be hopefully married?

      I'm not following you. What does being married have to do with not looking at porn?

    3. Re:Perv-levels by ZiakII · · Score: 1

      I'm not following you. What does being married have to do with not looking at porn?

      Well right now when, I have a girlfriend (who I activlly have sex with)I don't look at porn...but /shrug

    4. Re:Perv-levels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, doesn't matter to me if they're 19 or 79, as long as they're gagging on those tentacles, it's all good.

    5. Re:Perv-levels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Would it be child pornography if a minor were to voluntarily take naked photographs of themselves? If not, imagine the fun that could be had under this law if that minor were to send those photographs to the President, the VP, members of the FBI, members of Congress ... and if they informed the media that they were doing so.

    6. Re:Perv-levels by Schraegstrichpunkt · · Score: 1
      I have a girlfriend (who I activlly have sex with)

      How else does a man have sex? Passively?

    7. Re:Perv-levels by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Would it be child pornography if a minor were to voluntarily take naked photographs of themselves?

      Actually it can be. Also since laws often arn't though through very well this can still be the case in situations where it is perfectly lawful for said "minor" to have sex.

      If not, imagine the fun that could be had under this law if that minor were to send those photographs to the President, the VP, members of the FBI, members of Congress ... and if they informed the media that they were doing so.

      Wouldn't work, he or she would just find themselves arrested for distributing child pornography. The recipient(s) would only be at risk if they were joe/jane average...

    8. Re:Perv-levels by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No, when you are 40 and married, your need to look at porn will be infinitely greater than it is now.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    9. Re:Perv-levels by Eivind · · Score: 1
      In principle, yes. Child-porn is typically (varies somewhat with jurisdiction but the below is true for Norway and most of it probably also for the us) defined along the lines of "material depicting a minor in a pornographic way".

      There's often no exceptions for type of material, age of the owner/producer or if the material is fictious or real.

      All of the below migth very well qualify as child-porn and land you for decades in jail; (please note that the age of consent is 16 in Norway, you still qualify as a minor until you're 18 though)

      • You write down that fantasy you have about the girl in your class in your diary, you're both 17. Posession of that diary may now be (depending on if the text is deemded "pornographic") illegal.
      • You go nude-swimming with your 16 year old girlfriend.
      • You download a movie with a girl that's dressed up to look/act as if she's 16. In actual fact she's 20, and it says so in the ending-credits.
      • You have sex with your girlfriend, you're both 17. Perfectly legal. The next weekend you write her a letter, talking of what you did, and how nice you found it. Posession of that letter is a crime. She better burn it quick!
      • You are 16. You take a photo of yourself masturbating and keep it, securely locked away in a box under your bed. Posession is illegal.
      • As a hobby, you draw hentai-cartoons with manga-girls doing pornographic things to tentacled things. You're 15. The girls in the drawing appears to be around 17. You could still get convicted for posession of child-porn.

      It's insane.

      Nobody has anything against going after the real abuses. Adults taking advantage of children.

      But I have to say something has to be *SERIOUSLY* fucked up when you can, as a 16 year old legally fuck your girlfriend, but you CANNOT legally write in your diary about the same activity.

  39. Re:Where is it? by techno-vampire · · Score: 1
    Where is all this mystical child porn anyway? I'm online all day and I've never seen any.

    You don't want to. I've stumbled on some a few times (and updated my hosts file to make sure I never reach those sites again) and believe me, you really, really don't want to!

    --
    Good, inexpensive web hosting
  40. Re:* by zippthorne · · Score: 0, Redundant

    No that's become cliché as well and is just as stupid. In fact, it's probably MORE stupid at this point in time, since anyone capable of recognizing the FP cliché should be capable of recognizing the FP cliché cliché

    --
    Can you be Even More Awesome?!
  41. What's funny to me by mcc · · Score: 1

    People seem to be really, really interested in thinking of the children so long as the children are still, y'know, children. But almost nobody seems to be thinking about making sure that we are leaving behind an America such that by the time the children grow up, it will still be a place worth living...

  42. Don't forget... by hackwrench · · Score: 1

    Why won't you all stop beating your wives for crying out loud!

  43. Why hasn't anyone been arrested for The Godfather? by Hamster+Lover · · Score: 4, Insightful

    If someone can be convicted for viewing ficticious criminal activity against a child why has the same not happened to those that produce and consume other fictional criminal activity, like The Godfather or even the movie Hostel, which I found stomach turning? It is nothing more than thought crime.

  44. oppression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.

            H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

    1. Re:oppression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      LOL. What a bunch of wacky paranoid losers. Yes, keeping children from being exploited for people's sick sexual fantasies is a plot by Bush to take away your privacy rights. Grow up retards.

    2. Re:oppression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. . . . Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money-power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed. Unknown, Often attributed to Abraham Lincoln

    3. Re:oppression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I really, really despise the Bush administration. But the above poster is absolutely right. I've seen a number of posts on here saying that child pornography isn't the real motive behind the proposed laws. But the child porn is really out there, and it's every bit as vile as the AG says. I don't believe his proposed solutions are the right ones, but something needs to be done as soon as possible. Making a law saying that ISPs HAVE to report child pornography when they find it on their networks is a completely reasonable step, and justifiable in legal terms. You can't get away with telling a shrink that you're abusing children, there's a legal exemption from the non-disclosure laws that can save childrens' minds and lives. Downloading child pornography on an ISP's network, should it come to the attention of an ISP, should be reported with much the same justification. Don't forget that the ultimate purpose is to save children from having terrible things done to them in the name of a pervert's fantasies or a criminal organization's bottom line.

    4. Re:oppression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your comment would make sense, if there was any provision in this proposal to actually prevent child abuse. But there's not. The best, the absolute best this law can do is pickup people who download child porn. It doesn't even make any attempt to catch the people creating the child porn, let alone preventing the creation of it (which is where the actual abuse is). And even if ISPs did keep these records, how the hell are they going to process it? Trying to pick child porn requests out of the logfile of the entire internet is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Worse, it's like trying to find a particular piece of hay in a haystack. In a haystack the size of the farmhouse. All this law is going to do is cost ISPs more in data retention, and make it easier to dig up dirt on someone when you need to discredit them by looking up their specific records.

    5. Re:oppression by KarmaMB84 · · Score: 1

      Yeah, because they have a great track record of limiting themselves to the proposed purpose...like PATRIOT.

    6. Re:oppression by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Proper response to the "So you support child molesters?" accusation:

      "No, I support defending the Constitution of the USA. Are you calling the founding fathers pedophiles?"

    7. Re:oppression by BalanceOfJudgement · · Score: 1

      I would say the quote is most likely not attributed to Abraham Lincoln; it would have to have been said sometime after the 1886 California court ruling in the case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad that made corporations legally equal to individuals.

      http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Corporations/Kno wEnemy_ITT.html/

      That it was said so long ago and is more true now, though, should give one pause.. that someone saw it coming so long ago.

      --

      We are the fire that lights our world.. and we are the fire that consumes it.
  45. Re:Terrible idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A "child" is someone who isn't in a position to make an informed decision. You're just a sick fuck trying to justify your sickness.

  46. One wonders by mcc · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Where might one find voices or proposals which attempt to combat child pornography without encroaching on reasonable civil liberties or turning the internet into a police state? After all, I have no idea whether child pornography and predatory pedophilia is a problem which is getting better or worse with time-- but it surely is a real-world problem.

    Perhaps it would be easier to protect civil liberties from false choice fallacies if we could say something like "I am opposed to the Bush Administration child pornography plan, because I support this other, superior strategy for fighting child pornography instead".

    1. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      I have no idea whether child pornography and predatory pedophilia is a problem which is getting better or worse with time-- but it surely is a real-world problem

      No, it isn't. More children are harmed every year by ASPIRIN than are moslested by strangers. You can count the children molested and killed by strangers in the past few years on the fingers of one hand (there were 4). That's in the entire USA. The average is about 1.5 per year, contrast to the 9 kids hit by lightning and the 3 children killed by baseballs.

      Virtually all children who are molested are molested by their parents and step-parents, not by strangers on the internet.

    2. Re:One wonders by mcc · · Score: 3, Insightful

      No, it isn't. More children are harmed every year by ASPIRIN than are moslested by strangers. You can count the children molested and killed by strangers in the past few years on the fingers of one hand (there were 4)...

      I'm not entirely sure the ones that survive are the ones that got the better deal.

      Virtually all children who are molested are molested by their parents and step-parents, not by strangers on the internet.

      Okay. If you're right, let's concentrate on that then.

      If the real problem in protecting children from predators or child pornographers is family or acquaintences and not random scary internet people, how can we take steps to combat that problem without resorting to passing globally-invasive internet legislation just to make it look like we're doing something?

    3. Re:One wonders by sasami · · Score: 5, Informative

      You can count the children molested and killed by strangers in the past few years on the fingers of one hand (there were 4). That's in the entire USA. The average is about 1.5 per year, contrast to the 9 kids hit by lightning and the 3 children killed by baseballs.

      Citation, please. And "molested and killed" is unquestionably a poor metric, since I personally know two people who were molested, and not killed, by strangers. And I don't know very many people.

      And on top of that we can add in the figures for child sex trafficking, for which the US has allegedly become one of the largest markets.

      --
      Dum de dum.

      --
      Freedom is not the license to do what we like, it is the power to do what we ought.
    4. Re:One wonders by paeanblack · · Score: 2, Funny

      If the real problem in protecting children from predators or child pornographers is family or acquaintences and not random scary internet people, how can we take steps to combat that problem without resorting to passing globally-invasive internet legislation just to make it look like we're doing something?

      Government cameras in every household, duh.

    5. Re:One wonders by m0rph3us0 · · Score: 0

      molested AND killed, nor OR killed. read up on your boolean logic plz.

    6. Re:One wonders by themonkman · · Score: 3, Informative
      You could not be more wrong than you are right now. The statistic is true that at least 1 in 5 children are solicited in the US by total strangers on the internet. While your statistic is the number of those molested, and thus subsequently killed, the statistic of how many children have been molested by a single pedophile before he's caught is in the average of 50. That is not only based off of interrogations, but self admissions of the pedophiles themselves.

      Since this is the real statistic we are dealing with, there is obviously many children being not only molested by relatives, but by strangers whom groom them either IRL or over the internet, by adults in authority positions over them, and so on.

      To learn more about how bad the problem really is, you should go over to Perverted-Justice.com. They helped Riverside CA. police arrest 50 men in 1 night whom showed up to have sex with what they thought was a 12-14 year old child. The organization also can claim responsiblity for the successful convictions of 52 other predators caught within the last year.

    7. Re:One wonders by heelios · · Score: 1

      Telescreens would be most effective.

    8. Re:One wonders by Kadin2048 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Look, being solicited for sex is just part of being on the internet.

      Hell, I've been solicited for sex, and I'm not a child, and haven't been in quite a while (by any US legal definition), and I haven't done anything or gone anywhere that ought to cause anyone to think I'm interested.

      Being "solicited" isn't necessarily indicative of any criminal activity, since the person doing the soliciting doesn't necessarily have any idea that the person at the other end of the line is a minor; for your statistics to even have the least bit of meaning, they'd have to be restricted to people who knew (somehow) that the person at the other end of the connection was a minor, and STILL solicited them for sex of some sort. And I would argue that unless that sex was physical, no real crime was committed; any harm that you can do against another person over an internet connection which they are willfully participating in, is by its vary nature specious.

      I've also always been rather suspicious of these "sting" operations, but since law enforcement and the courts have apparently accepted them as valid, I guess it's far too late to argue the point.

      --
      "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
    9. Re:One wonders by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

      I swear to god, she told me she was 15!

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    10. Re:One wonders by atriusofbricia · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Is there any chance that a group which is frankly fanatical in their belief that the Internet, and the world in general, is filled with practically nothing but people wanting to hurt children, children, and the members of this group who are trying to "protect" children, might have a skewed view of reality on that subject?

      I assume, please correct me if I'm wrong, that you think that PJ.com is the greatest thing since sliced bread and that they perform a necessary and good service? Whether the problem is as bad as they like to claim or not, their methods have always bothered me. They are in reality nothing more than vigilantes using tactics that the police would likely not be able to use themselves.

      Furthermore, I've never liked the idea of arresting/prosecuting a person for a crime that didn't occur. These people are prosecuted for "soliciting" a "minor" that doesn't exist. Do we really want to live in a world where people are sent to jail for, in effect, thinking about a crime? The next time you think these "perverts" should be (insert nasty and horrible thing here) should we send you to jail for (insert nasty and horrible thing here)?

      Please, explain to me the difference between sending you to jail for not doing (insert nasty and horrible thing here) and some guy not soliciting a "minor"? In my mind sending someone to jail for soliciting a person pretending to be a minor because when they did the soliciting they thought it was a minor is no different then sending someone to jail for merely thinking about any other crime. They have a word for that kind of thing.

      Thoughtcrime

      --
      I was raised on the command line, bitch

      "Nemo me impune lacesset"

    11. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The statistic is true that at least 1 in 5 children are solicited in the US by total strangers on the internet.

      It might be interesting to see how this 1 in 5 breaks down by age. As well as the exact definition of "children" used, it isn't unknown for 18 and 19 year olds to be defined as "children".
      There's also the issue how many of these children might be "soliciting" or "chatting up" "total strangers".

    12. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It might be interesting to see how this 1 in 5 breaks down by age.

      As well as the breakdown of unmonitored internet usage by age. If the only kids with unmonitored usage are, say, 13 to 17, then 20% of that could be all of the 17-year-olds... and they're getting old enough to look after themselves.

    13. Re:One wonders by sasami · · Score: 0, Troll

      molested AND killed, nor OR killed. read up on your boolean logic plz.

      The OP claims "molested AND killed" is rare.
      I claim "molested AND NOT killed" is common.
      You bring up "molested OR killed," which is simply nonsensical.

      --
      Dum de dum.

      --
      Freedom is not the license to do what we like, it is the power to do what we ought.
    14. Re:One wonders by jemenake · · Score: 1
      Where might one find voices or proposals which attempt to combat child pornography without encroaching on reasonable civil liberties or turning the internet into a police state?
      I think a good start would be to follow the money and not the browsers. Although he's breaking the law, I don't see how some dude getting some kiddie porn on a P2P network for free is contributing to the further injury of children. Is the dude sick? Sure. But I don't see how he's making the problem worse (where the problem, the thing we're really trying to reduce, is the victimization of children). However, if somebody else is willing to pay for some... then they are creating a market, an incentive for others to go out and find some new victims (or to further victimize their current ones). It's analogous to the argument that we could eliminate spam if we just started lynching the people who respond to spam. :)

      That's why I just don't buy this BS where the administration is trying to get the search engines to divulge who's searching for things like "sex". This "driftnetting" approach is going to net so many people who aren't "the problem". On the other hand, it should be much easier to find the suppliers and to find out who's been sending them money... and I think more of your leads are going to lead to the real offenders.

      Y'know, this is one case where I kinda think the gov't needs to take a page from the RIAA playbook. In fact, why doesn't Congress just grant the RIAA the copyright to all kiddie porn. THEN, we'll see a crackdown. :)
    15. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How about this: more programs in elementary school about what a "wrong touch" is, and that sometimes not even your parents / teacher / church members / doctors should do certain kinds of touches, even if parents or doctors might have to touch certain areas. We should be educating children about the rights they have over their own bodies.

      Unfortunately, bring up the idea of telling 2nd-graders about sex organs (even if you aren't talking about sex in any way), and some parents are going to freak the hell out.

      It's been hard enough this century to get decent education about safe sex into high schools.

      Some of the reason we have so many problems in this country is that it's "socially inapproriate" to talk about some sexual topics, in fact, most of them. If it wasn't such a big deal if kids said things like "my penis itches" in public, then maybe kids wouldn't be afraid to say things like "daddy touched my penis funny" to their teacher, even if daddy threatens them.

      Education should almost always be the first step in trying to fix any social problem. You can't just turn the country into a police state or throw everybody in jail in order to "fix" a social problem. Social problems are things that are wrong with society; they're things wrong with people's minds. Supervision and lock-up aren't the most effective tools for repairing damaged psychologies.

      And don't doubt children's abilities to protect themselves (but don't DEPEND on those abilities.. it's still the adults' job to fulfill some sort of guardian role, even if we teach kids how to take better care of themselves, too).

    16. Re:One wonders by rxmd · · Score: 0, Troll
      molested AND killed, nor OR killed. read up on your boolean logic plz.
      That makes even less sense. As per your OR statement, you claim that there are only 1.5 children per year in the USA who are either molested by strangers, or killed by strangers, or both? I can't believe that. Please provide a reference.

      Note, also, that being killed by a baseball should really qualify as being killed by a stranger. Your metrics are all screwed up.

      --
      As a state gets corrupt, its laws multiply; the most corrupt states have the most numerous laws. (Tacitus, Annales 3:27)
    17. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      The vast majority of children molested rarely make it into the statistics. The stigma associated with it is still too great. I feel that any move to ensure that child pornographers and their consumers are identified and prosecuted is worthwhile. I think that any campaign to identify and arrest those sort of scum would be better served by explaining to people what child molesters are like and the damage they do to the children. It is one of the many crimes where the victim gets life - while the perpetrator gets 5-10 years and then gets let out to re-offend.

    18. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even if the guy watching child porn got it off some P2P network for free, it still creates demand, which in turn will cause more children to be hurt. I'm not sure that the majority of child-molesters who post their sexual encounters with children on the web do it for profit. They probably do it because they find it even more pleasurable if they can share their experience with other pervs.
      Since they are mostly private citizens who do it for 'fun', prosecuting their 'customers' (poor word-choice here, since they don't pay anything) might very well prove successful in reducing the amount of children who are exploited.

      I sincerely believe that you have to be a real nutjob to imagine that EVERYTHING the government does is done solely (or at least primarily) to infringe on your civil liberties.
      If they want to prosecute pervs/terrorists/you name it, that's OK with me and I'm more than willing to give them the tools to do so.
      Anyway, even if some police guy decided to listen to my private conversations, they probably wouldn't hear anything interesting (not that I'd condone such illegal activities... it's just that I got nothing to hide).

    19. Re:One wonders by Bin+Naden · · Score: 1

      Virtually all children who are molested are molested by their parents and step-parents, not by strangers on the internet.

      You forgot about catholic priests.

      --
      There should be a "-1:Groupthink"
    20. Re:One wonders by Flendon · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Please, explain to me the difference between sending you to jail for not doing (insert nasty and horrible thing here) and some guy not soliciting a "minor"? In my mind sending someone to jail for soliciting a person pretending to be a minor because when they did the soliciting they thought it was a minor is no different then sending someone to jail for merely thinking about any other crime. They have a word for that kind of thing.

      Thoughtcrime


      In the US it is a crime to walk into a bank with a gun, but it is not a crime to stand outside of a bank with a gun. So by your logic, if a man walks up to the door of a bank with a gun in his hand and a policeman sees him he should not be arrested for attempted armed robbery? The policeman should wait until the man with the gun actually says, "give me the money", and takes hostages before trying to arrest him? From the description given in the above posts these are people who solicited for sex and then showed up at this "minor's" house. My hypothetical bank robber didn't think about robbing a bank, many people do that, he actually bought a gun and went to the bank with it fully loaded. The perverts described above didn't think about having sex with a child, they went to the child's house after having already solicited them for sex. This is the difference between thoughtcrime and an attempted crime. Remember simply showing up at a kids house by itself is not enough for a conviction, these men or women would have had to at some point indicated that they had the intent of having sex or sexual contact with the "minor".

      --
      chown -R us ./base
    21. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      if a man walks up to the door of a bank with a gun in his hand and a policeman sees him he should not be arrested for attempted armed robbery?

      How do you know he's walking up to the bank? Maybe he's walking by the bank? Maybe he'll realize he's carrying the gun and go put it back in the car?

      The policeman should wait until the man with the gun actually says, "give me the money", and takes hostages before trying to arrest him?

      Only if the cop is too lazy and/or busy eating donuts to wait until the guy opens the door and takes a step inside, thereby breaking the law, to arrest the guy. I guess in your world robbers and pedos simply teleport around.

    22. Re:One wonders by Ithika · · Score: 1

      D'you reckon it would be illegal to stand outside with a gun and holler in the door "gimme all your money!"? ;-)

    23. Re:One wonders by I(rispee_I(reme · · Score: 1

      The policeman should wait until the man with the gun actually says, "give me the money", and takes hostages before trying to arrest him?

      Actually, yes, he should. By the same token, if you attempt to shoplift something and accidentally drop it before you leave the store, you are not guilty of shoplifting.

    24. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > No, it isn't. More children are harmed every year by ASPIRIN than are moslested by strangers.

      And if you are concerned about Aspirin, you would be horrified at the number of children put into emergency rooms by Tylenol... *

      (* Each year, more children are put in the hospital as a result of taking acetominophen than ever contracted Reye's Syndrome in the entire history of the disease)

    25. Re:One wonders by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 2, Insightful
      The statistic is true that at least 1 in 5 children are solicited in the US by total strangers on the internet.

      If you have two seventeen-year-olds flirting in a chat roon, you've just had two "children solicited".

      --
      Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
      You cannot wash away blood with blood
    26. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The perverts described above didn't think about having sex with a child, they went to the child's house after having already solicited them for sex.

      But, see that's the problem. The perverts described above didn't actually go to a child's house, nor did they solicit a child online for sex. There was no child.

    27. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, because "educating" our teenagers to wear condoms worked so effectively too, right?

      Infectious venereal diseases have skyrocketed, and the latchkey parent all too willingly tosses his millstone into the hands of the local municipal. Children of the government, by the government. Perhaps, a not so reckless dream conjured by George Orwell afterall...

    28. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Even if the guy watching child porn got it off some P2P network for free, it still creates demand, which in turn will cause more children to be hurt.

      If you're going to hold consumers of tawdry media responsible for the crimes committed by people who supply it, you could reasonably hold anyone who ever bought the National Enquirer responsible for the death of Princess Diana.

      You may want to think about setting that kind of precedent.

    29. Re:One wonders by KarmaMB84 · · Score: 1

      Read up on your reading comprehension, please. The poster was pointing out that using the metric of molested AND killed BY STRANGERS was a poor metric to use to claim there's no molestation problem. There's plenty who are being molested AND NOT killed or molested AND killed BY ACQUAINTANCES. The original poster of the comment used AND killed BY STRANGERS to narrow the field to make it look like the problem is non-existant even though children molested in child porn are usually left alive to make MORE child porn later.

    30. Re:One wonders by TubeSteak · · Score: 1, Informative

      Umm... In almost every sting operation I've heard of, the first thing the police says online is: I'm x years old. X being 13, 14, or 15.

      The next thing that usually happens is the pedo says "what kind of underwear are you wearing, send me pictures of your boobs, i want to do [insert sexual activity here] to you."

      Far far more often than not, when the police get their hands on these guy's computers & e-mail accts, they discover that it isn't the first time. I can't cite you chapter and verse, but it is well understood that certain types of sexual predators are repeat offenders, even with counseling/therapy/whatever (example: Catholic Priests).

      Anyways, to suggest that unless the act was consummated, the thought is not illegal, is to ignore almost all the 'contributing to the [legal term here] of a minor' & 'child endangerment' laws.

      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
    31. Re:One wonders by Eivind · · Score: 1
      Unfortunately, bring up the idea of telling 2nd-graders about sex organs (even if you aren't talking about sex in any way), and some parents are going to freak the hell out.

      It's not about sex-organs, it's much more fundamental. And you're rigth that certain groups go totally bananas when such concepts are raised, because it clashes with their authoritan views on children.

      One of the most effective things you can do to decrease the chance that a child or a young person will suffer abuse is to teach them that they don't have to.

      Teach them that they are separate individuals, with their own set of rigths that NOONE is allowed to intrude on, no not even mama, papa, the teacher, the priest or any other authority-person you have around.

      In particular, your *body* is your own. Noone is allowed to harm it, the only exception being if that is the only way to prevent you harming others, or if you're under 15 (here, migth be different in the US) and it's nessecary to protect your health, and your legal guardian has approved. (example: surgery can be performed on a 13 year old against the childs wish if it's medically beneficial and approved by the parents, but *NOT* on a 16 year old)

      Children who have learnt that they "have to" follow the orders of any adult or authority-person are easy victims. To a certain degree they've *learnt* being victims, they've *learnt* that standing up for yourself ain't allowed and is the "wrong" answer. Except it isn't.

      Those who insist they have the rigth to hit their children and otherwise physically punish them should not be surprised when the same child later expects that other adults also have the "rigth" to demand things from the child that the child does not want.

      It's been hard enough this century to get decent education about safe sex into high schools.

      Yeah. Amazing really. Guess you'll just have to live with 5 times the teenage-pregnancy rate compared to more liberal countries where sex-ed is uncontroversial, a lot of teenagers even feel they can talk *gasp* with their parents about such things, contraceptives are readily avialable (frequently for free and anonymous in schools) and the children are basically allowed to get to know what the hell they're doing. (they do it in the US too, they just *know* a lot less about it, and are a lot more *embarassed* about say buying condoms)

      Believe it or not, my first serious girlfriend, then 15, (Hi Marianne!) asked her mother to explain to her what a "69" was. Based on later experiences, I would say, the explanation worked. And yes, we used contraceptives. And yes, this was a lot easier because it was not something we needed to hide or be ashamed or embarassed about.

    32. Re:One wonders by Flendon · · Score: 1

      If the bank is out of money is the robber not still commiting a crime when he asks the teller for all the money? Attempted shoplifting is generally ignored as it is a very minor crime, usually commited by children whom the judge would be likely to give the benefit of the doubt to. On the other hand violent and/or sexual crimes need to allow the police to take pre-emptive action against criminals. Stopping someone who is attempting a crime is very different than stopping someone who is merely thinking about commiting a crime. Sometimes there can be a grey area in which the police must be careful of peoples rights, such as if the "minor" was doing the soliciting to name but one, but I see none in these situations described here. Remember this next time someone has a gun to your head and the police say, "Sorry, but that guy is only thinking about commiting murder."

      --
      chown -R us ./base
    33. Re:One wonders by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 1
      Where might one find voices or proposals which attempt to combat child pornography without encroaching on reasonable civil liberties or turning the internet into a police state?

      A reasonable proposal begins with the realization that child pornography is not a special case.

      Is sexual abuse of children justly illegal? Yes. No special "child pornography" law is needed for that.

      Is being an accessory to a crime of violence, fraud, or intimidation justly illegal? Yes. So we do not need any special "child pornography" law to take actions against other people (beside the abuser) involved in producing or selling films made by sexually abusing people.

      Are fictitious depictions of the sexual abuse of children justly illegal? No, no more than is would be legitimate to censor fictitious depictions of murder, rape, robbery, or other violent crime. The fact that some people may enjoy, even get erotic pleasure from, such depictions is vile and distasteful, but should be irrelevant to their legal status.

      Is it legitimate to censor images of actual events of children being harmed? The child's right of privacy should be the consideration here, and it shouldn't matter if the harm is sexual abuse or a violent accident (e.g., photos published on sites like rotten.com). Again, there shouldn't be any special treatment for "child pornography".

      --
      Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
      You cannot wash away blood with blood
    34. Re:One wonders by atriusofbricia · · Score: 1
      The fault in your logic is that the "child" in this case doesn't exist. They are in fact being prosecuted for showing up at the house of someone they thought was a child.

      As there is no child, there is no crime.

      Again, who wants to live in a world where talking/thinking about a crime can be prosecuted?

      And yes, the cop should wait until he enters the bank and attempts to rob it. Until he does so, there is no crime.

      --
      I was raised on the command line, bitch

      "Nemo me impune lacesset"

    35. Re:One wonders by m50d · · Score: 1
      In the US it is a crime to walk into a bank with a gun, but it is not a crime to stand outside of a bank with a gun. So by your logic, if a man walks up to the door of a bank with a gun in his hand and a policeman sees him he should not be arrested for attempted armed robbery? The policeman should wait until the man with the gun actually says, "give me the money", and takes hostages before trying to arrest him?

      Depends what you believe the job of the police is. If you think it's about catching crooks, then yes. But it isn't, it's about protecting the public. The policeman arrests him and prevents the crime. There's no need to charge him for anything, and he shouldn't be guilty of anything.

      --
      I am trolling
    36. Re:One wonders by terrymr · · Score: 1

      What if I walk near a bank with a gun ?

    37. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Recently in Canada, the government was touting how the police, with Bill Gates help, arrested about 40 child molesters, world-wide. Apparently, Gates "ordered" M$ Canada to assist, and the papers gushed about the gushing by the Toronto Police chief in charge of this section. Took years, and about 4.2 million dollars invested in software development by M$ to produce a police data base to track child pornographers. The gushing by the media and the police went on for days. I pointed out that if someone gave me 4.2 million dollars, I could fly to Thailand and received police assistance, I could round up about twice that number of pedofiles in a month. Funny how that didn't get any media attention...

    38. Re:One wonders by luft · · Score: 1

      Child molestation is a REAL PROBLEM. I work with children in a child psychiatry ward and a large portion of the kids have been sexually molested. These kids have been screwed up for the rest of their lives. A few of them will manage to overcome it, but most of them are going to have major issues with interpersonal relationships and feelings of self worth. I have seen a large number of children less than ten years old who have been sexually molested and don't want to live anymore. It makes me FURIOUS when I hear people brushing this off as an attempt to start a police state. Sure, there are freedoms that are lost by this, but this is an issue where children are chewed up and spit out and IT HAS TO BE ADDRESSED. I hate that claptrap that says we need to preserve everyones freedoms so we don't end up losing all freedoms. PEOPLE HAVE NO RIGHT TO DESTROY CHILDREN FOR THEIR OWN PLEASURE. THERE IS NOT, AND NEVER SHOULD BE A "FREEDOM" TO LOOK AT CHILD PORNOGRAPHY AND/OR HAVE SEX WITH CHILDREN. If you can't tell, I can get a little worked up over this. I hate the attitude that people should be able to do whatever they want and screw anyone who they happen to hurt in the process. It is selfish and immature.

      --
      ITA ERAT QUANDO HIC ADVENI
    39. Re:One wonders by fader · · Score: 1

      Wow. Do you honestly not see the difference between saying "Child pornography shouldn't be used as an excuse to create a police state." and "Kiddie porn is great! Everybody go grab a kid and start fondling!"?

      But I guess that since I'm not with you I'm against you, right?

      --
      - fader
    40. Re:One wonders by koreaman · · Score: 0

      Since when does desiring a 15-year-old count as pedophilia? Seriously, people, before you shoot your mouth in these discussions, at least learn wtf you're talking about.

    41. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you bring up a good point, 15 year olds are hardly 'children' they're full fledged raging hormone teenagers who think about sex as often or more so than adults do. they may or may not make the best decisions about sex, but as others have suggested that may be due to the whole 'sex is dirty' stereotype promoted in american society.

      when i think of a 'pedophile' i think of a priest molesting 8-10 year old boys, or taking pictures of a 9 year old girl nude etc.

      not someone 'talking dirty' to 15-16 year olds online in some chatroom...

    42. Re:One wonders by MMMDI · · Score: 1

      Moore has seemed crude and simplistic and confrontational in the past. His methods have not radically changed, but they've modulated into something subtler and less self-serving, such that he has an ability to talk more easily with potential adversaries -- bank employees giving out rifles with new accounts; Michigan militiamen; even Charlton Heston, the haughty President of the National Rifle Association, who invites Moore into his house to film a conversation.
      Bowling For Columbine

      "But officer, I just signed up for an account!"
      "A likely story. You have the right to remain silent..."

    43. Re:One wonders by Evil+Dave+Letterman · · Score: 1

      I'd love to know where THAT "information" came from. I personally knew and was friends with no less than three kids between my third and fifth grade years that were being sexually molested. And I knew MAYBE 60 kids total during those years. One of these kids was being molested by his father. (I didn't figure out what was going on exactly until years later, by which time it was pretty obvious.) None of them were killed, but being a sexual predator and a murderer are completely different. And even if they weren't, their lives were definitely affected. FUD like that is damaging, because it tries to convice us these things don't exist. They do. A lot. Not that any police state is the answer, but some ideas, rather than denial of the problem, would be nice.

    44. Re:One wonders by rpdillon · · Score: 1

      No one here (that I've seen so far) advocates child pornogrpahy as being OK.

      But, what most readers (including myself) do believe is that we should only treat criminals like criminals, not ordinary citizens who haven't broken the law. Part of being treated like a criminal is being watched at all times, having your telephone conversations tapped, and having all your activity on the internet watched. I believe in punishing the criminals as much as you do, but not at the expense of ordinary citizens' freedoms.

      Does that philsophy make it harder to prosecute and track down criminals? You bet. But that is what I'm paying the police to do: their job. And they have to do their job without infringing on citizens' rights, including privacy.

    45. Re:One wonders by Chandon+Seldon · · Score: 1

      So... where does it stop?

      Should broadband connections be banned because they promote downloading child porn videos?

      Should a kindergarden teacher be thrown in jail for hugging a student who just scraped their knee?

      Child abuse is a fact of life. A certain amount can be done to decrease it. After that, you get diminishing returns, and at a certain point you've clearly gone too far.

      Deciding what the policy should be entirely on the basis of the gut reactions of people who are emotionally close to abused children probably doesn't help.

      --
      -- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
    46. Re:One wonders by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Insightful
      I have seen a large number of children less than ten years old who have been sexually molested and don't want to live anymore. It makes me FURIOUS when I hear people brushing this off as an attempt to start a police state. Sure, there are freedoms that are lost by this, but this is an issue where children are chewed up and spit out and IT HAS TO BE ADDRESSED.

      I dated a girl shortly after high school who had been molested by a family member. She was a really sweet girl, and I adored her, but she was just too emotionally broken for me to heal, so in the end, I had to walk away. That experience broke my heart in ways I never imagined possible. I've seen first-hand what child molestation can do, and I do think that it should be addressed. However, even after that experience, I am STILL against you, and I'm quite certain she would be, too. Don't you DARE try to twist that sort of horror into an excuse to force people to give up their freedoms.

      I simply cannot agree that I, someone who would never even consider doing something like that, should have to lose some of my freedoms because some total nut case somewhere might use the internet to prey on kids. I don't agree that everyone in the United States should have to subject themselves to constant surveillance in the name of so-called "safety". That is a line that simply cannot be crossed, or else we have no right to call ourselves a free nation.

      Somebody mentioned that on average, 50 kids were molested by a typical child molester prior to being caught. If that is true, then we have a real problem, and it isn't that the child molester should have been watched more carefully. It is that A. parents should have watched their kids more carefully, and B. those kids should have been taught how to handle that sort of situation at a younger age. There is really nothing practical that you can do to save that first short of considering everyone a suspect and devolving into a police state, which is unacceptable. However, if you catch them after the first one, at least that's 49 other kids that won't eventually be abused by the same sicko.

      Indeed, this isn't about a police state. It's about a nanny state. It's about the government trying to save parents from actually having to take responsibility for their kids. If we're worried about kids being molested by strangers, the way to solve that is to spend money on education campaigns to inform parents about the problem, to spend money on protective technologies so that parents can protect their kids, and education campaigns to teach kids what inappropriate touching is. They taught us that back in nursery school (pre-K). If that isn't still happening, then you've found the real problem.

      According to child protective services, only one tenth of one percent of children in the U.S. population are actually molested each year with any degree of plausibility. If only 1% of those are non-familial, then this law would only have the potential to help 730 kids a year or so. Why should 300 million people have to give up essential civil liberties to MAYBE help 730 kdis? Also, the number of verifiable child molestation cases has been plummeting since the advent of the internet, not increasing. The way I look at it, what we're doing already is doing a great job at solving this problem already. What's the point of doing something fascist like what is proposed?

      Finally, I'll close with this: the best thing parents can do to protect their kids is to give them a cellular phone. Teach them how to call 911 in an emergency. If the kid gets kidnapped, the police immediately know where to find him/her. Of course, if the predator is a parent or family member, education is the only method that will be in any way helpful at combatting it, and no amount of internet surveillance will help.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    47. Re:One wonders by Chandon+Seldon · · Score: 1

      Another thing to consider is that the "child pornography" images and video are *excellent* evidence against the people involved in actually abusing the children. The sooner the cops get that stuff, the better. Making that data illegal to possess just forces people who have it to hide it from the cops... seems pretty counterproductive.

      --
      -- The act of censorship is always worse than whatever is being censored. Always.
    48. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      when i think of a 'pedophile' i think of a priest molesting 8-10 year old boys, or taking pictures of a 9 year old girl nude etc.

      Damn you! What about the rights of the layiety to be paedophiles too?!

    49. Re:One wonders by laughingcoyote · · Score: 1

      Unfortunately, sometimes it isn't that simple. Sometimes it must simply be said "We have gone as far as we can. We can never stop all of a bad activity, be that murder, child porn, or any other type of evil act. Yet under our current system, we stop as much of it as we can without reverting to being evildoers ourselves."

      The burden should be on those who want to -make a change- to show it's beneficial. If that change would erode civil liberties, it generally should not be made at all. Sometimes, the "choice" is simple-accept reality, you can try to stop bad things, and you can stop a lot of them through very reasonable measures, but you -cannot- stop them all without doing worse things yourself. Sometimes, you do have to say "It's working pretty well, quit picking at it."

      --
      To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
    50. Re:One wonders by Yartrebo · · Score: 1

      Nice idea, but it will probably cause more harm than it prevents if the laws aren't rationalized too. Right now a false positive is similarly damaging to a false negative (good luck ever getting a job again if you're merely accused of child molestation). Child molestation [properly defined to exclude some of the dumber stuff, most related to photography] is just a subset of child abuse and also runs the gamut from having little effect to being highly traumatic, depending on what was done, how it was done, and in what context among other things. Removing the laws on child molestation, thus letting it fall under broader and more appropriate laws barring child abuse, would make sense.

    51. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you a freakin' idiot, or did you just pay attention in how to be an ignorant Republican 101? Diseases have skyrocketed since we began abstinence programs in schools. The only people keeping their dick in their pants in high school were the ones that had no other choice and you know it.

    52. Re:One wonders by themonkman · · Score: 1
      astriusofbricia said - "I assume, please correct me if I'm wrong, that you think that PJ.com is the greatest thing since sliced bread and that they perform a necessary and good service? Whether the problem is as bad as they like to claim or not, their methods have always bothered me. They are in reality nothing more than vigilantes using tactics that the police would likely not be able to use themselves."

      I would say they are doing a mighty fine job. The alarming rate at which the underage profiles they get hit on with is certainly a statistic in themselves. Vigilante's are ones that work outside of the law and take it into their own hands. From the actions of PJ.com, there have been 52 convictions in a court of law, with Perverted-Justice.com assisting police and providing evidence of the crimes committed. Soliciting a child for sex, or one believed to be a child, is a federal offense. Many states also have their own statutes to cover this as well. Regardless if the person even physically attempts it, the act of solicitation is against the law, and it is wrong. Perverted-Justice.com has also supplied training to more than a handful of police agencies wishing to form their own anti-child predator units.

      Did I mention also that with assistance of law enforcement, they have helped in the arrests of 108 predators since January alone? I think that is effective and that they are providing a good service. Any person who is anti-child predator would agree that putting predators behind bars is good, especially when PJ.com has a 100% conviction rate. That is right. There has not been even a single aqquital, even when defendants like Robert Andrews (formerly the President of the Greater Cincinnatti Criminal Defense Lawyer Association) had the best lawyers in their court, like Larry Flynt's personal counsel Sirkin. PJ.com has helped take down predators big and small, and the ball is still rolling.

      The point is that in almost every conviction garnered against the predators that PJ.com has busted, the person had shown up to a predetermined place, with written or verbal declaration that their intention was to have sex, and many of them carried such lovely items like condoms, alcohol, lubricant, child porn, duct tape, rope, knives, and in one case; a gun. You cannot tell me that had a child actually been present that there would have not been a more serious crime beyond attempted molestation or rape. What is even more alarming is in the last 4 months, there have been 4 individuals that were arrested by police that had been picked up on the radar by PJ.com, and even after they were indicted and out on bail were found right back out in the chatrooms doing the same thing again. One man that was caught had just made a plea bargain for an unrelated child molestation charge just two days prior to being caught by PJ.com for the same damn thing. That, my friend, is beyond fucking scary. It makes me not want to have children at all.

      Don't believe me? Have a read: http://www.perverted-justice.com/opinions/?article =13

      Not trying to be a shill here, but just trying to spread some truth on the severity of the problem. For those that still don't believe it's true, please do the following: create a Yahoo chat profile that labels you as a 11-14 year old girl. Go into a regional chat room in the US and just sit there for 10 minutes. Don't say a word, just sit. When people message you, be sure to tell them your age right off the bat. You will be flabergasted at how many men will go straight into sexual grooming after having seen your age.

      The statistic that 1 in 5 children have been solicted for sex online was from the NCMEC. I can not ascertain if they mean 1 in 5 children that have internet access, or if it's just 1 in 5 children period. Either way, millions of kids have internet access in the US alone. Even if it's 1 in 5 out of 1 million, that is still enough to warrant a huge public outcry and new focus on anti-predatory legislation.

    53. Re:One wonders by themonkman · · Score: 1
      "And yes, the cop should wait until he enters the bank and attempts to rob it. Until he does so, there is no crime." Your logic is not only flawed, but I'm beginning to wonder if your a sympathizer for these types of people.

      Let's take a hypothetical situation. Say have a 13 year old daughter. You also have an adult friend (lets say 35 year old) that hangs out with you and your daughter quite often. One day, while cleaning your house, you find a note on the floor that was addressed to your daughter from your best friend which revealed that there was a sexual relationship brewing between the two of them, and that he was going to take her virginity on such and such day. You have a piece of evidence that provides intent. Do you go to the police and tell them of this finding immediately, or wait for him to rape your daughter before you believe there has been any crime committed?

      If intent can be proven that a crime would've most likely been committed, it is against the law. It's just like the most recent case of when detectives in Riverton, Kansas found out from reading several teenagers Myspace web pages that they were planning a massacre at their school. There was enough proof of intent to make an arrest. Stockpiles of weapons were found at one of the households of the teens. Only a insane person would argue against them that being charged for attempted murder.

      I am so glad you are not in charge of passing legislation.

    54. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More children are harmed every year by ASPIRIN than are moslested by strangers. You can count the children molested and killed by strangers in the past few years on the fingers of one hand (there were 4). That's in the entire USA. The average is about 1.5 per year, contrast to the 9 kids hit by lightning and the 3 children killed by baseballs.

      That is soooo not true. It is a well-known fact that eleventy bajillion children are molested and killed by strangers every day!

      Citations? Who needs citations?

    55. Re:One wonders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If no one is paying for an item, how does that create demand for an item. Seriously. Plus the Federal government can only regulate interstate commerce. Again, it is, in this hypothetical, free. So, how, absent some other element, is it commerce?

    56. Re:One wonders by DeadChobi · · Score: 1

      Not in my state. 16 is the age of consent, and while the consenting minor is still a minor, there can be a 5 year age seperation between the two consenting to sex. The age seperation is, of course, up in age. It's still statutory rape if he/she is below 16 and you're above but not by 5 years.

      Though I agree that whoever keeps using that survey needs to cite some goddamn research before they go around spreading the information. Statistics taken out of context are as dangerous to discussions as saccharin is to lab rats.

      --
      SRSLY.
    57. Re:One wonders by Sloppy · · Score: 1
      how can we take steps to combat that problem
      Persuade people to stop doing it. Persuade people to not look the other way. Persuade people to take responsibility for the world that they live in. Set an example of treating the innocent with compassion and having very little tolerance for evil.

      Just because "we" want to do something, that doesn't mean it's government's job to do it. Government already has an excellent and appropriate role to play, regarding this situation: provide a criminal court in which to prosecute accused child molestors.

      --
      As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
    58. Re:One wonders by BalanceOfJudgement · · Score: 1

      Remember this next time someone has a gun to your head and the police say, "Sorry, but that guy is only thinking about commiting murder."

      One might be tempted to think of that as "attempted murder," but attempted murder would happen when you've tried to kill someone and they didn't die.. that is.. the action already occurred. In your example, I would think that the word "murder" wouldn't appear in the charges at all.. they'd probably just slap the person with some kind of "brandishing a weapon" charge. There are plenty and I don't know any specifically.

      --

      We are the fire that lights our world.. and we are the fire that consumes it.
    59. Re:One wonders by Some_Llama · · Score: 1

      " However, even after that experience, I am STILL against you, and I'm quite certain she would be, too. Don't you DARE try to twist that sort of horror into an excuse to force people to give up their freedoms."

      having dated several myself in the same situation, AND being married to someone who was molested for several years and still living with the effects 25+ years later, I still wholeheartily agree with you. glad to see the +5

    60. Re:One wonders by Some_Llama · · Score: 1

      "That's why I just don't buy this BS where the administration is trying to get the search engines to divulge who's searching for things like "sex". This "driftnetting" approach is going to net so many people who aren't "the problem"."

      That's the wole point isn't it, to find a way to deal with the problem without solving it, thus creating a new Government branch with wide sweeping powers and no oversight, like the "war on drugs"...

    61. Re:One wonders by Flendon · · Score: 1

      What if I walk near a bank with a gun ?

      Walking near shows no intent. It is when you show clear intent to follow through with the thought that it should become a crime. Thus you have to actually walk directly up to the door in a manner that indicates you plan to enter.

      --
      chown -R us ./base
    62. Re:One wonders by Josh+Hiles · · Score: 1

      But I was watching the news and it seems to me that this is a huge epidemic...one moment please...I have just been informed that the news is run as a business and that horrific descriptions of crimes of a sexual nature apparently sell well in America. I retract my comments. Seriously though, the poster is right, most sexual abuse occurs within the family a fact that is not highlighted when the news media picks a single case of kidnapping and/or sexual abuse and lovingly outlines every single facet of it for your enjoyment. I don't mean to say that these things aren't horrible (no child should ever be abused, EVER) but our wonderful media does tend to blow things out of proportion.

  47. Re:Remember - Child pornography is illegal, after by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Child pornography is illegal - and vile. Possession of child pornography is illegal - and vile.

    It depends on your definitions of "child pornography" as to whether making it is vile. People have been arrested and sent to prison for the pictures they took of their children in non-sexual situations in the bathtub -- they just happened to be naked and under a poorly-thought-out definition this meant what is should not have. As for possession, it may be illegal but the purpose for one's possession of anything is what determines whether it is vile. Some possession can be unintentional, some possession can be for research purposes (how exactly do we as a society determine the scope of a problem if we cannot study it at all), some possession can be in collection of evidence to prove a crime (certainly not vile, right?). So, please, stop being so absolute in your constructions.

    An ISP should not be looking at the content of my communication. Much like my telephone company should not listen into my telephone calls. Such surveillance may reveal criminal activity by the person down the street, but that does not justify having the government perform a fishing expedition (or a private company on the government's behalf doing the same).

    How exactly would we know domestic surveillance by the government is being misused? Do you think they will tell us?

  48. Re:Remember - Child pornography is illegal, after by Mr.+Mikey · · Score: 1

    "..., I have no problem with the first part, and neither should most rational people."

    Does this mean that people who disagree with you are therefore irrational? Can't someone be rational and disagree with you?

    --
    wants to be the first monkey to touch the monolith
  49. Re:Remember - Child pornography is illegal, after by Wilson_6500 · · Score: 1

    This requires ISPs to LOOK at everything their customers do. They don't right now, otherwise what ISP would watch someone download child porn and say nothing about it?

  50. Re:Where is it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "stumbled"?

  51. Re:Remember - Child pornography is illegal, after by Chowderbags · · Score: 1

    Would you mind the government building a large database where they can track the movement of every piece of mail, and then retain the information as long as they see fit?

  52. Re:Where is it? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The most basic internet scam is when links aren't what they say they are: re-directs, pop-ups, malicious applets and javascripts. What's the motive for linking to child porn? Who knows, but strange and offensiveness is a primary rule of the internet. (Welcome to 1995, by the way.)

  53. you guys voted for him by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    so everyone sees through this BS and realizes that the A.G. is using this as an excuse to get dirt on anyone. But yet a good 40-53% of America supported his boss in a reelection. Apparently roughly 50% of America thinks a strong belief in the bible is more important in a president than a strong believe in the constitution. Its a pretty slippery slope because once you elect someone based upon their religious beliefs, you are't far from making them a god, or at a minimum a minor deity- meaning their religious beliefs trump important things, like law.

    So I have to ask, what did everyone expect? Myself and many others new from the get go that this administration would use religion and family values and child porn as excuses to assert more power over the public. You always hear about how the Democrats are big-government, but I'd rather have a big government overseeing businesses than a "small government" overseeing our personal lives.

    Welcome to communist America.

  54. Maybe it's just a ploy to create more jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After all, if ISPs must look at everything transmitted across their networks, they're gonna have to employ hundreds of thousands of people to do it.

  55. Wrong Title by tom's+a-cold · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Correct title is "Bush Administration Intensifies War on Web Privacy, Uses Child Porn as Excuse."

    Don't let the bastards frame the terms of debate. If the history of Bush's presidency has taught us anything, it's that they constantly lie about their motives. Look at the results, not the ever-shifting rationales.

    --
    Get your teeth into a small slice: the cake of liberty
  56. I'M AWAKE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


    ...Now what?

  57. Re:Remember - Child pornography is illegal, after by typical · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Child pornography is illegal - and vile. Possession of child pornography is illegal - and vile.

    And a Jamaican would tell you that homosexuality is illegal - and vile.

    I think that laws making child pornography possession illegal are, at best, in line with laws making drug possession illegal to try to reduce the demand to squeeze out drug sellers. We want to step on sexual abuse of children, so we stomp on child pornography production. To stomp on that, we try stomping on child pornography consumers to reduce demand. You're talking about a pretty darn indirect benefit at a potentially steep privacy and civil rights cost.

    Frankly, politicians are playing off the fears parents have for their kids when they invoke child pornography to squeeze something through. They're grabbing whatever generates the strongest emotional response. Right after 9/11, it was terrorism:

    "Well...I don't know...that law seems to violate my civil rights."

    "In this day and age of terror striking from the skies and from among us, we need to prevent a unified front. All Americans must work together. Vote in my law."

    Terrorism may not be scaring enough people any more -- we may be back to "what about the children" in the form of child pornography.

    Point is, if someone brings up child pornography while pushing a law, they're trying to make an emotional appeal as to why the law needs to pass. If they're stuck trying to make an emotional appeal, one has to ask why they just didn't make a good, reasoned argument. Is it because such an argument cannot stand on its own merits?

    Pushing for increased government surveillance and control online particularly pisses me off, because in the past, government surveillance has been used to damage the mechanisms that are used to correct and limit the government -- free speech and the ability to promote political challenges to the government. There has to be an absolutely overwhelming benefit to granting a power that allows the administration to make life difficult for its detractors before I want to see it accepted.

    --
    Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
  58. BURN THE WITCH! BURN THE WITCH! by davidwr · · Score: 0, Troll

    Whether it's Communists, Terrorists, or Child Pornographers, "burn the witch" is the government's favorite way to get the people to do what the government wants: beg and plead for new laws to curtail civil rights.

    Will Somebody Think Of The Children who risk growing up a totalitarian United States?

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  59. What's needed is Catholic priest monitoring by Animats · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    What's needed is video surveillance of any place where a Catholic priest is alone with a child. There's a proven track record of molestation and coverups in that area. That might actually save some children.

    1. Re:What's needed is Catholic priest monitoring by jefe7777 · · Score: 1

      mod me down for saying this, but I think that we need slashdot moderation monitoring.

      The modding absolutely sucks of late. Even if the parent poster was off base, it wasn't that big a deal.

      The stories are late and triple/quadruple posted, the moderation system is showing it's warts more and more, and frankly, I'm quite bored of slashdot.

      I'm gonna go now. Perhaps I'll visit in a few months.

      peace.

    2. Re:What's needed is Catholic priest monitoring by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's needed is video surveillance of any place where a Catholic priest is alone with a child. There's a proven track record of molestation and coverups in that area. That might actually save some children.

      Wouldn't matter. The US government will just let them go break the law again, just like they did with all the church scandals so far. What happened when all those priests where found to have been molesting children? Did they go to court? No, the government let the curch "punish" them internaly. WTF is that shit? Where is separation of church and state in that? These guys should be rotting in jail right now! If they had been teachers at a public school the government would have hanged them out to dry! But because it was the catholic curch they IGNORED DUE PROCESS!!

      The US government needs to pull its head out of its ass and start enforcing the laws already on the books! I keep hearing WAY to many stories about people trying to report things to our government and no one ever investigating or doing any thing about the problem. We don't need any more sweeping changes and we don't need to give up ANY MORE RIGHTS!! THEY need to DO A BETTER JOB with what they already have! Letting child molesting priests escape prosecution is NOT how you do the job!!

    3. Re:What's needed is Catholic priest monitoring by nutshell42 · · Score: 1
      More kids are molested at home and most of those perpetrators are never caught either.

      I say we put video surveillance in every church and every home.

      --
      Don't think of it as a flame---it's more like an argument that does 3d6 fire damage
    4. Re:What's needed is Catholic priest monitoring by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I saw we just ban children... no children= no child porn. obvious isn't it??? we'd completely eradicate child pornography in 18 years. I'm a genius!!!!!!!!!!!

  60. vs. the Democrat strategy by r00t · · Score: 1

    Democrats cobble together support from a large collection of oddball fringe groups. Something is promised to each group. The party struggles to hold this together because the many fringe groups inevitably conflict with each other. Also, by trying to reward everybody with special treatment, none of the fringe groups are all that special. There are too many groups to please.

    1. Re:vs. the Democrat strategy by alan.briolat · · Score: 1

      When will you people stop thinking in terms of "Republican or Democrat"?

      If people as a whole had any intelligence, they would see what was happening, and vote in a 3rd party instead. Unfortunately, they don't - as a whole people are predictable, and do not like change. We are all fscked until the MAJORITY get some brains and some balls, and realise they are being led down a very dark road...

      --
      I swear we should be allowed to give mod points to sigs... "-1, Offtopic"
  61. Not censorship at all ... by Matt+Ownby · · Score: 0, Troll

    Obscenity isn't protected free speech, even by the ACLU's standards.

    I'd really love a way to filter out most of the 'censorship' stories that appear on Slashdot. I find them ridiculous, like this article.

    1. Re:Not censorship at all ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Free speech or not, obscenity prosecution involving only consenting adults is a waste of taxpayer money, and the government has no compelling reason to do so. Really, who cares if some people are into shit-eating videos or testicle-kicking fetish pictures? Is it really the role of local communities to tell people what they can and cannot see in the privacy of their own homes? And where is the line drawn? What if a local Muslim-dominant community decides that they want people who draw Muhammed to be prosecuted under obscenity laws? After all, such depictions are "offensive" to the "moral fabric" of the "good of the people" or whatever Eliot Ness-esque catchphrase you want to use. Should the federal government jump in then and once again be a conniving Nanny like you want them to, too?

    2. Re:Not censorship at all ... by Hannah+E.+Davis · · Score: 1

      Er... just because speech isn't protected, that doesn't mean that covering it up or otherwise silencing it isn't censorship. It may be legal, it may even be something that you agree with, but it's still censorship. The word does not take into account the legality or morality of the material being censored, although it could be argued that it does in fact imply that said material is being suppressed for either legal or moral reasons.

  62. Vote by Stalyn · · Score: 1

    We aren't there yet. Hold your representatives accountable. If they are not doing their job find someone else. 1984 will only come when we allow it.

    --
    The best education consists in immunizing people against systematic attempts at education. - Paul Feyerabend
    1. Re:Vote by NitsujTPU · · Score: 1

      Yes!

      That's exactly what people should be doing. People seem to want to blame Bush for everything that comes down the pipe. "The Bush administration this," "the Bush administration that," what are we going to do when Bush is out of office, and there's a camera in every toilet? These people really think that we're going to take a sigh of relief because Bush is out of the White House, meanwhile, the legislature that pushed all of that through will be going as strong as ever.

      Even so, I'd say, we're screwed.

    2. Re:Vote by RLiegh · · Score: 1

      You say that as if the democrats are any less eager to monitor every last thing that we do.

      They're not, and we're a two-party country. That ain't changing anytime soon.^W^W

    3. Re:Vote by Tim+C · · Score: 1

      1984 will only come when we allow it.

      1985 called to let you know it's too late, 1984 has already been and gone ;)

  63. Porn, Porn, Spam, Porn. by headkase · · Score: 1, Interesting

    This is the same administration that objects to creating a .xxx top level domain. Come on, make the tld so all the porn can be put into it's own niche and filtering software will actually prevent children from viewing it. And with all porn legally required to be tucked away in the .xxx it would make it that much easier to get action when someone tries to put it in a .com. Gonzales wants porn to carry an identifying mark - well a .xxx domain would be that and would work within the existing infrastructure of the Internet.

    --
    Shh.
    1. Re:Porn, Porn, Spam, Porn. by Dephex+Twin · · Score: 1

      You'd probably have better luck just filtering out URLs with any dirty words in them. If you had this law and you filtered on .xxx, you're only going to get sites that are under the US jurisdiction or decided they wanted to jump into the .xxx domain. I wouldn't be shocked if you ended up with only 10% of porn sites blocked in this manner. There is a lot of porn outside the US, and many US sites would probably move offshore if it was needed because of the laws.

      Then you get into the even messier question of determining who needs to be under this domain. First, are you going to force people to give up their domain if they already had it before this law? How are you going to decide what is considered porn or not? If I have an art e-store, and one of the images has a fully naked woman, do I now have to move my entire store to a .xxx domain and be filtered out by every public place (and possibly by many ISPs)?

      That is so absolutely not the answer, not only would it help but I think it would actually make things much worse.

      --

      If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. -- Carl Sagan
    2. Re:Porn, Porn, Spam, Porn. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You forget that the USA is not the world and that a requirement to use .xxx would not extend beyond the USA's borders.

  64. we did vote for him by r00t · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Since we didn't elect Gore or Kerry, you don't get to see the evil things that they would have done.

    The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence.

    1. Re:we did vote for him by rock_climbing_guy · · Score: 1

      Damn straight. Anyone here remember "Clipper"?

      --
      Wh47 d1d j00 541, 31337 15n't t3h r0xor5 ne m0r3???
    2. Re:we did vote for him by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wasn't Gore the one of the main proponents of the Clipper chip? Seems fairly evil to me. Not quite up there in the scales with the patriot act, but the 90s was a saner era, and I thought that Gore was as evil as the era allowed.

  65. Don't hold out on me! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    You don't want to. I've stumbled on some a few times (and updated my hosts file to make sure I never reach those sites again) and believe me, you really, really don't want to!
    Now I really want to!
  66. My God, that's disgusting! by GoddessOfDeath · · Score: 1

    Don't anybody look! Just think how the children in these images will feel when they grow up and see that they have been objectified in front of the entire world!

  67. Re:War against Pedophilia? by Isotopian · · Score: 2, Insightful

    He may be generalizing beyond the point of usefullness, but that doesn't mean he doesnt have a point. When high level figures in the government are guilty of this themselves, then they can't claim "It's all for the children."

    --

    It's poetry with a beat behind it! And guns! They're like beatniks with automatic weapons.

  68. Speaking of the children by AlatarSaeros · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Before I was born, my parents lived in the San Fransisco area, and enjoying certain freedoms (nice jobs, good friends, etc). Upon my arrival, they moved away, as a rash of crimes had made SF a place where they didn't want me to be raised.

    Today, I'm beginning to feel the same way. I enjoy certain liberties here right now. However, unless the next administration makes major changes in the interest of freedom, I do not feel that America will be the place I want my children to be raised.

    1. Re:Speaking of the children by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Before I was born, my parents lived in the San Fransisco area, and enjoying certain freedoms (nice jobs, good friends, etc). Upon my arrival, they moved away, as a rash of crimes had made SF a place where they didn't want me to be raised.

      Rash of crime? Absolute freedom, absolutely corrupts.

      Today, I'm beginning to feel the same way. I enjoy certain liberties here right now. However, unless the next administration makes major changes in the interest of freedom, I do not feel that America will be the place I want my children to be raised.

      And yet you still beckon for even more liberties "in the interest of freedom"? See the irony from your two statements now? The folly of youth and it's idealism is the river dam of wisdom.

  69. You may be right by jd · · Score: 1
    There's no shortage of spam advertising such sites, but the official e-mail addresses to report such spam are invariably blocked or full, and the volunteer groups who do try to tackle such issues invariably complain on their website that the US authorities refuse even to take forwarded complaints. WHOIS shows that registrars are still taking fake (or no) contact information, making any talk of a crackdown somewhat laughable.


    Over the decades that "thinking of the children" has been so very important, there has been exactly ONE news report of investigators tracking down the location of abuse from images. Seems thinking is OK for the authorities, as long as it doesn't involve doing.


    In the meantime, the UN is reporting intensifying levels of slave trading within the US, with some indications that it is with the knowledge of police in those areas. Escapees are often deported (to extremely uncertain fates) but slavers are somehow always missed. Witness protection (as now happens in the UK, in increasing numbers of cases) doesn't appear to be happening at all in the US.


    The inference would seem obvious enough. As happened in Belgium, where several senior politicians, judges and police officers were implicated in a massive multinational paedophile ring (though none were ever formally charged, if I recall the case clearly, despite damning evidence) it is very likely that there are enough rogue elements in senior positions in the US to make any real action extremely unlikely.


    On the other hand, we definitely know from the openly hostile refusal of Government agencies to discuss Echelon or the current wiretap program with Congress that there are certainly elements within the US who desire surveillance powers that are essentially unconstrained and unsupervised, and who actively want to ensure that neither the courts nor any other authority interferes.


    Since neither of these would trust the other an inch, cooperation is unlikely to impossible. However, I also doubt either would have any interest whatsoever in interfering with the other, either. As such, the campaign is clearly bogus and is intended to be more for electioneering purposes than any actual law-enforcement or child welfare. (The timing also indicates that votes are far more of interest than children's wellbeing, with voting underway in New Orleans and elections due in other States this spring and nationally this fall.)

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  70. one in every five children is solicited online. by Vskye · · Score: 1

    Just more bullshit from our goverment to pull out more tax dollars. Seriously, I have 2 boys ages 16 and 12, so I must be beating the odds.

    --
    Life was hell, then I discovered Linux...
  71. Sooo... by nutt98 · · Score: 0, Troll

    ... where do I download this 'child' pornography? Can I purchase a subscription magazine at Wal-Mart? I'm hearing about it, but I'm just not seeing it.

  72. That's nothing! by Supurcell · · Score: 1

    I know where you can get images of children so young, that they haven't even been concieved yet! And it's all perfectly leagal too! A man and woman get it on with the potenial for a child between them! And who knows what the future will bring? This hot, nasty business could turn out to be an orgy of thousands of children!

  73. Re:OMG Think of the Children!!!! by Yez70 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Fear is the number one tool used to eliminate freedoms, no matter how small.
     
    Hitler used very similar tactics to rise to power and advance his own power once he had risen. Fear and the 'Patriot' factor were his strongest tools in the manipulation of the German society. Freedoms were lost as well as untold lives, all for the 'homeland.' The rest of the world sat back and let it happen too, just like now. The current administration must have some sort of Nazi handbook....
     
    I wonder how many more are going to die this time.

  74. Baby and bathwater by tepples · · Score: 1

    Is a picture of a baby in a bathtub "obscenity"?

  75. This might not be the best measure... by TechnoGuyRob · · Score: 4, Insightful

    While extreme criminalization of even such a simple act as viewing/possessing images seems appropriate due to the repulsive nature of adulteration of innocence, it kind of scares me. I live in a dorm, a public place.Sometimes I leave my door open. So what if I step outside for a moment, and someone downloads some child porn on my machine? Or what if it gets compromised and begins downloading such things in the background? Then I'm completely screwed. I think people need to step back from the visceral response of terror and hatred that comes from sexually abusing children, and consider things rationally for a moment. I full-heartedly agree, child pornography is very morally damaging to both the author, viewer, and victim, and I agree we should do something about it. However, is it worth infiltrating the privacy of every single person (in the US at least, in thise case)?

    Furthermore, this seems like a very dictatorial response. There is a new decriminalization philosophy dubbed restorative justice. In this model, the offender is encouraged to become acquainted with the victim (or their family). By learning about the damage that one has caused, and seeing it through one's own eyes, remorse is stimulated much more effectively. Sometimes, prison can be a reforming experiences. However, there are also the hard-ass idiots that want revenge, and continue, if not increase, their crime life after prison. Honestly, I don't know if this is the best approach. Not only does it violate the public's privacy, it isn't guaranteed to be very--or even at all--successful. It has been proven, starting back with Ivan Pavlov's research, that negative reinforcement is not as effective as positive reinforcement. Why should this be any different?

    Once again, I don't mean to criticize my government (of course, many do), but who's with me?

    1. Re:This might not be the best measure... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Restorative Justice isn't new, it's been around for a while in the field of criminology. People like John Braithwaite, Hal Pepinsky (Hal's a friend of mine), and Nils Christie have been pushing it for years. It's an interesting philosophy and it holds a lot of promise. Unfortunately it tends to be romanticized (empirical support is weak, but then this is not the type of theory or research that typically appeals to empirically oriented criminologists), and it's probably not perfect for every situation (One of my peers is an ex-probation officer that used to be involved in restorative justice meetings - sometimes it was very effective, other times it aggravated the situation).

      Here are a few citations of articles you might want to look up, if you've got the academic database access:
      Levrant, S., F. T. Cullen, B. Fulton, and J.F. Wozniak (1999) "Reconsidering Restorative Justice: The Corruption of Benevolence Revisited?" Crime and Delinquency 45:3-27.
      Karp, D. R. (2001) "Harm and repair: Observing restorative justice in Vermont." Justice Quarterly, 18(4):727-757.
      Daly, K. (2002) "Restorative Justice: The Real Story." Punishment and Society 4(1):55-79.

    2. Re:This might not be the best measure... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's possible that a website sponsored by the Mormon church isn't the best source for impartial information on pornography.

    3. Re:This might not be the best measure... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As an straight-A Catholic school student, choir boy, altar boy, aspiring to go to seminary when I'm done and be a priest myself, I have to say I've always looked up to Father Dixon. One day, after Mass, I was alone with him in his room in the rectory, discussing some finer points of theology. For those of you who don't know, the concept of soul that we Catholics have was first revealed to Plato, so what Plato had to say is somewhat important to us Catholics. Anyway, so we were discussing when Plato said that boys are beautiful.
      "Do you think that I'm beautiful?" I asked Father Dixon innocently.
      "Yes, my son", he replied in his beautiful priestly voice, that when I was younger would lull me to sleep during his sermons that I now listen to with bated breath.
      "In fact," he continued, "I think you are the most beautiful person in your class. Perhaps one day you will take my place as pastor of Saint James the Greater, greatest church in western Chicago."
      I blushed with pride at this complement. Later, I would discover that he just said those kinds of things to everybody. ... boring stuff ...
      "Now I will show you another mystery, he said as he wrapped his priestly palm around my virginal young cock. Being a virgin, I came almost instantly. ...
      his tumescent member penetrated between my ass-cheeks, filling me once again with an orgasmic delight. He explained, "This is God's ultimate gift to mankind..." ...
      And until this day, I continue to have a very intimate relationship with Father Dixon. In six years, when I turn 18, perhaps I will be able to go to seminary and become a priest myself, and reveal this mystery to other altar boys. I don't feel morally degraded by his actions, I know he would never do anything that would morally degrade himself, and you will not be morally degraded for learning about his love.

  76. Re:War against Pedophilia? by aussie_a · · Score: 1

    Maybe they want a log so they can find the best websites?

  77. Didnt hitler keep track of everyone using IBM? by cheekyboy · · Score: 1

    Hitler used the latest american technology of punchcards and crude databases to keep track
    of all citizens to find out who was rich or poor or jew or gay.

    Ironically, in the pre 30s days, it was the church who helped willingly to give the nazis all
    the birthrecords for everyone. Bastards.

    --
    Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
  78. It's the nuke of an information society. by TCQuad · · Score: 1

    If its *truely* about child porn and nothing else, insert a provision into the law that any and all data requested as part of a child porn investigation cannot be used in any other investigation.

    If information this broad and sweeping is available to anyone, it will get out to the public, no matter what provisions are included. There is always a loophole in any law. Maybe through the war on terror, maybe anonymously leaked for political reasons, or maybe someone in the oversight agency will have an argument with someone in their neighborhood and see what they've been browsing and/or buying on-line for blackmail.

    The simple truth is no individual can be trusted with this information and, therefore, no government can be allowed to collect it.

    1. Re:It's the nuke of an information society. by stinerman · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well I wasn't really advocating that they do that. I was just pointing out how politicians always say "but the law will never be used in that manner" but won't agree to actually write exactly that into the law.

      I think we can't trust politicians to safeguard our freedoms anymore. We need to assume they're going to try every last trick in the book to get as much information about our lives as possible. In that case, we're going to have to encrypt everything that goes over any unsecured network. It might not be tedious and time consuming, but we're going to have to push back against the Feds or else our right to privacy is going to go out with our right of habeas corpus.

  79. Gone too far? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Want an example of somewhere that has over-restrictive laws dealing with child porn? Just look at Canada. In Canada, Lolicon is illegal, and treated almost exactly the same as real child porn. Is this a good thing? Well, lets see.

    First, this allows you to pick up a pen and commit a crime. Wouldn't you consider this a sign of censorship? You could argue "You can already do that, it's called libel", but this is different. By drawing Lolicon, you can commit a crime creating something in the privacy of your own home, for your own eyes only. It would be like if you could be arrested and put in jail for slandering someone in your private journal.

    Second, this is making art illegal just because of how it influences people. The reason child porn is illegal is because of the horrible crime that is committed in order to produce it. Lolicon is victimless, and is outlawed solely because it could influence people to become child abusers. Might as well ban GTA and Scarface, those could influence people to commit much worse crimes!

    This is silly if you think about it. You could draw a child getting brutally murdered, and be perfectly within the law. But draw them naked instead and suddenly you can be charged for creation of child porn. Police are even ordered to seize all manga in order to check it for Lolicon, and if they find it, you are charged with importing child porn.

    However, have we seen any outrage? No. Who cares about a few "rights" when children (real or drawn) are in danger! Even so, this is just the gateway to more censorship and the creation of more "influence crimes", as you can already see. So, people in the US, don't tolerate this garbage. Don't give up any more rights for stupid reasons.

    1. Re:Gone too far? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hallelujah.

      Also, quite the opposite of encouraging them, such a thing can have a deterring effect among some people.

      Of the people who are into Lolicon, they fall into two groups: those who only like Lolicon, and those who also like real children. Of the latter group, there are two more subdivisions; Those who are satisfied with Lolicon as a legal alternative, and those who aren't. Only one of those subdivisions is any problem as long as Lolicon is allowed, but ban it, and suddenly you have a whole 'nother problem on your hands.

  80. Think of the Children by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I wish at least half the effort put into catching child porn scumbags were put into catching the much more common child neglecters and abusers. Or into better education and childcare. Most porn kids seem to be runaways. If they didn't run away, we wouldn't have as many vulnerable kids.

    --

    --
    make install -not war

  81. No Child's Behind Left by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ..should be the title of this campaign.

  82. Younger and younger Children by Black+Art · · Score: 1

    If they keep using younger and younger children for childporn, the kids would be at a negative number by this time.

    The Justice Department does not know if they are cumming or going.

    --
    "Trademarks are the heraldry of the new feudalism."
  83. Go after the people MAKING it, dammit! by Scrameustache · · Score: 2

    How many people are online? How many of those are surfing for child porn? A depressingly larger number than we'd want

    ... Or that you could jail.

    I personaly wish they'd go after the kiddy porn spammers harsh. I would very much like to be able to look for sci-fi and fantasy pics without having pictures of children being abused as a possible result.

    You don't need to log web usage for that, just follow the damn advertised links in the spam. Arrest them, lock them away, and for gods' sakes, find those kids and get them safe already.

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  84. Leave usa.... let the mexicans take over. by cheekyboy · · Score: 1

    Start another country, leave usa, or come to australia.

    Or let the predictions of ww3 come about and let nuke war destroy the evil people, along with 90% casualties.

    Start saving all material/knowhow/knowledge now!!!, Both to CDs, HDs, Paper copies.

    --
    Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
    1. Re:Leave usa.... let the mexicans take over. by BalanceOfJudgement · · Score: 1

      I had a dream once, where I owned a massive area of land that was completely walled in, safe and sound, fully self-supporting, with a full repository of all of human knowledge (as much as I could collect, anyway).

      Outside the wall there were riots, terror, and the general destruction of all of the world.

      Inside, was peace and calm and the willingness to wait until the world had destroyed itself, and the wall would be opened to restart the world.

      I sincerely believe that dream was prophetic.

      --

      We are the fire that lights our world.. and we are the fire that consumes it.
  85. Re:Why hasn't anyone been arrested for The Godfath by Scrameustache · · Score: 1

    It is nothing more than thought crime.

    A nice wedge. Once there is a thought crime on the books as established jurisprudence, other thought crimes will be easy to add.

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  86. Whatif scenerio by Matarick · · Score: 1

    What if he visited in a forum like 4 chan and somehow came accross Bridget pictures? From what I recall, Whorley's previous charges were possesion in 1999 but it is unknown on how did he receive the files in question at the time. For visitors who use the picture forums to look at material, what if somebody posts some random 'shonen ai/yaoi' pictures in a catagory that is clearly intended for 'of age' characters. I am concerned if somebody would goatse a random link and pop up 'pedobear approved' underage images and the FBI would be knocking down the door.

    Hoover's ghost still haunts the FBI this very day

    1. Re:Whatif scenerio by Crazy_MYKL · · Score: 1

      Bridget is a drawing, Drawings are not CP in the US.

      --


      <jedi> There is something funny here. You laugh. </jedi>
  87. Easy way to entrap any internet user by jasonditz · · Score: 1

    Step 1: send an email that autoloads in image from a banned website
    Step 2: wait for the ISP to report that the recipient of the email obtained data from the banned website
    Step 3: profit

    The same could work with a pop-under, an URL forward, even a simple Javascript app that grabs a piece of data off such a site without ever using it for anything or even making it apparent it's done anything.

    As the notion of detaining people for years or even decades without charging them with any crime starts to come under fire, it must be a great relief to the Department of Justice to have every ISP gathering mountains of prima facie evidence to initiate criminal proceedings against anybody who happens to use the internet.

    In my opinion, if they're going down the road of a police state, the least they can do is give us an up-to-date list of the websites that are considered illegal to visit so that we can make a hosts file to avoid 'accidental' prosecutions. I guess it's too much to ask for a police state to play fair though.

    1. Re:Easy way to entrap any internet user by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And not only is this an effective way to get an annoying pest banhammered from society, but if we all ran scripts which would do this to random people, the government would have a difficult time managing the system that is so easily abused.

      So if this ever comes to place, get about 100 of your closest friends and throw the internet in jail.

    2. Re:Easy way to entrap any internet user by jasonditz · · Score: 1

      It's easy enough to manage, just don't prosecute the people who you're not "after". Just because somebody turns over evidence of a crime doesn't mean the Justice Department has to act on it... if that was the case Presidents would be getting indicted almost non-stop during their terms.

  88. How hard is it really? by phorm · · Score: 1

    I mean, the bastards are everywhere nowadays it seems. How hard is it to nail a child pornographer. Go hit some of the big newsgroups. It doesn't matter which one you hit, so long as it deals with porn. Any newgroup with volume, among the legitimate porn, will have assholes hawking their disgusting wares.

    It's not hard for me to filter out the major ones (they tend to use repeat headers), which would lead me to believe that it's not hard for them to filter them "in" as it were. Setup a couple of their own newgroups somewhere, get a popular following of pr0n, and watch for some bastard to start emailing in the crap. Then your filter can bag it, check the IP on the connecting mailserver, and send it in for further inspection.

    Unless the CP traders are like spammers, they're probably sending from some traceable IP's, so that that point you can start narrowing it down. You don't need to "log" everyone's data, just narrow it to an ISP, then have something that flags with that ISP next time the buggers send to the newgroup or whatever, and get a quick check on who's on at that time that place. It's targetted, it could probably get done with a warrant, and it doesn't allow other abuse like checking the logs of political dissidents under the guise of data retention for fighting illegal porn.

  89. Bush needs a distraction... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    His administration is falling apart. People are sick of Iraq. Nobody believes a word he says anymore. His approval ratings are at a record low. Hell, within his own party approval has dropped to 67%! Polls indicate public hatred of this man may cost his party control of Congress in November. Bush needs a distraction, pronto. An anti-kiddie porn crusade could be just what the spin doctor ordered.

  90. If there were ever a need for censorship... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is it.

    Dear sweet mercy. SOMEONE delete the parent. SOMEONE must have the rights to do that, and as odd as it seems given the topic of discussion here, SOMEONE forward this guy's IP address to appropriate authorities.

    Sick, sick, sick bastard. I don't even want to imagine how completely screwed up someone would have to be to write that, and then how screwed up another person would have to be to actually distribute it.

    PLEASE, I beg those in authority here, if ANYTHING is sacred, PLEASE delete parent.

    1. Re:If there were ever a need for censorship... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dear sweet mercy. SOMEONE delete the parent. SOMEONE must have the rights to do that, and as odd as it seems given the topic of discussion here, SOMEONE forward this guy's IP address to appropriate authorities.

      Ok, I am in no way defending what was written. But what the hell is this "forward this guy's IP address to appropriate authorities" bullshit? This is America, where people can think and say what they want! You don't like what was said? Well, neither did I. And we both have the right to ignore it, never read it again. But this call to notify the authorities for someone using their right to free speach is ABSURD!

      You need to learn to ignore shit you don't agree with, because it will ALWAYS exist. There will always be something you don't agree with, there will always be people saying things you think are wrong and maybe even sick. Don't let the authorities get involved in our ethics, it is NEVER a good thing. You will find your self on the loosing end of that proposition at some point or another if you head down that road.

    2. Re:If there were ever a need for censorship... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck you, fascist.

    3. Re:If there were ever a need for censorship... by pclminion · · Score: 1
      SOMEONE forward this guy's IP address to appropriate authorities.

      This makes you an even sicker fuck than the OP.

  91. Question: by Wellington+Grey · · Score: 1

    The proposals have been sent to Congress and include new laws that will require ISPs to report child pornography and bolster penalties for those companies that fail to do so.

    Here's my concern with this kind of rule. Suppose someone is online viewing whatever vanilla porn they like and a malicious pop-up ad under false pretenses redirects them to something like really-horrible-k1ddi3-pr0n.xxx. They didn't want to go there, but now their ISP sends their information to the government. What happens to that person now?

    -Grey

    1. Re:Question: by Stanislav_J · · Score: 1
      Here's my concern with this kind of rule. Suppose someone is online viewing whatever vanilla porn they like and a malicious pop-up ad under false pretenses redirects them to something like really-horrible-k1ddi3-pr0n.xxx. They didn't want to go there, but now their ISP sends their information to the government. What happens to that person now?

      On one hand, I see this as a fairly specious argument. I surf the Web constantly (I have no life) and I have never "accidentally" clicked on a link that brought up k1dd1e pr0n. It's not like these sites are indexed in Yahoo or advertise on Google -- they tend to operate in the shadows.

      Even if it does occasionally happen, I'd like to think that even in the midst of the thinkofthechildren hysteria and the increasing desire for total surveillance, anyone with half a brain (and I will charitably grant that even our beloved Prezdint has at least HALF a brain) could distinguish between a web activity log that showed that someone once clicked on a link with no blatant indication of the destination, arrived at a "naughty" site, then quickly left, versus someone who spent hours there on a repeated basis and downloaded images from it.

      But, true, this and other draconian laws and proposals are not about any specific crime or threat. These folks envision a perfect world in which fighting crime would require no investigative legwork -- everything you do on a minute-by-minute basis will be watched and logged, and your physical location will be constantly available. If you do something naughty, they will not only know exactly what you've done, when, where, and to whom, but will know exactly where you are at that moment to come and arrest you. Think of the savings in money and man-hours!! You wouldn't need detectives to slog around, following false leads and shadows and nebulous tips -- the whole process will be automated! Maybe the chip they implant in you to know your whereabouts could even be connected to the motor centers of your brain, so they don't even have to come get you -- if you commit a crime, your body will automatically walk to the nearest police station to turn yourself in!! Hell, you could even program a self-dectruct mechanism into the thing, so if you commit a capital crime, it would just blow up and execute you on the spot. We will watch old reruns of "Law and Order" and "CSI" and laugh, marveling at how "quaint" it was in the old days.

      The freightening thing is, at one time I would have dismissed the above scenario as a wild fantasy sutiable only for the plot of a bad Sci-Fi Channel made-for-TV movie. More and more, I'm starting to think that it's not as ludicrous as I imagined.....

      --
      "Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket." -- Eric Hoffer
  92. Re:Remember - Child pornography is illegal, after by twistedcubic · · Score: 1

    ***And a Jamaican would tell you that homosexuality is illegal - and vile.***

    Dude, all you need to do is walk two steps outside your front door and you'll probably see a homophobe. Is this why gay marriage etc is so opposed in the U.S.? The Jamaicans? Get a grip, man. Don't be so typical.

  93. Re:Why hasn't anyone been arrested for The Godfath by Vicsun · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You're missing the point. The point is that cartoon child porn is icky. Just like gay sex. Anything that offends my sensibilities, anything at all, must banned and its participants jailed, regardless of whether they're doing any harm or even affecting me at all. The mere thought that something out there is icky fills me with pure rage; rage that causes me to go out and vote for any canditate who'll stop the ickiness.

    On an unrelated note, Eastern Orthodox Easter today, so happy Easter! Here's a picture of a cute bunny to offset any negative feelings I might have caused with the above paragraph.

  94. So you hate furries eh? by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Person 1: You! You're against furries and their furry pornography, right?

    You: Yeah, lets create a police state to hunt them down.

    All you got to know is what buttons to press. For some it is child porn. For others it is furry porn. Whatever works to get you to sign up for a police state.

    Please note that I understand the author is making a sorta joke with his furries comment BUT the old fact remains. Either you defend everyones freedom or you give up on freedom. Better people then me said it better. Read books to learn what freedom really means. (Cause you sure as hell aren't going to experience it anytime soon in this world.)

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:So you hate furries eh? by nietsch · · Score: 1

      So you think everyone has one hot-button issue that makes him sign up for a policestate?

      --
      This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
    2. Re:So you hate furries eh? by jrockway · · Score: 1

      I think we should create a police state to prevent people from spreading petitions to create a police state. Problem solved!

      --
      My other car is first.
    3. Re:So you hate furries eh? by caffeination · · Score: 1

      What a shit reply. How can you take a joke about hating furries as a freedom issue?

    4. Re:So you hate furries eh? by TubeSteak · · Score: 1

      http://www.google.com/search?q=nazifurs

      I heard about it in a Fark thread.
      Nazis + Furries = teh weirdness.
      And some of them like to throw bondage gear into the mix.

      For the record, we don't really defend everyone's freedom. The quickest way to lose a lot of freedom is to be accused of: dealing drugs, being a gang member, being a terrorist, being a pedophile. The treatment those people recieve by either the police or society is far outside the norm.

      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
    5. Re:So you hate furries eh? by Eivind · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Either you defend everyones freedom or you give up on freedom.

      Yes. And it's worse than that really; The only freedoms that really need protection is the freedom to do and say unpopular things.

      It'll always everywhere be allowed to do and say popular things. There's no point in spending much energy in the US defending the freedom to publish a normal, nonprovocative novel.

      Now, on the other hand, the freedom to do *unpopular* things is under constant attack, and it's a sliding-scale, once the *most* unpopular things are outlawed, the same laws that where erected to say "stop terrorists" or "rapists" are used against people guilty of much lesser crimes, or in some cases of no crime at all.

    6. Re:So you hate furries eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well obviously there is a glaring disanalogy in your example: child pornography is genuinely morally wrong, while furryness is merely in poor taste.

    7. Re:So you hate furries eh? by jschottm · · Score: 1

      Please note that I understand the author is making a sorta joke with his furries comment BUT the old fact remains. Either you defend everyones freedom or you give up on freedom.

      Except that the original poster didn't suggest banning furries or taking away their freedoms, merely stated that he didn't mind offending them. And the power to offend is rather crucial to this whole freedome of speech thing.

  95. Re:A little education wouldn't hurt by symbolic · · Score: 1

    People so callously and carelessly jump onto anything that sounds like, "oh noes! This is the next dragon that must be slain! Let's kill it! But in order to do that, I'll need to watch you, listen to your phone calls, examine your emails, etc!" Notice that they are in no way related.

    Here's an interesting read on the statistics often used to cite the purported "seriousness" of the problem:

    http://www.radosh.net/archive/001481.html

    This guy starts calling people and asking questions, trying to nail down where this stuff comes from, and also uncovers an interesting relationship in the process. It's a good read.

  96. Re:Remember - Child pornography is illegal, after by idesofmarch · · Score: 1, Insightful
    And a Jamaican would tell you that homosexuality is illegal - and vile.

    So what is your point, that homosexuality and child pornography are really both OK? Even though homosexuality is consensual and child porn is often not?

    Also, can the posession of anything, by your logic, be illegal? What about knowingly possessing human organs, which have been illegally harvested? Gee, why stomp on that? We all know it's only the harvesting of a liver from someone who does not want to give it up that is actually harmful. We will give the distributors a slide.

    Look, unless you think that the creation of child pornography is ok, (which maybe you do, since you equate it with homosexuality), you have to concede that attacking child-porn's chain of distribution is a reasonable move. If you cannot make posession illegal, how do you stop the website operators from selling their wares?

  97. Re:ATTENTION by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The parent isn't a troll. Although it is a rather interesting idea.

  98. I think I have figured it out by stox · · Score: 1

    This has nothing to do with protecting children. The Big ISP's want to sell us out. To date, it has not been practical to bill for use due to the overhead and added expense involved. If all that infrastructure and overhead are already in place, in the name of protecting children, it would be trivial to start billing for usage and type of usage. The government gets what it wants, the Big ISP's make out like bandits, and, as usual, the average citizen gets it up the tail end.

    --
    "To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "
    1. Re:I think I have figured it out by bhima · · Score: 1

      I think you will that the case *any time* a politician says something about "protecting the children"

      --
      Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
    2. Re:I think I have figured it out by LordLucless · · Score: 1

      To date, it has not been practical to bill for use due to the overhead and added expense involved.

      You have no idea what you're talking about. Every single ISP in Australia bills for usage. It's not infrastructure costs that keep the practice out of America, it's consumer backlash when they try.

      --
      Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
  99. Child Prostitution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1
    Check out myRedbook. It is a web site that serves as a supermarket where customers hook up with prostitutes working in the Bay Area, which includes San Francisco and Silicon Valley.

    myRedbook is not a joke site. It is the real McCoy. If you believe that myRedbook verifies the ages of the prostitutes, then you must believe that Elvis is still alive.

    The people who run myRedbook should be arrested.

  100. We need a "Godwin's Law"... by Kadin2048 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The point is that whatever legal and technological barriers you try to invent, the child pornographers will get around them. It's like trying to stop the flow of drugs. Short of some very orwellian schemes, it's not possible to stop. There is a big demand for it, in turn there is a large fiscal incentive to import it, and as a result, fairly intelligent people will go to work on ways to circumvent whatever barriers we create.

    Have you ever looked on Freenet lately? There is definitely (what appears to be -- I've never visited, but based on descriptions on the indices) underage porn on there, and that's a network that's designed by some very intelligent people to be anonymous. Sure, it wasn't designed for porn, but the porn people aren't stupid. They take advantage of those things when it exists. If HTTP gets too dangerous, they move to Freenet; if Freenet gets too dangerous, they'll move to total trust-based Darknets. At the end of the day, even if you shut down all the open WWW underage-porn websites, in all the countries of the world (managing somehow to harmonize laws concerning the age of consent) you'd really just drive that particular subculture back to the pre-internet days, when I can only assume people traded stuff on physical media via darknets, or private BBSes.

    And of course, you have the ever-present threat that, with decreased availability of prerecorded porn on the Internet, that pedophiles will decide to make their own; featuring your neighborhood kids at gunpoint as the co-stars. I've never once seen this aspect of the problem seriously considered. What if we're actually stopping would-be child molesters through the availability of Internet porn? So what happens to these people if that supply is shut off?

    The whole "child porn argument" is poorly thought out. It's a knee-jerk line brought out by politicians when they don't have any other way of garnering support for an unpopular and invasive policy, which is so polarizing that it automatically casts a shadow on anyone who opposes it.

    As a society, we should invent something like "Godwin's Law" for child pornography. It's something so near-universally offensive, that when you drag it out as an argument for a particular widespread action, it's almost certain that you're using it as a weak justification for an otherwise unacceptable course of action. If you have to bring child porn in as reasons for doing something, it's a good sign your policies aren't well planned. If they were, they'd probably have any number of totally valid, separate reasons for doing them, and wouldn't need the spectre of child porn to back them up.

    --
    "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
    1. Re:We need a "Godwin's Law"... by Syberghost · · Score: 1

      And of course, you have the ever-present threat that, with decreased availability of prerecorded porn on the Internet, that pedophiles will decide to make their own; featuring your neighborhood kids at gunpoint as the co-stars. I've never once seen this aspect of the problem seriously considered.

      That was the state of affairs prior to widespread availability of the internet. All the DOJ studies show that child porn is on the rise since the internet, not on the decline. Your concern is unlikely to be the case.

    2. Re:We need a "Godwin's Law"... by chris_eineke · · Score: 1
      As a society, we should invent something like "Godwin's Law" for child pornography.
      Lovejoy's Law.

      Or maybe: Helen's Law.
      --
      "All you have to do is be fragile and grateful. So stay the underdog." Chuck Palahniuk, Choke
    3. Re:We need a "Godwin's Law"... by TubeSteak · · Score: 1

      You made a very good argument, but there is actually one very simple way to prevent laws relating to child pr0n from enroaching on other liberties/rights.

      All the legislators need to do is to specify throughout the law that every single clause applies to child pr0n.

      Instead, what normally happens, is that the law is written and does not limit it's usage to certain situations. This is how things like the PATRIOT Act, etc get used, misused and eventually, abused.

      All the law has to say is "these records can only be subpoenaed in cases involving child-pr0n" or something to that effect. Unfortunately, law enforcement does not want that to happen.

      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
    4. Re:We need a "Godwin's Law"... by vinlud · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What if we're actually stopping would-be child molesters through the availability of Internet porn? So what happens to these people if that supply is shut off?

      It has been proven by research users of child porn need increasingly more graphic and younger children to become 'satisfied'. I therefor believe that the internet is not holding back those users of child pornography but it stimulates them. Also, for most child pornography exhanges you need something to change. This also stimulates the creation of there own material.

      I'm all for internet rights but child porn is something terrible and the internet definitely made things LOT worse.

      --
      Repeat after me: We are all individuals
    5. Re:We need a "Godwin's Law"... by idesofmarch · · Score: 1

      Don't you see, we need to take measures against these child-pornographers, in whatever way we can, before they take over the world. Imagine, back in Nazi Germany, if the people had taken a stand against their Nazi oppressors early on, World War II could have been averted and tens of millions of people would not have died.

    6. Re:We need a "Godwin's Law"... by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      On the other hand, what you or I or {insert Justice Department official here} believe is and should be irrelevant when it comes to public policy. Way too much defective public policy is formulated by people that "believe" something is true. Might as well just simplify matters by eliminating all rational discourse and return to the days of the Inquisition.

      I doubt you'll find anyone that is supportive of the abuse of children in any form, much less the abuse of children for profit. But any decision to eliminate civil liberties for a cause, any cause, must be weighed in the light of the greater good. And when it comes to our current Administration, and the unelected, appointed officials that are in charge of the Justice Department, I see little effective debate in this matter. Just a large steamroller with "Property of the United States Federal Government" stenciled all over it. Remember this: children eventually become adults. If you were a small child now, would you really want to grow up in the kind of country that America is fast becoming? Would you want to know that the freedoms you should have been able to enjoy, as part of your American birthright, were stolen by people that used the threat of harm to you to justify their actions?

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    7. Re:We need a "Godwin's Law"... by vinlud · · Score: 1

      Well i agree with you as i'm not saying we should make the internet or whatever country (i'm Dutch) in a state of total control. I only disagree with the stated assumption the internet reduces child and woman abuse by satisfying extremophiles with existing material. I'm all for an approach in which current legal possibilities are used, which is a very good option. For example, my country has at this very moment two police officers for hunting down child pornography, nationwide, which is an absolute disgrace and total joke. They should put dozens on it, which are also technically educated enough to understand the possibilities of the internet.

      --
      Repeat after me: We are all individuals
    8. Re:We need a "Godwin's Law"... by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      Yes, but devoting police resources to finding criminals is one thing, but requiring Internet Service Providers to log everything everyone does for the convenience of law enforcement is something entirely different. One is simple resource allocation, the other is invasive and dangerous. Put it this way, everyone has something to hide, no matter how insignificant it may seem. Most of us perceive the Web to be a relatively anonymous medium in which to find information. It's not really, but we treat it that way and we don't worry to much about governnment busybodies watching our online activities. That's about to change, and when it does you'd better be very, very careful about what you do online. Indefinite data retention in the hands of any government should make said government's citizens justifiably nervous.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    9. Re:We need a "Godwin's Law"... by CodeBuster · · Score: 1

      Imagine, back in Nazi Germany, if the people had taken a stand against their Nazi oppressors early on, World War II could have been averted and tens of millions of people would not have died.

      Heh...you obviously didn't live in the fading days of the Weimar Republic and the rise of the Third Reich or you would realize how utterly ridiculous that statement is. The people of Germany had been crushed for a decade under the punishing war reparations demanded by the allies at Versailles following the conclusion of the first world war. There was simply no way to squeeze that much blood from a turnip and after years of starving and suffering among the masses the people were willing to listen to just about anyone who claimed that they could make things better and especially to a skillful rabble rouser, which Hitler undoubtedly was, who played on their desires and fears. If the allies had not been so vengeful and greedy at the end of the first war the second would not have happened, but the German people were not going to take a stand against the one person who promised to put food on their tables and end their years of unemployment and suffering. Actually John Maynard Keynes, the famed British economist, predicted World War II as far back as 1919 in his book "The Economic Consequences of the Peace" from which the following excerpt was taken:

      "If we take the view that for at least a generation to come Germany cannot be trusted with even a modicum of prosperity, that while all our recent allies are angels of light, all our recent enemies, Germans, Austrians, Hungarians, and the rest, are children of the devil, that year by year Germany must be kept impoverished and her children starved and crippled, and that she must be ringed round by enemies; Nothing can then delay for very long that final civil war between the forces of reaction and the despairing convulsions of revolution, before which the horrors of the late German war will fade into nothing, and which will destroy, whoever is victor, the civilisation and the progress of our generation"

    10. Re:We need a "Godwin's Law"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You, and the DOJ, should consider the possibility that, along with making child porn easier to get, the Internet has made child porn easier to find, and/or made its customers proportionally stupider.

      And what are you trying to measure, anyway? Rate of production or of consumption? The ratio of consumption to production is undoubtedly orders of magnitude higher now.

      I haven't read the studies in question, so I don't know the answers.

  101. Actually yes. by Cyno01 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    High-schoolers have been charged with distribution of child pornography for giving their signifigant others nudie pics. I dont know the outcome of any of these cases though.

    --
    "Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
  102. A parallel concept of positive feedback looping... by Captain+Sarcastic · · Score: 1

    When Larry Niven first wrote "The Jigsaw Man" in the 1960's, he showed the idea of a loop driven entirely by positive feedback.

    His story chronicled in sidebars the idea of the organ banks as a means to use execution to benefit society. "If the odds broke right, a convicted axe murderer could end up saving more lives than he took." The problem was that (1) there was a limited number of people eligible to put into the organ banks, and (2) an increasing number of people needing organs from the organ banks. As an organ bank would be like any other bank -- they can only put out what comes into them -- they needed additional means to fill them. Thus, the government (supported by the law-abiding voters who could never see themselves being in this position) proceeded to add criminal offenses whose punishment would help replenish the organ banks. Attempted murder, armed criminal action, burglary, and so on, were added to the list of offenses. Finally, when the protagonist of the story is brought to trial at the end of the story, we find that his capital crime was reckless driving (the fiend!).

    In the afterword to the original story, Niven pointed out that his story depicted one of the better outcomes. The worst the one were the government adds "criticism of the government" to the list of capital crimes.

    The same loop seems to be occurring here. "Stop child pornography" became "stop virtual child pornography", and is now heading towards "stop offensive images."

    The goal is laudable and one worth achieving, but the means... well, I see them heading towards adding "(by the way, criticism of the government or its policies counts as offensive)."

    --
    Strike while the irony is hot! -- The Freethinker
  103. Guess what? by Rob+Simpson · · Score: 1
    I'm not sure what his country is - or what country you live in - but it applies to the United States:

    Prison sentences for rape are not uniform. A study made by the U.S. Department of Justice of prison releases in 1992, involving about 80 percent of the prison population, found that the average sentence for convicted rapists was 9.8 years, while the actual time served was 5.4 years. This follows the typical pattern for violent crimes in the US, where those convicted typically serve no more than half of their sentence [14]. Between 2002 and 2003, more than one in ten convicted rapists in Australia served a wholly suspended sentence, and the average total effective sentence for rape was seven years [15].

  104. Re:War against Pedophilia? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stastically, it's 78%. Of any group. Of course, that's if you're using the real definition of Pedophilia, and not the one used by the media.

  105. A much better way is via police "honeypots"... by Joce640k · · Score: 1

    A much better way to catch the pedos is via honeypots. These are much more targeted and much more likely to catch the criminals.

    --
    No sig today...
    1. Re:A much better way is via police "honeypots"... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Two words for you:

      HTTP Redirect

    2. Re:A much better way is via police "honeypots"... by Teun · · Score: 1

      Very difficult as it can be seen as incitement in many jurisdictions.
      After all the internet knows no borders.

      --
      "The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
  106. Encryption by Joce640k · · Score: 1
    Somehow I doubt they'll encrypt all their traffic.

    The ones at the top can encrypt it, meaning the real criminals won't be caught by this law, only the lower ones.

    --
    No sig today...
    1. Re:Encryption by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, just like the leader of the sicilian mafia... oh well...

  107. Re:Where is it? by techno-vampire · · Score: 1

    Yes, stumbled, while looking for some ordinary, every-day, garden-variety pr0n. I clicked on a picture, and the site it lead to had kiddy porn instead of adult. What's wrong with that?

    --
    Good, inexpensive web hosting
  108. Vote with your brain instead of with your wallet? by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1
    In a recent post I mentioned that Bush was elected and got several repsonses that many people voted not for Bush but against Kerry. This is kinda like making sure you when you fall to land face first to avoid hurting your hand.

    America is still somewhat of a democracy with furthermore a legal recourse to armed rebellion. IF you truly believe that the current goverment is turning your country into a dictatorship then do something about. Form a new party, dare to vote for a guy who doesn't promise you lower taxes or just buy a gun and shoot the fuckers.

    The sad fact is that freedom is only ever won by the sword and is always lost over time. Just look at any country that had a revolution by the citizens to gain their freedom. Like say. America itself for instance.

    Hell the russians did it twice and look at them. They went from the slavery off the tsars(?) to the slavery of the so-called communists, to the slavery of extreme capatalism/mafia and now poetin is trying to enslave them again.

    The price of freedom is shooting everyone trying to take it away from you.

    The child porn argument is nothing new. It is very similar to the "communist" hunt. The drugs hunt. The original witch hunt. All a would be dictator has to do is find what small group of people is currently hated the most and claims his actions are to hunt them down.

    It has worked everytime before, it will this time. Unless you right now declare freedom to be more important then childerens safety. Nope. Didn't think so.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  109. Re:OMG Think of the Children!!!! by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

    The current administration must have some sort of Nazi handbook....

    Godwin's Rules of Order?

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  110. I don't know wich is worse by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1
    That he solicted a child OR that a person from a security department is so fucking lacks about security.

    Read the article and you get an image not so much of a pervert as an incredible idiot. Either the guy has a several mental handicap or it is a setup because no normal person would give away that much info online.

    Hell, first rule of dating. Never give the bitch your phone number. Geez.

    Oh well good to see the other rule still is true. The internet where the men are men, the women are men and all the girls are police agents.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  111. Who you gonna call? by Decker-Mage · · Score: 2, Interesting
    While I'm completely opposed to the people that commit these acts, as a practical person I have to ask how they are going to enforce this? First off, roughly half the child porn is hosted on offshore sites. Are they going to send in the SEALs or Tomahawk cruise missiles? Hmmm...?

    Secondly, how are they going to track those people that use the various anonymizer networks/packages? Then there are all those child porn newsgroups that I see in various listings. Frankly, the genie is out of the bottle. Even blocking at the ISP level/connection level is out if the communications are encrypted. What they are seeking to do is technologically impossible except at the local machine level and despite what they want to achieve, even I won't allow that here despite the fact that I assume I have no privacy whatsoever anyway (that's another issue).

    Sorry Alberto, baby, but the best you can do is wail in a corner 'cause that is all you'll achieve.

    --
    "[I]t is a wise man who admits the limits of his knowledge or skill, and that pretending either causes harm." --Terry Go
    1. Re:Who you gonna call? by init100 · · Score: 1

      Are they going to send in the SEALs or Tomahawk cruise missiles? Hmmm...?

      You didn't happen to hear about the so called Hague Invasion Act? This is a US federal law that allows the US guvernment to take "any necessary action" to free US service personnel held by the ICC against the will of the United States.

    2. Re:Who you gonna call? by Decker-Mage · · Score: 1
      I don't see how one is related to the other WRT the laws as written. Perhaps there could be an executive order to use the military in such circumstances but frankly, as ex-military myself, I don't see us shooters following such an order to take an ISP down like that. Heck, use an EMP bomb/grenade to send the message.

      As for the ICC vis-a-vis American Servicemembers' Protection Act (ASPA), well to put it bluntly, they will hold one of my people at their own hazard. We are not a party to that court, signatory to any provisions of that court, and they will have jurisdiction over my cold, dead body. Believe me, you screw up you will face justice, military style, and we still have hard time and it is hard time. Not sitting around watching TV then doing your daily work out.

      Way back when, one of our guys did something real stupid and got arrested in Singapore. We raised the money to buy (bribe) him out of jail. However, he then faced military justice where the penalty was a long term at Leavenworth, Ks. Beats the heck out death, somewhat. [The Marines there do NOT like sailors and express it quite well.] No extradition treaty there either. However things might have been quite different if we hadn't been able to raise the rather large bribe amongst ourselves. Ally, no ally, although I imagine the State Department would have thrown a hissy fit. So what else is new. I don't think Ronnie would have been opposed.

      --
      "[I]t is a wise man who admits the limits of his knowledge or skill, and that pretending either causes harm." --Terry Go
    3. Re:Who you gonna call? by init100 · · Score: 1

      I don't see how one is related to the other WRT the laws as written

      If the United States would really invade friendly countries to free captured service personnel, I don't think it's to far off to think they would send some Tomahawks against an ISP or hosting company that don't want to follow US orders.

    4. Re:Who you gonna call? by Decker-Mage · · Score: 1

      Yeah, right. Can you imagine the public firestorm that would result. Your paranoia or total dislike of our military forces is showing. That order would fall under the category of an illegal order any day of the week save during a declared war, or as our beloved congress-critters like to call them these days, conflict. Sorry, but they pound that kind of thing out of our minds in the services.

      --
      "[I]t is a wise man who admits the limits of his knowledge or skill, and that pretending either causes harm." --Terry Go
    5. Re:Who you gonna call? by init100 · · Score: 1

      Your paranoia or total dislike of our military forces is showing.

      You are actually wrong here. I do not hate you, your military or your country. Your country has its flaws, just like mine do. The only entity in the United States (apart from certain unnamed corporations and related organizations) that I certainly dislike is your current president and his administration.

    6. Re:Who you gonna call? by Decker-Mage · · Score: 1

      And there's the rub as they say. For me it was the prior administration. This one isn't the greatest but it does the job. I have a lot of issues, especially on the domestic front, but as for the conduct of foreign policy and the war, no issues at all save China.

      --
      "[I]t is a wise man who admits the limits of his knowledge or skill, and that pretending either causes harm." --Terry Go
  112. It's getting thighter... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...the rope around our necks. It's getting tighter. They talked about terrorism, then they put internet and telephone surveilance on Europe. They talked about mass destruction, then they put arms in Iraq (and probably Iran to follow...) Now they talk about child porn, and put a rope on the citizens of USA. And these are just the iceberg-top of their activities designed to take away freedom. More to follow, just keep watching... ;-)

    (who is "they" you ask? well... heh... :-)

  113. Now wait just a minute! by eco2geek · · Score: 1
    The statistic is true that at least 1 in 5 children are solicited in the US by total strangers on the internet.

    I've seen that on billboards in my town. Do "1 in 5 children" have Internet (or AOL) access? Of the ones that do regularly use the Internet, do "1 in 5" use instant messaging or chatroom software? If not, how, exactly, do they get "solicited"? Or does that phrase mean, "Of the children who use the Internet, and who also go in chatrooms, 1 in 5 have been solicited"? And how the hell would you know? Pass out a certain number of surveys to third-graders, then extrapolate?

    Sounds bogus to me. And if not bogus, totally without context.

    1. Re:Now wait just a minute! by Plunky · · Score: 1
      How about '1 in 5 children [who] are solicited in the US[, are solicited] by total strangers on the internet'

      Hm, doesnt really induce any panic about the internet perverts though?

    2. Re:Now wait just a minute! by RichardX · · Score: 1

      What exactly counts as "being solicited" anyways.. there's a huge difference between say:

      "So, you're 10 years old, eh? okay, here's what I want to do to you.. "
      and
        "HI ASL? R U A GURL LETS CYBER! LOLOL! BTW HOW I MINE FOR FISH???????"

      for that matter would getting porn-site spam count as soliciting? Not that I'm saying it's right that kids should recieve that, as they certainly shouldn't, but again, there's a vast difference between being individually targetted by a paedophile who specificially wants to try and arrange to meet that kid in real life... and just being one of 3 million people who get the same a bit of spam dumped in their inbox.

      --
      Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.
  114. gb2/b/'ard by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 0, Troll
    Sound familiar. Exactly how do you know about 4chan anyway eh?

    For those who don't know. 4chan is a english image board. An image board is a website that allows users to anonymously post images. It is a trend from japan and the fast majority are indeed vile. Filled with images of under age trains and jail bait cars. Oh and mecha. (What trainspotters grow up into if they aren't cured with a cattle prod)

    the /b/ board is Hentai/Alternative. Hentai is japanese for perverted. However most of the content is what you get when you let 14yr old boys post anonymously. It ain't pretty.

    The idea of a /b/ visitor complaining about anyone else is laughable.

    If you know about /b/ then you are at the bottom of the ladder. Lookup and you will in fact see child rapists crap on you.

    To be serious the parent reminds me a bit off criminals offended by other criminals. Rapist saying they despise child rapists. WTF?

    This guy vists /b/ a channel filled with the worst of the net and then complains about japan. Right. Take a look at yourselve first kiddo.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:gb2/b/'ard by LordLucless · · Score: 1

      To be serious the parent reminds me a bit off criminals offended by other criminals. Rapist saying they despise child rapists. WTF?

      This guy vists /b/ a channel filled with the worst of the net and then complains about japan. Right. Take a look at yourselve first kiddo.


      Er...when did he say he visits it? His post contained less information about the contents of the 4chan /b/ board than yours did. If you're going to accuse him of being a perverted sicko on the basis of his post along, then you're just as guilty.

      --
      Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
    2. Re:gb2/b/'ard by taffeli · · Score: 1

      Actually, /b/ is for random. Just so that 4chan wouldn't be considered a pro-shit imageboard, I might point out that there are many other boards, such as music, news, auto and sports to name a few, on 4chan, though /b/ is indeed the most famous of them.

    3. Re:gb2/b/'ard by thegoogler · · Score: 1

      i would also like to add that the majority of the /b/tards i have talked to weren't actually serious about all the racism, sexism, pedophilia, zoophilia, and whatever else is popular that day. they're just playing along hoping for a laugh.

    4. Re:gb2/b/'ard by urinetrouble · · Score: 1

      Naw, I just have lots of wapanese friends who liked to link weird shit to me off of /b/, and in turn I got hooked onto its chaos. So yeah, I'm a bit of a /b/tard. That doesn't make me into a rapist, though. To say that is to say that anyone connected to the orly owl is a rapist. To say that is to say that anyone who likes anime, weird fun, stupid memes, or a combonation of all of the above is a dirty pedophile. To say that is kind of ignorant.

  115. Restrict the Retention to Child Pornography by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If they really only want the data retention for combatting child prnography, then they should have zero problem with a restriction that no evidence directly or indirectly obtained from a data retention policy can be used against any person in any court of law except in cases that are primarily involving child pornography.

    When someone says they need a law for X, give them X and only X. Make them say what they really want.

  116. Deviants. by Kadin2048 · · Score: 1

    It's worse than that, friend ... there are perverts out there who are getting off, even before these children are conceived! In some particularly deviant cases, even many hours or days before!

    It's sick, I tell you; just sick.

    --
    "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
  117. Rightfully arrested by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1
    I call it darwins jailtime. If you haven't evolved by now into using a addblocker then you need to be put in jail to protect the genepool. You can still mate but only same sex.

    As for a slightly more serious answer to your question. The bush goverment is also fighting a war on general porn. Just wait a few more years and then just seeing a nudie picture will get you jail time.

    Can't wait personally. I wonder how much time an american will get for opening a link I sent them to tubgirl.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  118. I am guilty by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1
    Thought it was clear by the fact that I know so much about it. Although I am not a /b/ visitor I know about it from the other 4chan channels such a /s/ sexy beautifull woman and /e/ ecchi pictures.

    At least I do not know about not4chan and renchan. Oops. (Lolicon boards)

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:I am guilty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      /b/ is random, /d/ is the hentai-alternative board.

      Child pornography is banned on 4chan, no matter which board it's posted on, including /b/ (Which is otherwise a pretty much "anything goes" place, people post junk there all day long and just have idiotic fun to waste time).

      I don't really know why you were even mentioning those other places... are you trying to stir up controversy?

      (And yes, this thread got posted on /b/, so you might see more people coming in here)

    2. Re:I am guilty by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (And yes, this thread got posted on /b/, so you might see more people coming in here)
      Humm this thread here sure is silent for such a claim, guess your "idiotic" "friends" at your immoral pedophile hangout just want to keep it safe.

  119. Re:OMG Think of the Children!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When your government is imprisoning people in gulags without trials, I'd think that some sort of comparison to previous regimes that did this might be appropriate.

  120. Google by WindBourne · · Score: 1

    I liked Google's approach to this. That is, to say no to a full search with unqualified data.

    One of the interesting points that was bought up, was that the gov. had the same ability to run data through the search engines for words/phrases, and then ask for all the hits on those; But that is not what they did. They asked for full access to unqualified data.

    I am amazed that at this time, many in the press are not pointing this out and making hay on DOJ's approachs. It should be obvious that this is not about child porn.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  121. Re:OMG Think of the Children!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Then the comparison should have been to Stalin and the Bolsheviks and not with Hitler and the Nazi's, I guess.

  122. Re:Remember - Child pornography is illegal, after by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Him: "***Possession*** of child pornography is illegal - and vile."
    You: "Look, unless you think that the ***creation*** of child pornography is ok,"

    Remember we're dealing with a law twice removed from the actual crime here.

  123. This administration by thealsir · · Score: 1

    will drive us into the stone age. Actually, I think every succeeding one will too. We're royally shoved.

    --
    Do not downmod posts "overrated" simply because you disagree with them.
  124. libraries have records by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    of your activities, that can be used against you.

    Anybody demands anonymous access to libraries?

  125. degrees of dual use by tinkerton · · Score: 1

    In the case of the Iranian efforts to procure their own enrichment facilities for nuclear fuel, the 'dual use' interpretation is that once you have the facilities for civil purposes, you're 'a long way' or even 'almost there' to having nuclear bombs. (better debate that elsewhere)

    So if you have the complete setup for tracking child pornography, then how close are you to tracking liberals and other terrorist sympathisers?

    The debating trick is to pick an example that is extreme enough so everyone is on the same side, and then to make it a prototype for your case. The last step is the ugly one.

  126. Any limitations or safeguards? by gzearfoss · · Score: 2, Interesting

    From the article:
    "Mr Gonzales also said that he is also investigating ways to ensure that ISPs retain records of a user's web activities to track down offenders."

    My questions about this are:
    1) What safeguards are put in place, so the system isn't abused? If John Doe is accused of browsing for kiddie porn, what proof is considered sufficient to let someone browse his internet usage? It *should* be the normal burden of proof as required for a normal search warrant, but as we've seen, the government has already shown it is willing to work around that limitation.
    2) What limitations are put in place? If we've obtained a search warrant for John Doe's internet records, how detailed are the records going to be? A list of IP addresses? Site names, and the time spent at each site? Data amount transferred? Specific lists of webpages requested? In any case, it's a lot of data that the ISP will need to retain. Granted, storage space is relatively cheap, but if they ask for all packets a person sends/receives, that's a LOT of data.
    3) Will the ISPs inform their customers of any changes that occur? Though I haven't seen a contract that they use, I would hope that it contains a clause about protection from fine detail tracking. (If you think someone's filesharing, you can get a rough guess by the quantity of traffic going through specific ports. You don't need to reassemble the entire file to make a rough guess)

    I guess in an ideal world, it's treated much the same as phone records - you accessed IP foo, with 25MB transferred - with the same burden of proof required to get access to both. The primary difference between the two, though, is that phone companies charge you on whom you call and connect to, while ISPs don't have site-specific rates. (Yet, at least.) To get phone records, the phone company merely needs to query their existing database of records. To get internet usage records, the ISP needs to implement new technology that they probably don't already have.

    1. Re:Any limitations or safeguards? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about summary execution if there is an abuse of the system by:
      1) The comcermed officer
      2) Random selection of a politician who voted for this or one of their descendents

      After all, they would be trying to remove freedom and democracy from the Free World!

  127. Isn't it already the norm? by D.+Book · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It sounds to me like this proposal simply makes mandatory practices that are probably already widespread but rarely discussed. Where I live, ISPs provide practically zero information to users regarding the degree to which they record their activities - what is logged, how long it is retained, and who has access - and privacy policies are quite vague. Given that many people live such a large portion of their lives online nowadays, what I find remarkable is how rarely people show some interest and merely ask about how they're being monitored, and when they do, the frequency with which such inquisitiveness and concern is ridiculed with the standard "what have you got to hide?" line of retort.

    Does your ISP retain the contents of the e-mails you've sent and received? Lists of each URL you've visited? IM traffic? Roughly how long do they retain such data? Two days, two months, two years? Who has access? 99% of people wouldn't have a clue as to the answer to any of these questions, and most don't show much concern, which is scary. I'm with an ISP that is relatively open and conversant with its users, and even though I received long-winded and seemingly earnest replies when I raised the matter some time ago, none contained a direct answer to any of the aforementioned questions. Good luck to anyone else who tries.

    1. Re:Isn't it already the norm? by user+no.+590291 · · Score: 1

      I assume everything's logged forever. I don't email anything, read anything or search for anything on unanonymized Internet connections that I wouldn't have documented in a report to my boss, the police, or my mom. Which ironically makes me a victim of censorship's chilly hand already.

  128. What's "ISP"? by layer3switch · · Score: 1

    "investigating ways to ensure that ISPs retain records of a user's web activities to track down offenders"

    So lets say, I provide wireless access to general public in my neighborhood for free, am I considered "ISP"? A blanket termed statement in laws like this makes me nervous time to time.

    --
    "Don't let fools fool you. They are the clever ones."
  129. any reason we need an English... by ivano · · Score: 1
    ...website to tell us about an important U.S. development. Or did we want a more neutral news source?

    Ciao

  130. Re:OMG Think of the Children!!!! by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

    nope because stalin wasn't a puppet of big business.

    --
    Conservatism: The fear that somewhere, somehow, someone you think is your inferior is being treated as your equal.
  131. What about Putti? by giafly · · Score: 1

    "Putti are those plump little naked boys with wings that one often sees in Renaissance, Mannerist, Baroque and Rococo art. Typically, a putto (the singular form) depicts an angel or cherub in a religious scene, but he may also come in the form of Cupid. In either case, a putto's presence symbolizes love, whether Divine or of a more earthly nature. Incidentally, you never run across ugly putti in art; they're so cute you could just pinch them." - Art History Glossary

    Images (illegal?)

    Is this is a class issue? Naked kids in anime "comics" are disgusting and illegal. Naked kids in statues are artistic and legal?

    --
    Reduce, reuse, cycle
  132. Data Retention in the USA... It's for the children by CharonX · · Score: 1

    Mr. Gonzales also said that he is investigating ways to ensure that ISPs retain records of a user's web activities to track down offenders.
    While I applaud any efford to crack down on child pornography, I can't help feeling worried.
    The EU Data Retention Law was meant to "aid in the fight against Terrorism" and now look what is happening.
    Lobby groups managed to push e.g. Germany into considering allowing the Industry to tap into this datapool, simply by demanding it from the ISP and without the consent of a judge, to pursue software/music/movie piracy.
    Ironically, if German law-enforcment agencies do wish to do the very same thing, they can do it only for "serious" crimes and only with the consent of the judge (as it should be).
    I think I gonna file a suggestion that the German government asserts copyright over all child pornography and then they could take the online logs of the offenders (and anyone else they accuse) without judge-consent, claiming its protecting their copyright...

    --
    +++ MELON MELON MELON +++ Out of Cheese Error +++ redo from start +++
  133. In sales it is called Face in the Door Technique. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That is opposed to the Foot in the Door Technique. Foot in the door is where you ask for something small in order to work your way up to something big. In the Face in the Door Technique you work the other way. You ask for something enormous so that when you take something small nobody complains.

      Claim you are demanding the rights to track people's on-line sexuality so that when you merely monitor their political actions they think they're getting a good deal. Straight out of sales school. Fitting for Republicans to use sales techniques to manage policy.

      Nixon was impeached for wiretapping the Democrats, the current Republican adminstration is wiretapping the entire country. This child porn charade is the technique they use to make people feel grateful for the abuse out of fear that it could have been much worse. It is worse.

  134. The Only Solution That Works by flyneye · · Score: 1, Funny

    Pedophiles have the highest recidivism(sue me I don't spell it everyday)rate of any other crime.They just do it again.They can't help it.They've dropped out of the human race and have become predators,rapists and murderers.The cheapest prisons still cost the taxpayer $60,000 per prisoner per year.
    People,a bullet only costs a few cents,hunting license bring revenue to the tax base.Lets turn this into a fun sport and generate revenue rather than losing it.

    --
    *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
  135. 'MOoo' said the sheep by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What amazes me is, this site is a summary of the world, we have problems yet we just hide in our corners and give our opinions. The Internet and knowledge should always remain free. Why not stand up and do something about it?, instead of slashdoting lame links, start a website with a petition and solutions to the problem.

    Trying and failing is better then never trying at all.

    You don't deserve freedom if you don't fight for it.

  136. How to control the internet by ElephanTS · · Score: 1

    I've been waiting for this story for a good few months. There are definite plans afoot to control the content of the net by the Whitehouse and it's going to work using the arguments of 1)kiddie pr0n, 2) terrorism.

    The next strand of this attack will be something along the lines of 'terrorists used the internet to plan 9/11' - watch out for it. (This has already been mentioned but will now be reinforced).

    In reality, the govt hate the fact that people are getting information from the net and not swallowing officially sanctioned news to the same degree. I believe that we will look back at this time and see it as the golden age of the internet and it's going to be the threat of pronists and the terrorists that lead us away from it.

    AFAIK, child abuse begets more child abuse. People are not corrupted by kiddiepr0n, they seek it out if they are already corrupted by their own life experience (ie, they themselves were abused as children). Most abuse is within the family, not from strangers and has presumably existed for as long as there were people.

    --
    spoonerize "magic trackpad"
  137. Maybe if they actually tried first by Killshot · · Score: 1

    If the government would stop trying to equate legal porn with child porn and stop focusing so much energy on "obcenity" and actually put some resources into actually stopping child porn.. maybe they would actually get somewhere. And it wouldn't need to be done by tracking people.

  138. Just another excuse for the police state by Snaller · · Score: 1

    Sad world on so many levels.

    --
    If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
  139. Politics, Freedom and Protecting the Week by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No one will get any argument that children need to be defended against pedophiles, and other nasties in the world today. Politics and people in the messy business of that are mostly there for political point scoring, so saying things like introduce logging of everyones internet access so you can catch people who browse sites which carry child porn can be arrested.

    That not only shows a blatent disregard for rights and freedoms of people, but it also shows a blatent ignorance of the real problems involved. The better aproaches would probably be things like Education, chidlren need to be taught that they can come to there teachers if there unhappy at home, Teachers need to be taught how to spot the sighs of neglect and abuse. For the more major cases.

    The second thing we need is support, providing psycactric help for those who have been abused, and those who are involved in the phereifiy crimes, like the purchasers of child porn, who have likely been abused in there childhood.

    Thirdly, we need funding for bodies like the FBI to tackle the problem, child abuse in the home can be tackled with the first, child abduction hopfully remidied slightly by the second.. but there's also child traficing, children abducted in other countries and brought accross borders and being abused in illegal brothels, and that needs to be stoped and stoped by a body who can actually investigate the corruption of officials, illegal imigration and put force into stopping the people responsible.

    I suppose my fourth argument is that people who try to use child abuse to gain political points should be arrested for child abuse too.

  140. The War on Whatever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Orwell was only wrong about the year.

    I'm so sick and tired, not to mention extremely scared, of all of these creeping attacks on liberties and privacy perpetrated in the name of one great bogie or another. If it's not cp, it's terrorism. Before that, it was the War on Drugs (as if prosecuting marijuhana users ever made any difference).

    The price of freedom is that some people will abuse it, and that price must be paid. The alternative: no freedom.

    As Orson Wells said: "The job of the police is only ever easy in a police state". Well, do we want a police state people, because that's we're we are all headed at this rate, and I'm talking about all of the western democracies. It is not the job of democracy to make the police's job easy. Quite the contrary: the job of prosecuting citizens must always be difficult in a free society.

    Deep in the Bush and Blair ivory toweres, faceless powerbrokers look with envious eyes on China's internet censorship and quick bullet-in-the head executions and say, "boy, we wish we had that. All that red tape and oppression would up my span of control and salary untold."

    History shows that the freedom and democracy we have enjoyed for the last few hundred years (at most) is not "normal": indeed, the "normal" state of human organisation over the course of history has been feudal oppression or cruel dictatorship, yet we continue to take our hard-won freedoms blithely for granted and allow our politicians to take these away, bit by bit in this case.

    Recently we have seen the end of the Right to Silence in the UK, huge extensions of the time people can be held without charge in many countries, and terrifying increases in governments' abilities to monitor citizens.

    WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!

    I think Albert Speer, while repenting at Nuremberg, said something to the effect that the coming technology would give governments unprecedented power over citizens, and that is exactly what is happening.

    WAKE UP PEOPLE!!! IT"S ALMOST TOO LATE ALREADY !!!!

  141. Martin Niemoller for a new age: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    First they came for the Terrorists,
        and I didn't speak up,
            because I wasn't a Terrorist.
    Then they came for the Pedophiles,
        and I didn't speak up,
            because I wasn't a Pedophile.
    Then they came for the Immigrants,
        and I didn't speak up,
            because I was a citizen.
    Then they came for me,
        and by that time there was no one
            left to speak up for me.

    1. Re:Martin Niemoller for a new age: by adamdeprince · · Score: 1

      You forgot ...

      The Anarchists ...
      The Communists ...
      The Hippies ...
      The Drug Dealers ...

      This has been going on for a while.

  142. The cheese god commands you. by Noxal · · Score: 1

    Saying that pedophilia stems from somewhere is like saying gay people chose to be gay, or that black people all shoot up melanin. It's simply not true. Most pedophiles don't even think about touching child porn, because it's massively illegal, and because most of it involves abuse of the child, and they don't want that.

    Sir, please separate the affliction from those whom act upon it in a way that harms others.

    General society out there basically tolerates a lot of weird shit...

    Yes, it does. Because most of this weird shit doesn't hurt anyone, and the only problems with it are from these bullshit religious nutbags who need to have their genitals set on fire. In fact, we need more "weird shit" in this world. It would get rid of this stupid mainstream shit that everyone "cool" follows, and get some actual diversity in the world. Yes, diversity. Not the rainbow gay pride type, but real diversity.

    I seem to be babbling now, so I'll shut up.

    1. Re:The cheese god commands you. by urinetrouble · · Score: 1

      You have some good points, though.

  143. Will we be required to keep records .. by torpor · · Score: 1
    --
    ; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
  144. Re:Why hasn't anyone been arrested for The Godfath by init100 · · Score: 1

    why has the same not happened to those that produce and consume other fictional criminal activity, like The Godfather or even the movie Hostel, which I found stomach turning?

    The difference is that those are produced by the big movie industry which is in bed with governments all over the western world. The government couldn't really be expected to send their bedfellows to jail, could they?

  145. Level three sex offenders by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here is a interesting twist. If the issue is truly child molestors, why not attack this from the obvious angle? For example, why do we let people who are convicted level three sex offenders, considered highly likely to offend, back out in to the general populace? Known and convicted child molesters are let out in society all the time. If Bush and his pathetic camp of utter bafoons were actually interested in protecting the children of America, they would do something about this OBVIOUS real problem. But they could care less about that because:

    1. They can't use it to cover up the War on Terror.
    2. They can't use it to find some remote trace of justification for thousands of American people dying for nothing.

    Which is really why they want to go digging through all the web traffic...it is a pathetic desperate attempt to find something....ANYTHING..in particular when elections are drawing near, that will make the American people think there was some form of justification for the war. That, and scare them into voting Republican...which was a fairly good tactic during past elections. And regardless of if people support the Democratic party or not, I think any sane and honest person can plainly see the current administration is corrupt and the current Congress and Senate have no balls. Get rid of them ALL.

  146. ANONYMIZER by way2trivial · · Score: 1

    at the actual point of connection
    (that means how YOU get to your ISP)

    they can track pretty much anything you do..

    try this..

    traceroute to your 20 or 30 most common websites..

    see the first hop?

    --
    every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
    1. Re:ANONYMIZER by user+no.+590291 · · Score: 1

      Based on what I've read about the founder of anonymizer.com, I wouldn't trust them to keep secrets. In any case, such services will become illegal without logging, which would force them offshore or put them out of business entirely.

    2. Re:ANONYMIZER by AnyoneEB · · Score: 1

      Which is why you need the proxied requests to be encrypted like Tor. All the ISP knows is that you are sending/recieving X amount of data and possibly that that data is being sent via Tor.

      --
      Centralization breaks the internet.
    3. Re:ANONYMIZER by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      It can be made illegal for anonymous anything to be run on American soil. The irony of this is that law-abiding Americans who simply don't want their government snooping on them will have to turn to solutions hosted in other nations.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    4. Re:ANONYMIZER by AnyoneEB · · Score: 1

      That is a possibility. Hopefully if that is ever attempted, the American public will understand the importance of anonymous speech.

      --
      Centralization breaks the internet.
  147. Good time to check your router settings by mikehilly · · Score: 1

    Sometimes I open up my wireless network when friends and family come over. They don't always want the bother of connecting and password... blah blah blah. Its easier on me and them, plus I have really good log system on router. With crap like this, makes me double worried about opening it up even once in a while. I usually shut it down almost immediately after they(friend/family) leave, but sometimes I forget. Oh, and for those out there that say XP or whatever will remember the passphrase, sure untill I change it every 90 days. I don't open up the network very often, but things are very limited access wise and I have a very good log system....

    Stupid government. ugg.

  148. you're a hysterical twit by circletimessquare · · Score: 0

    level headed moderate: "i think homosexual marriage is ok"
    conservative twit: "so you're saying you support pedophilia and necrophilia? you support people marrying their dogs or dead people?"

    wtf?!

    level headed person: "i think the government should fight child pronography"
    liberal twit: "government surveillance has been used to damage the mechanisms that are used to correct and limit the government -- free speech and the ability to promote political challenges to the government"

    wtf?!

    same idiotic hysteria at work, from opposite ideological directions

    this may come as a shocking realization to some people, but there is no slippery slope

    level headed people- i know, shock and horror, can keep the issues separate in their head. that when i support gay marriage, i am supporting ONLY gay marriage. that when i support the government's fight on child pornography, i support ONLY the government's fight on child pornography

    clear headed people can keep the issue of gay marriage, and the issue of child pornography, SEPARATE from irrational fears

    and your inability to prevent your irrational imagination creep into your percetion of the issue only makes you a hysterical twit: you don't help the causes you care about, you hurt it

    government intrusion on civil liberties is an idea that is SEPARATE form the fight on child pornography, and level-headed people can keep the ideas separate

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:you're a hysterical twit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      clear headed people can keep the issue of gay marriage, and the issue of child pornography, SEPARATE from irrational fears

      Ha! Because american politicians and the voting public are so very clear-headed and never succumb to irrational fears. No chance of a slippery slope in this country!

      Naive twit.

    2. Re:you're a hysterical twit by KarmaMB84 · · Score: 1

      They'll take a little bit at a time. That's why it's called *erosion*. We won't notice that they're about a mile away from the original target because they moved an inch at a time until they're targeting us instead of the paedos with "thought crime" laws and the power to enforce them.

    3. Re:you're a hysterical twit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      this may come as a shocking realization to some people, but there is no slippery slope

      The only hope for the defense of freedom lies in it's fanatical defenders.

  149. Only Geeks Would Defend Child Pornographers by Black-Man · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Anyone... repeat... anyone who would view pics or even cartoons of child porn have the inherent tendencies to go out and molest a child. It is so pervasive in our society today, from priests to boy scout leaders to teachers to coaches... its time we start executing these preverts. And anyone who defends their actions should be ashamed.

    1. Re:Only Geeks Would Defend Child Pornographers by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 1

      And anyone who defends their actions should be ashamed.

      But the geeks here aren't defending thire actions. They're trying to defend everyone else from the reactions to those actions. Unsuccessfully.

      --
      May the Maths Be with you!
    2. Re:Only Geeks Would Defend Child Pornographers by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Any who looks at X must have tendencies to do X. Therefore, execute those who look at X.

      Let us define a sentence B, as B="Sex with a child."

      You read the last sentence, B. Therefore, you have tendencies to do B. Therefore, please do us all a favor and follow your own argument to its logical conclusion.

      Also, do not be shameful (following your own argument) and do something silly like defend your actions.

    3. Re:Only Geeks Would Defend Child Pornographers by Phroggy · · Score: 1

      Anyone... repeat... anyone who would view pics or even cartoons of child porn have the inherent tendencies to go out and molest a child. It is so pervasive in our society today, from priests to boy scout leaders to teachers to coaches... its time we start executing these preverts. And anyone who defends their actions should be ashamed.

      Anyone... repeat... anyone who would view movies or even cartoons that depict bank robberies have the inherit tendencies to go out and rob banks. So, to protect our economy, we should subpoena Blockbuster for a list of people who rented The Italian Job, and lock them up.

      I don't defend the actions of people who support the exploitation of children. But I do support the right of an artist to DRAW PICTURES of whatever they want, I don't care if it's a cartoon of children having sex with Mohammed. Don't show it to me, I'm not interested... but so what if somebody else wants to see it? Why should I get to decide whether that's OK or not? Why should the government get to decide?

      --
      $x='S24;r)>63/* h@<5+oZ)32"5cz';$me='phroggy'x$];
      $x=~y+ -xz+\0-Tx+;print$_^chop$me for split'',$x;
  150. I don't trust Gonzales by HangingChad · · Score: 1
    And I don't believe anything he says. He's cut from the same lying cloth as the rest of that bunch. This is Iraq WMD's all over again. The facts are law enforcement is already very effective at tracking down child porn and international cooperation has increased dramtically. We don't need this law for that reason, which begs the question...what's the real reason the Bush administration wants ISP's to retain records?

    The problem with lying to people for so long is no one believes you if you're telling the truth. But this doesn't pass the smell test.

    If the Justice Dept. wanted to something really useful with their time they'd start an investigation of the Federalist Society.

    --
    That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
  151. Re:Vote with your brain instead of with your walle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    America is still somewhat of a democracy with furthermore a legal recourse to armed rebellion.

    A legal recourse to armed rebellion? Where the hell in the constitution or the legal code does it say that it's legal to murder politicians if you disagree with what they're doing?

    Last time I checked, article 3, section 3 of the constitution specifically defined "levying War against [the United States]" as treason. It's hard to see what an armed rebellion could be considered, other than levying war against the United States.

  152. the hysteria is here, not in the govt by circletimessquare · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    i'm reading all of the comments in the thread, and i can't help but smack my forehead when i see all the panic and hysteria and fear at work here

    and it is especially laughable and ironic, because one post points out the old joke: "won't someone think of the children!"

    so some people here believe that what is motivating the fight on child pornography is a type of hysteria?

    really?

    child pornography is real

    very real

    meanwhile, goose stepping fascists controlling your life a la george orwell is not real

    IT'S NOT REAL

    to which many you would say to me: "not yet! watch out! here it comes!"

    isn't this a type of hysteria? can't some of you see how YOU are the hysterical twits here rather than those fighting child pornography?

    that is, is it POSSIBLE in your mind that the us govt can take measures to fight child pronography, and we are NOT becoming an orwellian state... at the same time

    is that possible in your mind?

    is that REALLY so far out there? that what is motivating the government is- gasp, horror, shock, drumroll: FIGHTING CHILD PORNPGRAPHY. not taking away your rights? or is the illuminati at work here, desperately trying to turn you into a slave? a secret agenda?

    do you live in a comic book? a b-grade hollywood plot? GET REAL!

    is it POSSIBLE that the people in the government can keep the idea of child pronography and your civil liberties SEPARATE? or is everyone in the us govt a bunch of agent smiths a la the matrix running around keeping you deluded about your rights being eroded

    GET REAL YOU HYSTERICAL TWITS!

    are some of you so overwhelmed with fear and hysteria, that you cannot keep the issue of fighting child pornography and the the fight for personal freedom as separate issues, that most every other level headed person can see as separate?

    we can't fight child pornography without impying that we now live in a fascist state?!

    REALLY???

    YOU ARE THE HYSTERICAL TWITS WHO CANNOT SEE THAT FIGHTING CHILD PORNOGRAPHY IS JUST THAT, AND ONLY THAT

    lead with your mind, not your irrational fears

    your govt is not senator palpatine, your life is not v for vendetta

    please, try thinking in the real world, stop thinking bad hollywood paranoid schizophrenic fantasies are a valid way to think about how your world works

    because all i see at work in the comments here are loud, shrill, hystrical twits, completely deluded about the valid fight against child pornography, and that that valid purpose can be served without ANY implications on your much vaunted civil rights

    your rights do not hang by a sliver on the edge of a precipice

    because the people in your govt are just PEOPLE, just like you

    they are not dark fantastic monsters form a bad cartoon/ movie

    get real

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:the hysteria is here, not in the govt by gbutler69 · · Score: 0

      Hmmm.....I think you make some very valid points. Maybe it's good that we have "Hysterical Twits" on both sides of the issue. Maybe that is what helps to maintain a balance. Kind of like Yin-Yang? Think about it. Maybe we need extremists on both sides of an issue just to maintain "Balance in the Force".

      --
      Over-the-top Response Guy! Giving "Over-the-Top Responses" since 1970.
  153. Get your gun. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes, I believe the opportunity to solve our problems with words has passed. But before you go storming into the Capitol building or "red states", I would suggest you go for the lobbyists first. So-called "special interest groups" have hijacked the basic functioning of government, and it is too far out of control to stop now. I guess the real problem behind everything is that nobody holds anybody accountable. Sure, we get tossed a few scraps now and then: Enron, TYCO, Abramoff, Cunningham. Meanwhile the current administration does pretty much as it pleases, and with no real power the other party is pretty much helpless to stop it. And it doesn't help that half of the population is under some kind of hypnotism, either.

    In closing, I will leave you with this:

    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. -- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, -- That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

    Please take a few moments to complete this brief survey:

    1. Is the government ruling without the consent of the governed?
    2. Is the government being destructive with regards to your unalienable rights?
    If you answered "Yes" to question 2, please complete the following questions.
    3. Is the government's destructive behavior more than light and transient?
    4. Is the government's destructive behavior insufferable?

    If you answered "Yes" to all four questions, CONGRATULATIONS!!!. Hurry up and get your gun; I'll meet you out back.

    And don't waste your time, FBI. This is all hypothetical; yeah, that's the ticket. :)

    In all seriousness, is it time for a changing of the guard? I'm just not sure. On one hand, the events that have transpired don't seem to be all that henious; on the other hand, maybe I am just suffering the sufferable evils and clinging on to what I have been accustomed. It's a fine line between the two, and it's very difficult to distinguish them.

    1. Re:Get your gun. by BalanceOfJudgement · · Score: 1

      >> In all seriousness, is it time for a changing of the guard?

      I have asked myself this same question many times in the past couple of years.

      There was a time I believed civil discussion was possible; when, if people merely understood what was at stake, the question would become moot and people would act in their own self interest.

      But there are two problems here, and I was foolish to believe they were ever not problems:

      1. The corrupt have spent the past 100 years telling people what is good for them - and "freedom" isn't included in that list. People now care far more about their video iPod and their sewage line and their electricity and their American Idol, than they do about freedom. Freedom, to most, is only a means to an end.. and they have been given their ends, without the need for freedom.

      2. The gradual erosion of our freedoms is a much more effective tool than the sudden enslavement of a people. I will ask this question I asked on another /. story today:

      Is a person still a slave, if they do not know they are a slave?

      The answer is unhesitatingly YES. However, few are capable of making that distinction anymore, because they no longer are able to draw the line. If told you were a slave in a world that appears free, would you believe it?

      Would you want to?

      Would you care?

      By gradually changing what people expect as a standard of freedom, freedom loses meaning.

      Welcome to the 21st century.

      I fully intend to overthrow the world, and I am patient enough to wait 50 years to do it. The world is beyond saving; only its destruction can save it now.

      Go ahead, FBI, come after me. And I'll make you wish you were never born.

      --

      We are the fire that lights our world.. and we are the fire that consumes it.
  154. Almost as immoral as the child pornographers. by gweihir · · Score: 2, Insightful

    These people victimize the children again by using them to further their own agenda, which has nothing to do with child pornography. It is about better surveilance, givinig the appearance of doing something which is good and that nobody dares to speak out against. Personal guess: This is a try to do something about the abysmal popularity ratings of the current president and his team. Also more surveilance would definively be good. Could be used against all those that think Bush is not doing a good job. Even if they only fear that the surveilance would be used for that would be nice.

    I think that the child-pornography problem is being blown entirely out of proportion today, for the usual selfish reasons. I think that the existing laws and penalties are adequate and that it is the job of the police (and not the government) to find the people creating and using this stuff. So far they seem reasonable successful. And to say it quite clear: A free society is worth a lot more than a society free of child pornography. Even is some people seem unable to see that.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    1. Re:Almost as immoral as the child pornographers. by gweihir · · Score: 1

      I know very well waht child pornography is, thank you. But do you know what a police state is?Or are you one of these poeple that believe saving a relatively small number of children is worth removing basic freedoms of hundreds of millions, many of them children as well? And don't forget that there are already laws against child pornography and people that hunt those down engaged in it. So the question is: Would these new laws actually make a real diference? Is _this_ difference worth removing the freedoms of hundreds of millions?

      For example in Germany there were zero (!) Internet wiretaps last year made under a new special law aimed at fighting child pornography. There are however efforts to extend these laws to cover copyright infringement as well. Yes, you heard right, copyright infringement and child pornography in the same bin, with the first being the real agenda. Now, how immoral is that?

      As to my statement that the problem is blown out of proportion, it stems from a conversation I had with one of the federal police officers fighting internet crime (fraud and illegal pornography) here. The gist is that this problem is not increasing. It just gets more visible with the Internet. Thereby it becomes a terget for political exploitation. And an obsession for stupid and immoral people like you that think that the ends justify the means.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  155. Money ill-spent by Tony · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Funny, isn't it? We need a 100% intrusive government to stop .01% of crime. Meanwhile, Head Start is getting slashed into non-existence, "No Child Left Behind" is destroying an already-faulty education system, and 8.3 million children live without health insurance. 1500 children die each year from neglect and abuse. And so on.

    --
    Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
  156. Fucking brilliant by Tony · · Score: 1

    You are absolutely fucking brilliant, my anonymous friend. That'd follow the Bush doctrine for the eradication of terrorism in America:

    The terrorists hate us for our freedom, so let's just get rid of the freedom and they'll no longer hate us.

    --
    Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
  157. Worse than you know by Tony · · Score: 1

    An acquaintance of mine (let's call him Jim) has recently gone through a fairly harrowing ordeal. He and his family sued the Catholic church because Jim was molested as a child by a priest. Part of the original agreement was that this priest would never be around children again.

    Yeah. The church merely shuffled the priest around, to various places with children. The church doesn't even bother to take these things seriously.

    --
    Microsoft is to software what Budweiser is to beer.
  158. Just need.. by Unski · · Score: 1

    ..this fella. The Paedo Finder General, a cartoon character moulded out of the ignorance and spite surrounding such a sensitive issue. I cannot speak highly enough of the creators of Monkey Dust, the only truly entertaining spectacle that I have seen in quite a while. And series 2 has been released on Bittorrent, legit, as the BBC chickened out of releasing it on DVD in this current hysterical climate.

    "..and by the power vested in by {prurient wishful thinking/mawkish documentries made by martin bashir/a bloke in the pub who knew for sure/The Daily Mail} I pronounce you Guilty of Paedophilia."

  159. Just read the name ocf section 1.2 by The+Creator · · Score: 1

    "The rape putic applications"...

    --

    FRA: STFU GTFO
  160. Four? I gotta take issue. by Grendel+Drago · · Score: 1

    Four sounds pretty low. What about all those missing-children posters that don't say "abducted by non-custodial parent", but rather, "may have gone to meet with an adult male in such-and-such a city". Does it count if some fourteen year old runs away from home to get molested?

    --
    Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
  161. Ddogg? by Grendel+Drago · · Score: 1

    I'm almost afraid to ask, and I have a weird feeling that it would be bad to google for that string.

    --
    Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
    1. Re:Ddogg? by Orionetheus · · Score: 1

      It's one of the many labels on childporn files on p2p networks. among lolita, kiddie,underage,preteen, ddogg is one of the original distributors online i think.

      --
      To each his own.
  162. Comrade. by Grendel+Drago · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Who translated 'tovarisch' as 'comrade'? It sounds just weird enough for people to go around calling each other 'comrade' that we'll think of them as weird and otherish. Why isn't it translated as 'buddy'? Does it really sound as strange and alien to the Russian ear to call each other 'tovarisch' as it does to American ears to call each other 'comrade'?

    --
    Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
  163. Idiots by nurb432 · · Score: 1

    Is the general public really this stupid and gullible?

    Its not like we can change what they are going to do to us anyway, so they might as well be honest about it.

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
    1. Re:Idiots by Headcase88 · · Score: 1

      If they did something so out-of-line that even stupid people (and I mean stupid) got pissed off, there could be a revolution.

      Too bad nothing short of something like banning alchohol or putting cameras in our homes would make enough people bother. (The gov't will have to wait at least 50 years before they can go onto that kind of stuff).

      --
      "When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
  164. Having actually been alive in 1984 by tlynch001 · · Score: 1

    In 1984 everyone jumped at a chance to write articles drawing comparisons between America and the novel. Now, more than 20 years later, people are still invoking the title. In 20 more years will we still be screaming 'It's 1984!' ?

    1. Re:Having actually been alive in 1984 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course. After 400 years people still make references to Shakespeare. Nineteen Eighty-Four continues to be a useful analogy (though you can argue about how effective it is...) simply because it is so well-known. And the forces that, in Orwell's world, led to the creation of a global police state, are alive and well in our world, and they're not going anywhere anytime soon.

  165. Re:Why hasn't anyone been arrested for The Godfath by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 1

    It is nothing more than thought crime.

    but thought crime is wrong!! Thinking something is just as bad as doing it. Why are you objecting to obligatory mind probes. If you hvae nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. You're not thinking bad thoughts are you?

    --
    May the Maths Be with you!
  166. The effecacy of the "fight terrorism" card... by notnAP · · Score: 0, Troll

    ... must be wearing off. Hmmm.... by what other reason can we justify our powergrab...

  167. Re:In sales it is called Face in the Door Techniqu by tinkerton · · Score: 1

    I think you're describing something very different, though it may apply to the same situation.

  168. do you believe in a jury of your peers? by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    do you wish to be tried by your 12 of your fellow men? or an "expert"

    an "expert" might know more about DNA analysis than a lyaman, but we have wisely chosen to have neutral uninvolved parties judge us, as "experts" are often not only educated on technical matters, but indoctrinated intoan agenda, so that they find your guilt innocence according to factors other than the case before you

    this instinc tis democratic, we trust our fellow man to elect our president, as we should

    do you trust your fellow man?

    do you really consider them so irrational?

    and then, in the same breath, to rail against elitists controlling your freedoms?

    which is it?

    trust the population and hate the aristocrats?

    or fear the general public like an aristocratic asshole?

    make up your mind, i have: i trust the wisdom of the american people implicitly, all the way, 100%

    i am a populist, i hope you ar eone too, and not an elitist asshole indoctrinated into some evil stupid agenda, whether form the right or the left

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:do you believe in a jury of your peers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whom do I trust?

      Neither the population or the aristocrats.

      You trust the people 100%. How delightfully simple. Fortunately, this government is not designed to be changed willy-nilly by the "wisdom" of the people. That's why there is a system of checks and balances, so we don't live by mob rule.

  169. Re:An abomination unto man, from man. by Jon_A_Mnemonic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Oral sex was also considered abnormal (inhuman, disgusting, yada yada) once upon a time. I hope we don't have to go back to pre-BJ days, because that would suck. Or not suck, I guess. If you go back far enough, the norm was to throw a woman down and jump her, whether she was willing or not, and raping young boys in conquered cities was not at all abnormal. Depends on the society, where they draw moral lines as relates to sexuality. Personally, as long as everyone involved is consensual, and nobody involved is prepubescent, and everyone's happy after they're done with their business, then I figure it ain't up to me to try to overlay MY sexual values on people who are happy without my interference.

    Liberals are more of the 'do whatever you want as long as there are no children involved and everyone consents' whereas conservatives tend to be more of the 'do it our way or it's wrong and you need to be punished, because our morals > yours anytime the two aren't aligned'.

  170. Superior way to child molestation? by walterbyrd · · Score: 1

    I think they already do this: a cop goes to a chat room pretending to be a child, a meeting is arranged, and the cops pick up the offender.

    I suppose they would need to keep the online records of the cops, and the offender, but that's it.

    Of course they wouldn't actually catch somebody molesting a child, so it would be much lesser offense. But, at least they would identify some predators.

  171. Re:OMG Think of the Children!!!! by Firehed · · Score: 1
    Godwin's Rules of Order?
    I'm thinking Mein Kampf.
    --
    How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
  172. Dan Savage mentioned that this week. by Grendel+Drago · · Score: 2, Informative

    Child porn was mentioned in this week's Savage Love. Point was made that, whereas there used to be a clear distinction between children who were in such porn and the adults who made it, those lines has become blurred, what with the recent myspace arrests and such. I can't come up with a good way to disentangle that. Our current system of laws leads to some ridiculous outcomes (take naked pictures of yourself when you're underage, grow older, be arrested for exploiting... yourself?), but anything I can think of isn't much better.

    --
    Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
    1. Re:Dan Savage mentioned that this week. by Wolfger · · Score: 1
      Our current system of laws leads to some ridiculous outcomes (take naked pictures of yourself when you're underage, grow older, be arrested for exploiting... yourself?)
      Or how about this: 18 year old boy has sex with 16 year old girl, and that's fine (it's legal in many states). Same boy takes picture of same girl naked, and gets sent to the federal pennitentiary for kiddie porn and is on the "sex offender" list for life.
  173. The ultimate solution... by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 1
    I have the solution

    All Adult male Americans must have a webcam superglued to their dick. Then we can catch them in the act!

    --
    Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
  174. And in other news ... by Skapare · · Score: 1

    ... the Bush administration announces a proposed law to prohibit the use of encrypted web access. "There will be little or no impact by this law, since the Constitution does not provied any right of privacy." stated attorney general Aberto Gonzales.

    --
    now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
  175. Re:An abomination unto man, from man. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your failing is your lack of insight and historical perspective. Instead, what I gather from your re-gurgitations are more puppet strings from the TV pundit hand. What you failed to notice (or purposely omit, perhaps) was the historical trend of public, not private, acceptance of those destructive inclinations and the consequences stemming from it. I can only gather you are very young to have missed that point made above.

    There is no conservative or liberal thrust to change your inclinations, only a reasonable backlash against the fiery tide of abnormals to accept their public behaviour, or legislate to it. For example, the irony and relevance of such folly is not lost on the homosexual agenda itself, "It's a private matter and none of your affair.", followed by "I'm coming out of the closet and telling everyone" and "we demand gay marriage accepted by all". It's a classic case of systemic bipolar disorder. Confusing logic, followed by a reaffirmation of it. If it's private, keep it as such. There are no inherit "rights" to be legislated from your public overlay onto mine which pits nature against itself. Nor is there cause to celebrate, remotely tolerate, or allow man and child in sexual discorse that same brevity. Is that the milestone in human development which we have achieved so far? At war with nature, reason, logic, and absolutes? Perhaps some are at war with themself. Pathological logic indeed. Some 2000 years ago, the Roman Empire collapsed upon itself for the very same weight of vile cast upon it's bed. Every vice of man was tolerated. Every Roman citizen succumbed to it.

    Now, we have that same manifestation in pedophelia prevelant on the public internet, with some calls for reason to accept it (or even tolerate it, or even moderate zygote jokes on /. about it as funny). When taken in small bites over the course of decades, the erosion of a rotting apple lessens in bitterness as you approach the core. At that point, the old is forgotten and discarded, while yet another spoiling fruit is plucked anew and harvested for it's malnourishment. I think mankind's relatively short lifespan of 70 years was designed in part and purpose to see if we could draw upon the countless sum of wisdom of those short spans which passed before us.

  176. Re:OMG Think of the Children!!!! by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

    nope because stalin wasn't a puppet of big business.

    and Hitler was?

    Personally, if I was a power mad and corrupt president, I think I'd rather follow the Stalin model. The Hitler model doesn't end well (deep in a bunker, with one's country crumbling around them and the meth-amphetamine stash running low).

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  177. Congratulations by Overly+Critical+Guy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Congratulations, Slashdot. You've turned what was an anti-child porn initiative into a conspiracy-preaching, Bash-bushing session. I knew when the phrase "Bush administration" was used in the summary that it would be another Bush-bashing session with conspiracy theories flying wildly. It's like pressing a button on a robot.

    "Police state?" Oh, please. I put as much stock into that phrase when liberals use it as when they use "fascist dictator" and "regime." Such people have neither lived in an actual regime nor under a fascist dictator in a police state. Ask a Holocaust survivor sometime what a fascist dictator really is.

    --
    "Sufferin' succotash."
    1. Re:Congratulations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Better still, go back in time* to a few years before the world realised what Hitler was up to, and ask that same holocaust survivor what a fascist dictator really is. I suspect the answer would sound rather like "Something that happens in other countries."

      *exactly how to achieve this left as an exercise for the reader.

    2. Re:Congratulations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      If you're going to call yourself Overly Critical Guy, you shouldn't write comments which demonstrate your failure to understand English vocabulary.

      A "regime" is a government. It's often used to describe an authoritarian government, but that's not inherent in the word. You live in a regime. Seriously. I don't even know where you live but I can guarantee you it's in a regime.

      If you want to whine about liberal hyperbole then fine, but don't be a clown.

    3. Re:Congratulations by laughingcoyote · · Score: 1

      Congratulations, Slashdot.

      Actually, I wasn't paid to have this debate by Slashdot, I jumped in all on my own!

      You've turned what was an anti-child porn initiative into a conspiracy-preaching, Bash-bushing session.

      Actually, the assertion that this is a poor law, as it will do very little against child porn while being a massive invasion of privacy. Care to debate that assertion on its merits, or just try to play devil's advocate, or whatever it is you're doing? By the way, we have the right to disagree with proposed laws in America. That's generally known as "freedom".

      I knew when the phrase "Bush administration" was used in the summary that it would be another Bush-bashing session with conspiracy theories flying wildly.

      Actually, the concerns here are with the proposed forced data retention. This would pave the way for significant invasions of privacy, and I believe we have not only the right, but the responsibility, to strongly question whether that should be done. Again, would you like to argue for this policy on its -merits-, or just be insulting?

      "Police state?" Oh, please. I put as much stock into that phrase when liberals use it as when they use "fascist dictator" and "regime."

      Firstly, "liberals" are far from the only party to frequently use the term "fascist dictator" or "police state"-and tell me, what party was the guy in who advocated "regime change"? (You've also been corrected on regime-it is an entirely proper usage, as it simply means "system". Your doctor could place you on a "regime" of medication if you got sick, and we can have a "regime" of government systems.) Republicans have been every bit as likely to use "scary words"-tell me, who liked to talk about the "commies"? Who likes to constantly bring up the "terrorists"?

      Secondly, the concern is valid. A major goal of police states is to be able to monitor the legitimate actions of its citizens at any time, without having to target monitoring toward those they have good cause to believe have committed a crime. Normally, the way they get this done is to target a "bogeyman"-be that "terrorism", "child porn", or all of the above. "Yes, we're going to snoop on everyone, but we really aren't looking at anyone but the terrorists and the child pornographers!"

      Finally, is someone going to stand up and say this? CHILD PORN LAWS HAVE GONE TOO FAR! There should be laws against porn produced using real children, whether producing or consuming. But it should stop there. To ban "cartoon" type porn is the very definition of Orwell's "thought crime", and the Supremes should've slapped that down a LOT harder the last time it came up. And regardless of how bad it is to think of child porn, we should never, ever, give up even a bit of our civil liberties. It's the job of law enforcement to do their job within the framework of those liberties, not to demand we give them up so they have it a little easier.

      Such people have neither lived in an actual regime nor under a fascist dictator in a police state.

      I hear this silly fallacy all the time. I've never had pure sulfuric acid poured on me, but I can tell you pretty authoritatively it would hurt. I've never won the lottery, but I can tell you with pretty good conviction I'd like to. Should we wait until we do have a police state before we object to the encroachments on our rights?

      Ask a Holocaust survivor sometime what a fascist dictator really is.

      I have a better idea. Let's ask a Holocaust survivor for his advice to those in the future!

      First they came for the Jews
      and I did not speak out
      because I was not a Jew.
      Then they came for the Communists
      and I did not speak out
      because I was not a Communist.
      Then they came for the trade unionists
      and I did not speak out
      because I was not a trade unionist.
      Then they came for the Catholics
      and I did not speak out
      because I was a Protestant.
      Then they came for me
      and there was no one left
      to speak out for me.

      Pastor Martin Niemoller

      Looks like at least that particular Holocaust survivor advises "Stop it at the first sign".

      --
      To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
    4. Re:Congratulations by dave1212 · · Score: 1

      Seems he doesn't want to debate, he simply wants to defend someone who doesn't need it or deserve it.

    5. Re:Congratulations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Disclaimer: I am not a liberal.

      Take off the blinders, Guy. Maybe travel a bit, see what life is like outside of the US. Your freedom to go about your regular everyday life is being taken away, bit by bit.

  178. Don't trust the DOJ's word on that by Myria · · Score: 1

    The DOJ has a vested interest in saying that child pornography is on the rise. Don't trust them.

    Melissa

    --
    "Screw Sun, cross-platform will never work. Let's move on and steal the Java language." - Visual J++ Product Manager
    1. Re:Don't trust the DOJ's word on that by Syberghost · · Score: 1

      Fine; then present the studies that show it's been decreasing.

    2. Re:Don't trust the DOJ's word on that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Eh, no one is allowed to study this besides the government. Anyways, he pointed out their conflict of interest/bias here. Your counter-argument needs to demonstrate the DOJ is not biased to overcome his criticism. Btw, here is a pretty good rundown of how the government invents its statistics to support its budget increases.

  179. They would do it if they could... by maillemaker · · Score: 1

    The only reason the government hasn't done such things is because it is technically difficult to do.

    Believe me, if they could do it with the ease you can monitor electronic traffic they would have been doing it from day one.

    I still would not be surprised in the least if there are giant mail sorting machines at the major processing places that use ultrasound, MRI, or radar of some kind to scan letters in envelopes and be able to "read" them layer by layer through OCR.

    Steve

    --
    A work that expires before its copyright never enters the public domain and thus enjoys eternal copyright protection.
  180. Spying on citizens is widely supported by Infonaut · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Some how i doubt spying on citzens would satisfy any citizen base?

    Plenty of people support wiretapping. I don't, and I doubt most Slashdotters do, but the Slashdot crowd isn't even remotely representative of the overall American electorate. It's hard to believe, but about half the country believes that giving the government more police powers will lead to a more secure nation.

    You can say what you like about these people being duped, but at some point you have to concede that the importance of privacy is not a universal constant throughout America. To some people, flag burning, for example, is a much more important issue.

    --
    Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
  181. Re:OMG Think of the Children!!!! by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

    yes, he was. he was funded by the big business - thyssen (fritz thyssen even wrote a book "i paid hitler"), krupp (the krupp family even got their own special law for that, lex krupp), henry ford, friedrich flick (the richest german in 1944), ig farben (an enormous conglomerate of chemical concerns, producer of zyklon b) and many more.

    and if you are going to be a power mad and corrupt at some time of your life, rather try to copy brezhnev, just for the sake of your people ;-)

    he was ok for a corrupt dictator

    --
    Conservatism: The fear that somewhere, somehow, someone you think is your inferior is being treated as your equal.
  182. Re:Great....and ironic by Oligonicella · · Score: 1

    You just did the same thing with "dataveilance". If anyone thinks the gov's goal isn't dataveilance, then "but come on", "its obvious" (ie: you're crazy or stupid and therefore on their side). You were a bit more subtle, but it's there, nonetheless.

  183. Stupid is as stupid does by Infonaut · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Wouldn't it be easier and faster to surf the internet for kiddie porn and bust the sites that are spreading it?

    Of course it would. All I am saying is that when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Many people presuppose that the Bush Administration's end goal is a police state. I would argue that the Administration doesn't have the imagination necessary to fight terrorism (or pornography) through more effective means. It sees signal interception of all kinds as a panacea, so it attempts to use this capability whenever it can, even if the tool doesn't even remotely solve the problem.

    I think the Bushies believe they are truly doing something that will put a dent in child porn. I also think we give them too much credit when we assume that every move they make is based on shrewd Machiavellian politics. If the record shows anything, it is that this White House has been as effectively managed as the Texas Rangers were managed during Dubya's reign there.

    Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

    --
    Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
    1. Re:Stupid is as stupid does by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How do you explain this http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1363085081 657572837 with stupidity?

  184. Patent idea! by wytcld · · Score: 1

    Someone quick go out and patent the camera/cell phone that instantly transmits every image taken to the government. It might optionally prevent the picture-taker from making any use of the images until the government had cleared them for civillian use. A software skin-tone filter can send any pictures which may contain nakedness onward to special government offices, where employees with hands down their pants can judge if those images arouse their "purient interest." Integrated GPS will allow immediate apprehension of the photographers and their subjects. Subjects deemed to have been "willing" can be drafted for national service, either in the baby factories, or building the morale of our troops, or both.

    --
    "with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
    1. Re:Patent idea! by ProfFalcon · · Score: 1

      Come on, people. It's easier than that.

      If we would just give everyone a physical tag at birth that cannot be removed, we could then ensure no photographic equipment would operate to photograph underage individuals if the RFIDs in the clothing are not detected. RFID in people, RFID in clothing and RFID readers in the cameras. All set.

      This has the added benefit that we could ensure adult RFIDs do not get too close to child RFIDs.

      There are a few technical details to work out such as making sure the clothing isn't opened to reveal sensitive bits and defining the adult/child proximity for normal child rearing. There will undoubtedly be a few false positives but that's acceptable. I can live with that. We'd also have to address that whole "cannot be removed" part. Maybe we can monitor the location of all of those tags and make it a crime punishable by a free all expenses paid vacation to Gitmo for removal of the tag.

      (Oh, yeah. Did I forget to open my [sarcasm] tag?)
      [/sarcasm]

      --
      Simply stating [Citation Needed] does not automatically make you insightful or brilliant.
  185. Re:Remember - Child pornography is illegal, after by typical · · Score: 1

    No -- it's just that Jamaica was recently in the news related to the fact that homosexuality is illegal there.

    --
    Any program relying on (nontrivial) preemptive multithreading will be buggy.
  186. cite your sources, please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    It has been proven by research users of child porn need increasingly more graphic and younger children to become 'satisfied'. I therefor believe that the internet is not holding back those users of child pornography but it stimulates them.


    Cite your sources, please. Bonus: try to reconcile this with the idea that fixated pedophiles only like a specific age group.

    Also, for most child pornography exhanges you need something to change. This also stimulates the creation of there own material.


    People have pointed out this stuff is all over Freenet and Usenet, etc. How do you know different?
    1. Re:cite your sources, please by vinlud · · Score: 1

      My source is a Dutch journalistic research show called Zembla. You can watch the show (in Dutch) at http://omroep.vara.nl/tvradiointernet_detail.jsp?m aintopic=424&subtopic=4177&detail=282916

      I also had a power point presentation with the results downloaded from their website but i cannot find it at this moment. I add this later.

      --
      Repeat after me: We are all individuals
    2. Re:cite your sources, please by vinlud · · Score: 1
      --
      Repeat after me: We are all individuals
  187. Scare tactics by Headcase88 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    "Sadly, the internet age has created a vicious cycle in which child pornography continually becomes more widespread, more graphic, more sadistic, using younger and younger children."

    More widespread sure, but how the hell does the Internet empower the other three?

    On one side people will say "they're turning us into a police state!" and on the other people will say "we have to combat this serious problem!", but I think every single one of us can agree that saying "the Internet has somehow made the porn more graphic/sadistic/young" is illogical.

    --
    "When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
  188. i agree with that by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    and that would be the troops in afghanistan and iraq, right?

    or by defenders are you talking about fat geeks on their keypads in their mother's basement?

    pffffffffft

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:i agree with that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and that would be the troops in afghanistan and iraq, right?

      I'm sorry, did we redefine freedom to include electric shocks to the testicles?

  189. what part of by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    "there is no slippery slope" do you not understand?

    the slippery slope you talk about requires a force motivated to completely move you to slavery

    that force exists in your hysterical twitlike imagination

    we don't live in the matrix or v is for vendetta or star wars episode iii

    we live in REALITY

    there is no agent smith, there is no senator palpatine

    what there is, is some dorky govt wonks

    they aren't cartoon demons, they are just people, like you and me

    and in in REALITY these people are motivated to... get this... i know, it's way out there... FIGHT CHILD PORN

    and ONLY that!

    i know, really radical concepts here

    now you may go back to the "treuth" and safely ignore me: the illuminati is out to getcha! it's gonna turn you in to a slave in a fascist state! better get goose stepping! because we live in a cartoon universe, right?

    paranoid schizophrenic wackjob

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  190. yeah extremists by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    like timothy mcveigh

    or osama bin laden

    or anyone else who shouts shrilly and loudly about the paranoid schizophrenic fantasies in their heads

    really, they are so helpful to maintaining a balance

    silly me, i think level headed people, who are already balanced, need to divest themselves of the wackjobs, from both the right and the left

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  191. it is for them and from them by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    the govt exists, and solely for them and from the people

    there is no intellgentsia, no aristocracy, no "learned" elite (where "learned" != educated, but indoctrinated) that deserves any consideration

    it is the people and only the people, 100%

    why am i certain of this?

    because it is they who are ruled

    it is they who suffer the drawbacks, and the rewards of their govt's policies, and them alone

    if some butthole has some "good idea" that they want to enact on the people, say mao's "great leap forward", it is the people who suffer when that "good idea" turns out to be utter crap

    so frankly, you're wrong: only the people are entitled to ask for their own suffering for a cause

    because we all know, the elite are always asking them to suffer for a cause that they themselves will not lose one ounce of blood for

    fuck the elites, populism all the way

    it isn't mob rule, but even if it was, it would be superior than anything else. mainly because there is no "check or balance" on the will of the people that is valid- what check or balance do you refer to that somehow benefits who else besides the people? we need a check or balance to take in consideration the will and desire of someone out side the people? who? why? what is this concern that benefits the rich/ privledged/ smugly superior?

    the govt exists ONLY for the people, not the elites

    the govt is there's, and there's alone

    you're utterly wrong

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:it is for them and from them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what check or balance do you refer to that somehow benefits who else besides the people? we need a check or balance to take in consideration the will and desire of someone out side the people? who? why?

      I tremble before your intellectual prowess, but here goes.

      This isn't about elites. Minorities need the checks and balances to protect them from the will of the people. You may have a majority of the people decide that gays/blacks/communists/jews/etc deserve to be put to death, but that doesn't mean that it is right. Allowing a majority to rule often invites a persecution of a minority.

      This is one reason we have the bill of rights and separate branches of government. So people don't decide that we should "temporarily" prohibit free speech for the latest pet cause/fear, or vote to allow warrantless searches of homes because people saw a scary Dateline episode about the boogeyman.

      But then again, what do I know. I'm utterly wrong.

  192. Sad. by lucienshand · · Score: 1

    It is a shame that the political strata is always focusing on Internet related child abuse, while the programs programs in the physical world are in such poor condition. As a friend of a social worker, I have heard that molestation happens a lot more often than is publicly shown and offenders are more often than not getting away out of sheer incompetence within the system, as the overworked child protection agencies focus mainly on covering their own asses than protecting children. Please, correct me if I'm wrong, because I hope I am.

  193. Wait.... 4chan? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Um wait I think I heard about this site through another forum I browse, isn't that the image board bbs that had acknolaged that at a good majority of its donations came from people who broswed/contributed to a section titled "l/ loli"?

    I though the GNAA killed them, but I apparently that didn't happen and it is still there. Guess their biggest demographic pitched in some money yet again.....

    Replying to the grandpraent comment here to skip the "you have posted, please wait. It has been 5000000 minutes since you posted" filter... So because the fucked up Japanese tollerate it, this is a good example of what should be "acceptable" and "moral"?

    Sounds like a pedophiles paradise.....

  194. Outlaw Children by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    We should just outlaw children. They are an eternal source of trouble. When they're not downloading mp3's, they're out getting molested.

    Government can just produce them in artificial wombs and factories if they need them.

    Maybe sex should be outlawed too and permitted only with a licence in a government sanctioned institution.

  195. Because That Worked /so/ Well for Leah DuBuc.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The conduct that landed DuBuc in an Illinois facility for juvenile sex offenders came to light in 1995, when a police officer visited her fourth-grade class in Howell to talk about child and substance abuse. DuBuc sought him out to complain about the way her stepmother was treating her and her natural sister. Police investigated and determined that some inappropriate sex play had taken place between DuBuc and her younger stepsiblings.

    ----BRIAN DICKERSON, FREE PRESS COLUMNIST, March 29, 2006

    http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20 060329/NEWS05/603290409/1122/

    In other words, a police officer came to her school as part of a campaign against child abuse. Leah reported her concerns (perhaps exaggerated - who knows?) about the real kind of child abuse--real abuse, not 'Wah! Mummy makes me eat my beets!' and what happens? The police investigated, ignored this, and proceeded to prosecute and persecute a ten year old girl on the flimsiest of pretexts: i.e., the "anti child abuse" campaign became a pretext for . . . child abuse.

    Also isn't it interesting the way ten year old Leah DuBuc gets thrown away when she tries to complain about her step-mother's treatment by the word of her step-sisters? Hmmm...looks like Daddy and Mommy decided they didn't need her anymore. Makes sense, let's punish the little bitch for daring to complain about the way we treat her...the little puke gets it better than she deserves! So they toss her into some 'residential rehabilitation school' and after awhile it all goes away, right? Only it didn't work as well as they must have hoped if some eleven years later she dares complain about it again!

    Look, if Gonzales really thought that even 10 people in their city were going out on "a kidnapping a day" or whatever, wouldn't they think they would've known someone? Someone check the numbers! Ghu, this is Slashdot, one would have thought this would be the FIRST thing people here would do! Take the numbers they like to toss around--The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children likes to quote a 20 billion USD annually comes from the Child Porn industry, so let's do some math:

    Figure that there are about 1 billion people worldwide with both internet access and enough money to pay for these fictitious child porn web sites. I say fictitious because lets face it, any websites with the kinds of stuff Mr. Gonzales is talking about wouldn't saty up for more than a few hours--if that! The Windows 2000 source code that was leaked a bit back would have lasted longer and we all know how quickly that went down!

    Use the figure often provided, that pedophiles make up less than 1% of the population - call it 1% for simplicity.

    Assume the extremely unlikely case that every single pedophile, worldwide, with internet access and some cash, is subscribing to these web sites.

    Now, throw in the $20 billion figure.

    1,000,000,000 divided by 100: 10,000,000 (10 million) peds.

    20,000,000,000 divided by 10,000,000: $2,000 per ped, per year, for cp.

    Does anybody really believe that the average ped could afford $2,000 per year for child pornography? Keep in mind that many of these would still be in middle income countries, and would drive the average down.

    Orwell coined the phrase "doublethink," and self-contradiction is a requisite of delusion, oftentimes.

    So I have to wonder, what is it that we're supposed to be distracted from this time by hunting down those nasty 'pedofiles' instead of addressing the real problems? I mean is it truly only a coincidence that everytime we get an bill up that would end the intrafamilial violence exemptions they trot out the 3\/1L Perverts in raincoats and while we're all chasing after that sterotype the bill just goes away whilst protecting Daddy's right to do whatever he wants.

  196. Yawn by berenixium · · Score: 1

    Whatever! a Politician will say anything to grab the headlines to further his or her own career, doesn't matter whether what they are proposing is right or makes sense.

    I mean, wtf do we know what he's looking at behind closed curtain's? You think the Feds will ever be knocking on Gonzales front door? No way...

    'Oh yes, officer, my twelve year old son was curious about girls his own age, that's how the thousands of photographs and movies got there on my hard-drive.'
    'That's just fine, Mr D.A., sir. We didn't know you actually lived here. Please tell your son to be more careful in the future. By the way, please burn down your computer and scatter its ashes into the wind. Have a nice day now.'

    Pur-Lease. Don't sensationalise the issue. Just find the pedo's and take them out / down quietly, so they won't know what's hit 'em. (Apart from repeated kicks between the legs with steel toe-capped boots!) 'Nuff said!

  197. Re: George Bush: Antichrist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "There's no law that would prevent children of suspects being pounded in the ass or chopping them into little bits and making a pot pie out of them either. Why would Bush take such sweet sweet pleasure in doing this to the little ones?"

    Because he enjoys killing people. His entire career has been spent killing people. As governor of Texas, he killed hundreds of convicts. As "president" (put in quotes because he never actually was legally elected (he stole both elections)), he has killed thousands of American soldiers and countless numbers of innocent civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq. And it's a near cetainty that he will be doing the same in Iran and possibly North Korea.

    George Bush enjoys killing people. He gets off on it. There is no other possible logical explanation.

  198. Re:Great.... \joke by coolGuyZak · · Score: 1
    A cell on that certain island sounds like a good solution

    Australia is a continent, thank you!

  199. the people don't want these things by circletimessquare · · Score: 1

    extemist positions are used by demagogues

    but in relaity, these things you fear the people would do, the people don't really want

    your normal average joe is quite tolerant

    do you believe that the american people are a seething cauldron of racism and censorship desires that, if uncorked by some magical check system, would overrun all of the rights they believe in?

    i don't believe that

    what strange circa 1850 world do you live in?

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
    1. Re:the people don't want these things by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      your normal average joe is quite tolerant

      Oh good god. Don't they teach history in your 8th grade curriculum?

      1850s... as if the 20th century was a shining beacon of tolerance.

  200. Re:OMG Think of the Children!!!! by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 1

    The operant word is puppet. While big business might have supported Hitler, he wasn't controlled by them.

    I agree that facism is the closer of the two to the neocon vision, but my bringing up Stalin was because of the OP's use of the word GULAG. If you've never read Gulag Archipelago, I highly recommend it.

    --
    It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
  201. MODERATORS! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You may disagree with this guy, but he is certainly not a troll.

  202. Re:Great....Bush past history.. by sgt_doom · · Score: 1
    Gee, if they're so concerned one would have thought they'd stop child prostitution (and sexual slavery along with forced abortion of said slaves) in the North Marianis Islands and Saipan (U.S. protectorates) by that Chinese national crime boss there!!!

    But old buddy Tom DeLay and former lobbyist and soon to be prison convict, Jack (Abram)off stopped that....

  203. Re:An abomination unto man, from man. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Some 2000 years ago, the Roman Empire collapsed upon itself for the very same weight of vile cast upon it's bed.
    You are only off by 470 years you fucking moron. The Roman Empire was FOUNDED 2023 years ago.
  204. How to Deal with a Straw Man Argument by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Ok, for all of those who haven't worked this out yet, the Gonzales pronouncement has nothing to do with child pornography, and everything to do with creating a pretext for extending governmental power. Ok?

    What he has done is to create what is called a "straw man" argument. You create a straw man, a boogey man, and you point to it and you shout and you scare people with hypothetical threats of dire consequences if something isn't done about this "creature". The fact is, the creature is exactly that, a creation of the speaker, with the vaguest "shape" of truth. Yes, child porn exists, but it is *already* being vigorously prosecuted by our fine local and federal police, thank you very much.

    So, what is the counter to a "straw man" argument? If you challenge the straw man itself, you actually fall into that very old and obvious trap of seeming complicit in the thing. Don't bother.

    There is only one counter to the straw man argument, and that is to make a *bigger* straw man of exactly the same variety! One so huge and so hideous that it becomes apparent to even the dumbest person that this is completely ridiculous, and that anyone that thinks along these lines must be mad.

    So, for example, Gonzales has trotted out this straw man of child pornography as a pretext. So what you would do is create a very public one-person media crusade on this issue, *backing the AG to the hilt!*

    It goes like this; "Yes, this is a serious problem! What the police are already doing is not enough! What the AG is recommending is too tame! We need to start a government department dedicated to reading the emails of every citizen, scanning them for suggestive remarks about children, and possibly other indications of moral terpitude while we are at it. We need to turn the Internet against people who might use it for nefarious ends by regulating it to the hilt - we need to put an Internet camera in every home! We need to register and license men before they can become fathers! A penis is as dangerous as a handgun, and much more common! Everyone is suspect! Your children could be in danger even as we speak! We are all in danger from these anonymous monsters walking the streets. I would round up anyone who has ever accessed a porn site and create a national database of suspects immediately... I would..."

    You see? When people do or suggest crazy scary things, as the AG has done, we need to *immunize people* against the kind of thinking that the AG is exhibiting, by taking that line of reasoning to its logical extreme. This extreme is clearly *more frightening* than the original threat.

    At first when you do this, you will actually begin to attract the crazies. This is an indication you are succeeding. You need to press on however, to ever more extreme positions until you have no followers at all - until even the crazies think you're crazy, just short of being arrested.

    If one were to do this with all seriousness, without even the tiniest hint of irony or sarcasm, one could cause even the most rabid supporter of the original proposition to distance himself from it and from every suggestion of it.

    To my knowledge there is in fact *no known counter* to this counter of the straw man argument, other than the use of force or constraint to stop you.

    This is in a strange way what happened with the creationism debate - it was started by Bush expressly to deflect public attention from the administrations most recent bunglings. In short order, it was shown to be the thin edge of the wedge of Christian Fundamentalism, which is actually quite scary in itself to the majority of Americans. Especially when it touches on their children's educations. So it was made to look ridiculous by the very fact of having been seriously followed to its logical conclusion. Now no one in their right mind would be caught dead suggesting it again - we have been immunized against it as a society.

    When someone like the AG does what they have just done, suggesting something so obviously Orwe

  205. Drugs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Just a thought.. and feel free to make jokes in reference to The Simpsons or whatnot.
    But, what about "treatments" that can suppress?

    Although I have to admit, I see it as more likely a psychological problem than one that is caused physiologically. Perhaps, it would be worth investigating if there is a physiological root that can be cut?

    http://www.ipce.info/library_3/files/cloud_ped_tim e.htm
    "Half of child sexual abusers are the parents of the victims; other relatives commit 18% of the offenses."
    "Although news reports focus on horrific serial offenders, experts say it's possible, with treatment, to prevent pedophiles from abusing kids. States have incarcerated many child sexual abusers, but most eventually get out (average sentence: 11 years). Active pedophiles who find their way into the few treatment programs around the country turn out to be less of a risk than those who are locked up for a while and released."


    http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec07/ch104/ch104c.html
    Pedophilia can be treated with psychotherapy and drugs that alter the sex drive, with varying results. Such treatment may be sought voluntarily or only after criminal apprehension and legal action. Incarceration, even long-term, does not change pedophilic desires or fantasies.

  206. Children are safer...mostly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Oddly enough, these numbers appear to have changed significantly since 1994. In later work by the same author, the rates of sexual assault per 1,000 juveniles have dropped by 56% (p.9), but all of that change has come from lesser victimization by persons known to the victim. In other words, the number of random pervs has stayed a more-or-less constant fraction of the population, but the number of abusive parents/clergy has dropped drastically.

    In particular, though, that means anyone braying about how the Internet has made child abuse more common or made the world more dangerous for children is either completely ignorant or is out-and-out lying. "Think of the children" should not mean "ignore the truth".

  207. It wasn't a 14-year-old girl by NRAdude · · Score: 0
    Two facts quoted from that URL;

    WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A Department of Homeland Security official was arrested Tuesday night on charges of using his computer to seduce a child after he allegedly struck up sexually explicit conversations with a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl, authorities said.

    Doyle is divorced and has children, Judd said. Authorities believe he could have held similar conversations online with others, the sheriff said, because at some points during online chats he would address the detective by the wrong name.


    He knowingly was seducing a 14-year-old mind pretending to be a 30 or 40 some-year-old detective, perhaps one of the varieties of Phornicatus AOheLlus from he Order of HomelandUS SecuritUS. The executive administrator about to sign the order to commit him to a prison sentence, he too will be a 55+ year-old bastard child pretending to be a judge and will be assured of his retirement benefits by compensation for laboring at judgment in the case (the clerk of the court has highest standing as a judge, because it's the clerk that determines acceptance of all documents to be filed at the court and not that black-robed attorney sitting on the bench.)

    WizardHat: I teleport over to your house in my government-issued economy Crown Vic.
    Jenny: I love that artificial new-car smell.
    WizardHat: As I arrive and park the car, I type through IM and call your name loudly as I put the car in park -- "Bob, I'm home"
    Jenny: Hey, I'm Jenny, not Bob.
    WizardHat: You're not in your home-office, Bob? Oh you are quick, Bo^H^H Jenny. I'll meet you at the nursery-room crib, Jenny.

    I'll be here all week.
    --
    without prejudice
  208. 'War' on [fill in blank: nasty thought]? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Should the government focus on concluding the real wars, the ones with weapons (like Iraq etc.), and hold off on the metaphorical wars (like drugs and porn) until they've freed up some resources?

    Is this where my $3/gal for gasoline going?

  209. Enoguh with the children by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    americans are such hypocrites. they pretend to be concerned with children but then directly kill thousands in the process of freeing them.

  210. ROFLMA. That is A+ material! Will smoke again! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm a police agent, myself (actually a little girl, but who do you trust to protect and service YOU?)

    I think it's about time they angage in the Mark of the Beast system, like they do in China for all electronic communication. That way everyone has access to a number database that can determine age...or will that Database be equal to the lies in a website registry? Hello Nigeria.

  211. Beware misleading statistics in politics! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The statistic that one in five children is solicited online is intentionally misleading. That one in five includes teenagers trying to hook up in chat rooms.

  212. I can't believe this is flamebait! by jaypaulw · · Score: 1

    hey moderators just because someone offers an opposing view, does not make it flamebait

  213. Re:OMG Think of the Children!!!! by dunkelfalke · · Score: 1

    oh he was a puppet, because part of these big businesses wanted a war. hitler provided that war to them.

    btw you probably will laugh now, but i was born in the ussr. and solzhenicyn has written lot of shit in his books.
    anyway, replace "gulag" with "concentration camp" and there you are.

    --
    Conservatism: The fear that somewhere, somehow, someone you think is your inferior is being treated as your equal.
  214. The first step... by SonicSpike · · Score: 1

    The first step to "fix" any problem is usually to get the government out of it. While education is always beneficial, governmental education is a large part (and even cause) of the US's "social problems".

    --
    Libertas in infinitum
  215. Re:Great.... \joke by stor · · Score: 0, Troll

    Please don't send Bush here: we're already overflowing with fucktard politicians like John Howard, Peter Costello and Kim Beazley. The trends in our government suggest we're heading towards structures similar to the US's broken "feed the rich, fuck the poor" systems. Please don't expedite this process. Thanks.

    Cheers
    Stor

    --
    "Yeah well there's a lot of stuff that should be, but isn't"
  216. Re:Idiots ..... yeah, but ..... by chawly · · Score: 1

    Maybe we can't do anything about what they are going to do to us - but we can always try. And we should try now, before it's too late. From our position at this moment, time-travelling to 1984 might be described as one small step for man ... But of course that one is taken already - might have a copyright problem.

    --
    How many beans make five, anyhow ? ... Charles Walmsley
  217. Gonzales on the track of porn by stosh · · Score: 1

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2006/04/20/AR2006042001786.html/

    (Sorry, free registration required)

    Gonzales speaking at the National Center for Missing/Exploited Children:

    "I have seen pictures of older men forcing naked young girls to have anal sex. There are videos on the Internet of very young daughters forced to have intercourse and oral sex with their fathers. Viewing this was shocking, and it makes my stomach turn," said Gonzales, who was accompanied by his wife, Rebecca.

    Either AG Gonzales believes everything he reads or he's even more cynical than I thought. But, of course, since he is in charge of the FBI, he no doubt had the individuals in the pictures investigated as to thei family relationships. Sheesh.

    --
    Let my epitaph be. Karaaaaaaa. (JJ)
  218. Re:Remember - Child pornography is illegal, after by bourne · · Score: 1
    Child pornography is illegal - and vile. Possession of child pornography is illegal - and vile.
    And a Jamaican would tell you that homosexuality is illegal - and vile.

    That is a flawed analogy. Child pornography involves the exploitation of someone too young to consent in any legal or psychologically valid manner - they simply aren't equipped to evaluate what's being asked of them and say no if Uncle John asks.

    Homosexuality between consenting adults, on the other hand, involves... consent. This means it is not merely a shift along the same morally relative spectrum, it's a step over to the next spectrum - the spectrum where you are also allowed to vote, drive, buy alcohol, and get into a nudey bar.

    Now, if Jamaica allows 6-year-olds to vote, maybe we've got an analogy, but right now this just looks like a strawman argument.

  219. I think Alberto Gonzalez is into kiddie porn. by Medievalist · · Score: 1

    I mean, c'mon, this is an administration that consistently promotes torture and slavery. And you are suprised that these people want to find all the kiddie porn in the world, look at it, and keep copies? People, this is totally in character.

  220. Well then by hurfy · · Score: 1

    If everyone is Soooo into the whole 'get tough on child porn' thing why do i never hear of any arrests? With all the action one would expect nightly reports of all the people they have rounded up.......

    Bah , i wouldn't trust these people as far as i could throw em :(

  221. Re:Vote with your brain instead of with your walle by BalanceOfJudgement · · Score: 1

    The legal recourse to armed rebellion is the 2nd Amendment of the United States - that is why it is there. 8 of the states refused to sign the Constitution unless the Bill of Rights was added - the 2nd Amendment among them.

    That is WHY the 2nd Amendment was added - to protect the ability of the populace to rise up against the government should it ever become unworthy of power - what philosophers of the time called the responsibility of the citizen to overthrow a corrupt government.

    The British attempted to outlaw weapon ownership in the Colonies, too. It got them a revolution.

    I wonder what it will get us.

    Ironically, in legalese, only a country can levy war. So I'm not entirely sure why that clause is in the Constitution; I would have to re-read that commentary in the Federalist Papers.

    --

    We are the fire that lights our world.. and we are the fire that consumes it.
  222. More Strikes by lorcha · · Score: 1
    Strike four: At the time of his arrest in this case, Whorley was a registered sex offender who was convicted in March 1999, on a federal charge of receiving child pornography and was sentenced to 46 months' incarceration.

    Strike five: In January 2003, after serving that sentence and while on supervised release for his earlier conviction, Whorley was re-arrested for violating the conditions of his probation. Whorley subsequently pled guilty to violating the conditions of his release and was sentenced to an additional 12 months of incarceration to be followed by 12 months of supervision by the United States Probation Office.

    Strike six: He was arrested on the present charges on April 5, 2005-just three months after being released from incarceration-when United States Probation Officers learned that Whorley had received child pornography by using a computer at the VEC.

    The 20 year (harsh) sentence was based on the fact that this was his third conviction, and his second violation of his supervised release agreements. I think we can understand the VA jury losing patience with the man.

    --
    "Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent
  223. See my other post by lorcha · · Score: 1

    here. This was the guy's third conviction and second supervised release violation in 6 years. Also, the 2005 conviction (and 20 year sentence) included 14 images of real (not cartoon) child porn. Saying this guy got 20 years for cartoon child porn is wildly inaccurate.

    --
    "Avoid employing unlucky people - throw half of the pile of CVs in the bin without reading them." -- David Brent
  224. Try just over 0.1% by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There are roughly 400,000 registered sex offenders out of roughly 300,000,000 people in America. That's just over 0.1%.