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Mystery Solved: FBI Closed New Mexico Observatory to Investigate Child Porn (washingtonpost.com)
"The mysterious 11-day closure of a New Mexico solar observatory stemmed from an FBI investigation of a janitor suspected of using the facility's wireless internet service to send and receive child pornography, federal court documents showed..."
An anonymous reader quotes the Washington Post: In July, FBI agents investigating child sexual exploitation traced the location of several IP addresses linked to child pornography activity to the observatory, according to a 39-page search warrant application. During an interview with federal authorities on Aug. 21, the facility's chief observer said he had found, on a number of occasions, the same laptop hidden and running in various seldom-used offices around the observatory. He described the contents of the laptop as "not good," according to court documents. A federal agent immediately went to the observatory, located deep within Lincoln National Forest, and took the laptop into evidence...
Aside from continuing to "feverishly" search the facility, the documents state that the janitor said, "it was only a matter of time before the facility 'got hit,'" and that he "believed there was a serial killer in the area, and that he was fearful that the killer might enter the facility and execute someone." In response to the janitor's behavior, the management of the observatory, without input from the FBI, shut it down and evacuated its personnel. The facility's cleaning contract with the janitor's parents was also terminated.
The warrant application specified that the janitor "has a key to the building and unlimited access to the building, and is familiar with which offices are used only a handful of times a year."
It also says that the janitor was the only person in the facility at the time of the alleged downloads.
An anonymous reader quotes the Washington Post: In July, FBI agents investigating child sexual exploitation traced the location of several IP addresses linked to child pornography activity to the observatory, according to a 39-page search warrant application. During an interview with federal authorities on Aug. 21, the facility's chief observer said he had found, on a number of occasions, the same laptop hidden and running in various seldom-used offices around the observatory. He described the contents of the laptop as "not good," according to court documents. A federal agent immediately went to the observatory, located deep within Lincoln National Forest, and took the laptop into evidence...
Aside from continuing to "feverishly" search the facility, the documents state that the janitor said, "it was only a matter of time before the facility 'got hit,'" and that he "believed there was a serial killer in the area, and that he was fearful that the killer might enter the facility and execute someone." In response to the janitor's behavior, the management of the observatory, without input from the FBI, shut it down and evacuated its personnel. The facility's cleaning contract with the janitor's parents was also terminated.
The warrant application specified that the janitor "has a key to the building and unlimited access to the building, and is familiar with which offices are used only a handful of times a year."
It also says that the janitor was the only person in the facility at the time of the alleged downloads.
Is it very common to dispatch a military helicopter circling the area when FBI are looking at a computer inside?
It's like usual, make accusations involving child porn and nobody dares say anything, ask any questions.
Shit, weâ(TM)ve got an alien threat recorded on our disks and backups! How can we get rid of them, prevent the public from seeing them, and keep them from poking further? We need a cover story that people will feel really awkward about. I know!
It could very well be the whole thing is just over the kiddie porn. People do mind-bogglingly dumb things all the time. But the response does seem a bit overblown.
Possibilities:
1. The FBI was investigating something that ended up being a big nothing, and they need a story to cover an embarrassing over-response
2. The FBI is investigating something national-security related (spies/moles/etc...) and need a cover story
More?
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
... is that it was alien child porn.
But...but... thinkofthechildren!
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
The only thing Americans freak out about more than aliens... a 17 yr 349 day old white girl with her clothes off
They Were Vulcan Children.
Won't anyone think of the Vulcan Children?
That was just Too easy, lol.
Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
If the solar observatory were to have observed aliens, it would have been by tracking something passing in front of the Sun and then altering course under power. The aliens obviously would know where the semi intelligent life is in the solar system and would probably be able to jump to the other side of the Sun if they wish to hide. There are other solar observatories in the US and across the globe but were they all in use at the time that something may have been observed? But at the very least SOHO at the Sun Earth L1 point would have observed something.
There were reports that other facilities were shut down, but I believe that has been debunked. As much as I want this to be aliens or FAIRY GOD PARENTS!!!, I think it's most likely that it was just an extreme overreaction by the Feds.
So your saying, in that case, the FBI was not involved and no black hawk helicopters were seen?
Ok, not so funny... but it is a building made to observe things far away.
Did the intern aim the telescope into an open window?
That was a huge reported police reaction for some kiddie pictures; BTW, some adults have gotten into trouble for innocent nude pictures of their children. It's bad enough that people actually 2nd guess taking what used to be cliche baby photos.
It's more likely they think the found a child porno server. It's probably an insecure server that stockpiled millions of photos and the staff has no idea; maybe somebody on staff was involved which would make it look like a big target. Huge amounts of photos with a great internet connection? Somewhat remote location that people don't pay attention to?
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
Didn't you watch Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind?
This is the same thing, only the cover story was a big bad Gas leak...
is anyone seeing strange images inside your head that is compelling you to go somewhere?
Well, to be fair, the Federal Government has always had a tendency to be overly militarized in their duties of law enforcement. Don't forget, during the Obama Administration the FBI launched a full SWAT team raid on Gibson Guitars searching for illegal wood. They had imported wood from an endangered species of tree that had been legally harvested from a tree farm in Madagascar, but the letter of the law says you can't use that wood. Even though the law the EPA used for their justification for that raid related to harvesting wild examples of that tree.
But that said, does anyone really believe the Federal government anymore? The same government that said that 'you could keep your plan', that 'there are WMDs in Iraq', and that 'the Russians are hacking everything'?
The CP allegation is way to convenient and is something would be easily contrived to quiet any public concern.
The hysteria over CP (most of which is self made teen porn, btw) has reached the point where shutting down buildings as a precaution seems reasonable.
https://www.iflscience.com/space/sunspot-solar-observatory-new-mexico-reeopened-heres-why-closed/
Almost as good as the "national security" magic spell they invoke when CP is too ridiculous. Oh, wait...
Why guess when you can know? Measure!
Like always: The butler^h^h^h^h^h janitor did it.
1. Almost every janitor has a key.
2. Almost everybody else too, it's a fucking observatory! People come and go 24/7.
3. Computers are perfectly capable of downloading stuff even when nobody's on site.
4. It's completely overkill and overreach to close down a professional site just because somebody might have downloaded some nekkid pictures.
5. "the facility's chief observer said he had found, on a number of occasions, the same laptop "
On a number of occasions? How many times, 10, 20, 1582? How many times have you to find child porn before calling the cops?
So all the previous times he just enjoyed the porn until there was something that disturbed him?
Sorry, does not compute.
While CP is disgusting, the ability for a govt LEA to stop scientific research for some moral high ground is absolutely disgusting. People wonder why the citizens of the US are starting to lack faith in their govt...
https://slashdot.org/comments....
This stuff never results in anything deep or crazy going on.
It's got to be a cliche by now.
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
It is the summary, the janitor's response does not correspond to the allegations.
Or not, as it is barely believable.
Its more like the solar observatory has uncovered the same situation as in the Nick Cage movie, "Knowing" and is in the process of suppressing the knowledge from the general public for as long as possible. This sort of knowledge would just result in mass hysteria, civil breakdown, and billions of deaths much quicker than they will occur naturally. Just let things unfold until its obvious, and by then it will be so late into the inevitable that it won't matter about the rioting.
Face it, we are all screwed. Once the process gets obvious, our only real choice will be how we'd like to die.
"In response to the janitor's behavior, the management of the observatory, without input from the FBI, shut it down and evacuated its personnel."
"Janitor's behavior" constituting babbling about "a serial killer" in the neighborhood. Given what they already suspected of him, that may be an overabundance of paranoia. On the other hand, if the janitor had shot up the observatory, there'd have been Hell to pay for not taking his babbling seriously. (Kiddie porn vs. mass shooter ... hard to say which one destroys all prospects for having a future life more.)