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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.
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.
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.
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!