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Patrick Naughton Arrested
Pomme de Terre! writes "Patrick Naughton - Java-genius, Starwave CTO, & Infoseek VP - has been arrested for chasing 13 year old girls *and* having kiddie porn on his computer... and is probably going to be put away for a very long time. Very sad. " See also the Yahoo story. As executive vice president of products at Infoseek, was Naughton in charge of GoGuardian?
If you had read the article carefully enough, you would know that he wasn't arrested for _chatting_ with a minor--engaging in cybersex isn't a crime even with a minor. According to the affadavit filed by the FBI however, he set up a meeting for the purpose of having sex, then went to Los Angeles (which is a hell of a drive from Seattle, I might add) at the designated spot the online character set up. Coupled with the fact that in at least one conversation he gave a phone number to the agent, whom he thought was a 13-year-old, which connected to McNaughton's office, this is ample evidence that McNaughton had stepped far beyond the boundary of online role-playing. Additionally, he was also charged with child pornography offenses after a consentual search of his laptop computer turned up kiddie porn. For those of you who think that this falls under entrapment, think again. For this to even approach the legal definition of entrapment, the FBI agents would have had to made the suggestion to have sex and that McNaughton come to them or arrange for some other way of meeting. And while this is something I saw on the ZDNet talkbacks, I just wanted to state for the record that impersonating a minor is not a crime.
Arrest Jon Katz before he writes an article on the subject!
I use Macs for work, Linux for education, and Windows for cardplaying.
This will seriously piss some people off, but here goes: NEWSFLASH: Most teenagers in the US are sexually active WAY before the age of 18. I sometimes question the reason behind the US "age of consent" laws. I remember sweating and stressing when I was in high school and I turned 18, but my girlfriend for the last year was still 16. The way these laws are enforced today, I could have been considered a "child sex offender" and forced to register for the next 20 years or whatever. Creepy stuff. Amazing how we in the US are willing to surrender our liberties in the name of doing what's "best for the children."
In the past, I've worked with youth groups that have very strict controls and rules for working with children, including a complete FBI background check. Unfortunatly, the developments over the past years have casued many otherwise good people and mentors to leave the organization for fear of some kid making up a story about abuse and ruining a life.
Not that I support the truly sick pedophiles out there that prey on children, but I can't help but wonder what this modern-day witch-hunt has done to discourage good people with a lot to offer youth groups and their members from participating. Sure, we "may protect the children" from the occaisional bad apple, but at what price? There is no way to measure what kids may be missing from never having the opportunity to meet a potentially great teacher or mentor who is now scared of interacting with kids.