Arguing Against Datamining MySpace in search of Pedophiles. In certain circles,
MySpace
has become the villain de jour for all sorts of debauchery
(
threatening
the President,
phishing
,
dismembered
women , etc.), as well as being fertile hunting grounds for the
pedophile. Given the
huge
size of MySpace, reported as 100 million accounts (although
estimates
of active accounts are far lower, at approximately 43 million ), and an
hypothetical and absurdly low natural incidence of pedophiles and pedarasts
(let's say just 1%), one could assume that there could be as many as 430,000
to 1,000,000 of them out there. Wired
contributor and reformed hacker (Kevin Poulson) has developed a script to weed
out the bad seeds
[
via].
His script was effective, although it took several months of sifting and
refining, as well as numerous false positives - 744 registered sex offenders,
497 with convictions for crimes against children. While such an
experiment has merit, how much time, resources, and law enforcement manpower
will be wasted chasing down the
""high-cost
"false positives", and what will be neglected and sacrificed for that
effort?
posted by rzklkng
on Oct 16, 2006 -
38 comments
Strange Bedfellows: Xavier Von Erck dropped out of college, started a pedophile-hunting vigilante group, and spent months posing as a woman to trick an online enemy to fall in love with him.
Meet the new savior of NBC News.
posted by P-Soque
on Sep 7, 2006 -
68 comments
37 year old self-appointed detective fools potential pedophiles with usernames like "dadanddaughtersex." Not only is there no victim, there cannot not be a crime because of the woman's true age, and the method of 'baiting' pedophile suspects looks like a violation of one's civil rights. On top of that her pedophile website is quite the money-maker, churning $1,000 a month in advertising revenue. Illegal entrapment or civic minded vigilante? Obviously this is a touchy subject, but I can't see the different between this and a plain-clothed police officer asking everyone on the street if they want to buy illegal drugs or guns just for a quick bust.
posted by skallas
on Jan 18, 2002 -
46 comments
Were you ever a member of AVS, the Adult Verification System? If so, the Feds have you on a list of potential pedophiles. I remember AVS from the mid-1990s; they were one of the easiest ways to generate revenue from an adult Web site, using the same business model as
AdultCheck does today. A very few of the hundreds of sites AVS "fronted" for contained child porn, and the owners of the service are now in federal prison as a result. Even though they knew differently, federal authorities claimed that they had "dismantled the largest-known commercial child pornography enterprise ever uncovered," and for the past two years have been sending offers of child porn to some of 30,000 people on the AVS membership list, the vast majority of which have no interest in child porn.
posted by tranquileye
on Nov 15, 2001 -
19 comments
Last night's Brass Eye special was mysteriously pulled from the schedules, seemingly because it concerned "an army of paedophiles". Apparantly,
this is not the case
posted by Grangousier
on Jul 6, 2001 -
15 comments
The Thoughts of Anonymous Pedophiles While researching an unrelated topic, I found a site called
The Pedophilia Survey. This survey asks people who have sexual desires involving children to submit a paragraph or two on their feelings on the topic.
One of the respondents said: 'Pedophilia is a legitimate sexual orientation.' But, is it? Pedophilia seems so widespread that should, perhaps, we be researching the causes of pedophilia instead of just condemning it?
posted by wackybrit
on Jun 5, 2001 -
46 comments
Government GPS surveillance through your digital camera. A DOJ project to go after pedophiles and obscenity-mongers by regulating digital still and motion cameras is slated to be introduced in Congress:
A DOJ project code-named "Indecent Images" plans to implant technologies developed to automatically recognize hard-core Internet sex images into the next generation of cameras. An II-compliant camera will refuse to take illegal photographs or videos, and could even quietly tip off law enforcement to illicit behavior. . .
The II draft says that "any variant" of digital still or video camera must include a GPS device and a transmitter that is compatible with U.S. pager networks. When a child pornographer takes an illegal photo, the camera recognizes it and transmits an encrypted message containing the image, the date, and the location to the local police -- who would then raid the home and save the child from continued erotic exploitation.
They've
got to be kidding. I'm not endorsing exploiting kids, natch, but I can't believe this this kind of surveillance is even being contemplated. . .
Then again, remembering Ashcroft's beady little eyes. . . (via
J. Orlin Grabbe)
posted by aflakete
on Apr 2, 2001 -
26 comments
