The Government Is Planting Child Porn On Your Computer?

Original Article

05/02/2013

By Amber Harrison

A new virus has been cataloged, and it appears to be planting and distributing child pornography files. Hackers? No. The government is planting child porn on your computer, or so an alert published today indicates.

Before It’s News has interviewed a person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, that has been a victim of the virus implantation. The person was engaged in journalistic exposure of political corruption, and suddenly police appeared on his doorstep with a search warrant specifying a search for evidence of possessing and distributing child pornography. The story is a bit convoluted here, but basically the gentleman did a little more investigation and found rogue .exe files on his computer that appeared as normal emule sharing directories but contained “hundreds to thousands” of child pornography files. The potential whistleblower claims the virus was deliberately planted on his computer in order to stop his activity.

The article surmises the Internet Crimes Against Children task force may be behind the virus planting, though why is unclear.

Are You A Victim?

According to a USWGO Virus Report:

“I believe it was surrounded by comine.exe along with another exe file that had random characters so I don’t remember that file name since it had a certain kind of random characters and I believe it may have been in the TEMP folder.

It came with three rogue P2P file sharing applications that were not stored in the usual file directories for programs or even portable programs. Those files are called ares.exe, emule.exe, and shareaza.exe. They share possibly illegal files and files with Trojans embedded without the computer owners permission despite invalid claims by law enforcement that no one can force a user to download and share files on P2P networks. When the user discovers them and attempts to shut down the program using process termination on Task Manager(taskmgr.exe) the rogue Trojan control program attempts to revive the operation of the rogue P2P programs and will fully operate within 3-5 seconds or even up to 10 seconds depending on processing speed from CPU. No matter how many times the user continues stopping the program it comes right back. When the user attempts to end the task then quickly remove the files even with certain software, the Trojan that controls the rogue programs seems to regenerate the rogue programs which continues to share and download illegal material which can get the user in trouble…”

ESET Virus Radar has recognized the virus, and calls it Win32/MoliVampire. The short description indicates, “Win32/MoliVampire.A is a trojan which tries to download other malware from the Internet. Win32/MoliVampire.A may be spread via peer-to-peer networks.”

The trojan contains an URL address. It tries to download a file from the address. Files are copied into a shared folder of various instant messengers and P2P applications, according to the description.

In a hurried article posted on Before It’s News, a reporter emoted:

So anyone whom receives this virus or variants of Trojans similar to this virus, is at risk of being accused of distributing and possessing child pornography then having the computers and family photos, videos, and other personal data taken away forever. Then will likely end up years in federal or state prison then receives a lifetime sex offender record, isn’t that just great!!!!!

ICE Pads Their Stats

Evidently, it isn’t only alternative-news journalists who are being targeted. According to a Facebook page supporting 17-year-old autistic youth Andrew Rose:

“Operation Flicker was started By ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency]. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the principal investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the second largest investigative agency in the federal government. Created in 2003 through a merger of the investigative and interior enforcement elements of the U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, “Operation Flicker” is part of Project Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including instances of sex tourism with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers, according to the agency. Unfortunately, due to the system being used to net these predators, many children are being exposed to the the same Child Porn they were trying to stop.”

Apparently, in an effort to catch these dangerous internet predators, ICE attached child pornography images to .mp3 files on P2P sharing sites like LimeWire. Young Andrew Rose (Petition) downloaded two songs that came with little surprise packages attached. Scandalously and shamefully, Andrew is actually being prosecuted. His lawyer, on the support page, stated:

“The FBI and ICE are the ones who exposed Andrew Rose to Child Pornography ….. They were the Traffickers and became “That which they Seek.”

What Can You Do?

Computer users, especially those who use P2P file sharing programs and messaging, are encouraged to use ESET of McAfee virus scan/destroy software as both recognize the virus. It is noted that virus protection is not “bulletproof” with regard to this virus, and certainly will not protect against hidden attached files in normal sharing operations. If the government is planting child porn on your computer as some people have claimed, taking any and all steps possible to protect yourself and your family, including ceasing use of P2P applications, is advisable.

See Also:

• I spy ... porn? Suspected NASA snoop busted for misusing laptop
• Government child porn & other sex crimes

---

NV - Woman falls victim to computer virus

Original Article

See the video at the link above.

03/29/2013

By Daniel Gutierrez

Las Vegas (KTNV) - There's a virus circulating on the Internet, that can cause some serious damage. The scary part is, even if you're targeted and know it's a scam, you may still fall victim. Action News anchor Tricia Kean shares one woman's story, in this Contact 13 consumer alert.

"I felt violated. I felt like someone had snuck into my house and taken everything," says Yasmin Bach of Indian Springs.

She says she can't believe it. It was last month when she says, a virus popped up on her computer.

"It flashed blue and the whole screen filled up with this very official looking, supposedly document, from the FBI," says Yasmin.

The message claimed the FBI had locked up Yasmin's computer because it was linked to illegal online activity, including the viewing of child porn and selling drugs. And she had now lost complete control of her computer, nothing worked.

"I was getting panicked. Until I got to the bottom and I saw to unfreeze your computer, immediately wire $200. And l thought wait a minute," says Yasmin.

She says she knew it was a scam. And she's right.

"The FBI will never contact you through use of an email, through the use of a computer. We will very rarely even call you," says David Schrom.

He's the FBI's Acting Supervisory Special Agent for the Las Vegas Division Cyber Squad. He says this virus, known as "ransomware" has been around for about a year. The scammer's goal is to scare you into sending them money. David says if you're targeted, it's important you react quickly.

"Turn off your computer right away or unplug it. You'll then want to get some help removing the malware that's on your computer. Don't do it yourself," says David.

But that's exactly what Yasmin did. She kept her computer plugged in and running, while trying to fix it herself.

"What happened then was it gave the hacker further access to completely clean everything of my computer and in front of my eyes everything disappeared. My programs, my pictures," says Yasmin.

Even though she knew it was a scam, Yasmin was still ripped off. The scammer had wiped everything off her computer. Everything was gone, including her social security number, credit card info and personal memories.

"Photographs that I lost, like of my daughters. I have a dog that died and he was on there. I want to get those pictures back," says Yasmin.

David says if you fall victim to a similar virus, be sure to protect yourself.

"File a complaint, if you will, with the credit bureaus, to state that you're a victim, potentially, of identity fraud and they'll provide some kind of protection in regards to your credit, for 90 days," says David.

As for Yasmin, she says she hasn't seen anything unusual with her credit. But she's afraid it's only a matter of time until her stolen information is used. So she's taking time to warn as many people as possible.

"When you become aware that anything is wrong with your computer, shut it off, unplug it. Immediately have it taken to a professional," says Yasmin.

So here's the Contact 13 bottom line. The FBI says it's important to properly protect your computer by always updating all of your software and getting a good anti-virus program. Although it's important to note, Yasmin had an anti-virus program.

And remember if you're the target of a similar scam, never wire funds to someone you don't know, because it's virtually impossible to track it down once it's gone.

And if you're the victim of any kind of computer scam, be sure to report it to the FBI.

---

GA - FBI sex crime task force work questioned

Original Article

02/23/2013

By Joy Lukachick

The work of an undercover FBI task force in North Georgia that exists to catch people responding to online offers for underage sex has come into question as federal authorities investigate the agent in charge.

FBI Special Agent Ken Hillman is named in a police investigation that led to the firing of Tom Evans, a Ringgold, Ga., police officer. The Ringgold Police Department's internal investigation said Hillman was leaving a bar with a local millionaire's wife last year and avoided arrest by convincing the responding officer to give him a ride. The internal affairs report also stated that the FBI is investigating Hillman.

He has been the chief of the Northwest Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which was made up of federal agents and officers from multiple local agencies including the Catoosa and Walker County sheriffs' offices.

The task force agents post on websites such as Craigslist, arranging meetings with people who believe they will be able to have sex with underage girls or boys. When the would-be child molesters show up, they're arrested and charged with sex crimes.

The internal affairs investigation involved Evans. The Times Free Press obtained the document under a Georgia Open Records Act request.

In the investigation, Angela Russell, the estranged wife of businessman Emerson Russell, said in interviews that she worked on the task force under Hillman.

Angela Russell is not a certified law enforcement officer in Georgia, Peace Officer Standards and Training records show. No local authorities contacted for this story could confirm that she was a task force member.

Several local attorneys now are questioning whether the FBI task force's investigations, which led to dozens of arrests in North Georgia counties, has been compromised.

Ringgold defense attorney McCracken Poston, who first alerted the FBI to the allegations against Hillman, said he learned that Angela Russell may have been posing as an undercover officer.

Poston said he reported that information to the FBI and told its representative that civilians were being allowed to ride with the FBI task force on arrest stings and agents reportedly were letting those civilians slap handcuffs on the surprised suspects.

"[These allegations] definitely damage the credibility of this task force and everything it's doing," said defense attorney Shawn Bible, who represents several suspects arrested recently by the FBI task force.

Neither the FBI's Atlanta office nor Hillman responded to requests for comment.

Lookout Mountain District Attorney Herbert "Buzz" Franklin said he is aware only of an FBI investigation that is personal but doesn't relate to the task force.

"I'm not aware of anything that would jeopardize any cases," he said Friday afternoon.

Franklin said the task force has allowed civilians to work with its agents on certain tasks, such as making a phone call pretending to be a juvenile. But he said he wasn't aware of any allegations of Angela Russell's involvement with the task force.

Catoosa County Sheriff Gary Sisk said he learned about a month ago that allegations were being made. He had one officer working part time with the task force, and he pulled that officer off that duty, he said. He said the task force now is not operating, as far as he knows.

Sisk said no one in his office has complained to him about inappropriate behavior on the task force since he became sheriff Jan. 1, and he wasn't aware of anything questionable going on last year when he was chief deputy.

Catoosa County Superior Court records show more than a dozen pending criminal cases dating back to last summer that came out of task force stings.

Court documents reveal Hillman was the lead investigator in most of the cases. In many of the indictments, prosecutors tell the grand jury Hillman was posing as a man called "daddy K" who was trying to set up a meeting between the potential suspect and an underage girl.

Angela Russell's name does not appear on any of the indictments.

On Friday, Russell declined through her attorney to comment for this story.

Several defense attorneys with clients in these pending cases said they plan to file motions that would force prosecutors to reveal anything inappropriate that may have been going on involving the task force.

See Also:

• FBI task force cases in jeopardy
• FBI's New Crisis: Too Much Sexting
• FBI, Pentagon Child Porn Videos
• Pentagon declined to investigate hundreds of purchases of child pornography
• Even the FBI knows the media & politicians distort the truth!

---

DC - FBI's New Crisis: Too Much Sexting

Original Article

02/22/2013

By Matt Cantor

FBI agents have received a stern rebuke in internal reports: Time to stop the sexting. An assistant director says the agency has been dealing with a "rash" of dirty texts and naked photos, some sent on government-furnished devices, CNN reports. "When you are given an FBI BlackBerry, it's for official use. It's not to text the woman in another office who you found attractive or to send a picture of yourself in a state of undress," the official says.

Some 1,045 employees faced disciplinary measures—although that accounts for both sext- and non-sext-related offenses—between 2010 and 2012. Eighty-five of these employees were fired. One was linked to child pornography; another "hid a recording device in (a) supervisor's office"; another engaged in a drunken "domestic dispute." CNN reports a few of the sex cases:

• A worker "paid for a sexual favor from (a) masseuse," prompting a two-week suspension.
• Another sent a "nude photograph of herself to (an) ex-boyfriend's wife," landing a 10-day suspension.
• An employee sent nude photos "to other employees" that "adversely affected the daily activities of several squads."

"I still get files and I think, 'Wow, I never would have thought of that,'" says the assistant director.

See Also:

• FBI battling 'rash of sexting' among its employees
• Read the FBI's internal reports (PDF)
• More FBI, Pentagon Child Porn Videos

---

The Truth Behind the Penn State Cover Up with Jim Clemente

Jim Clemente

Video Description:
Jim Clemente (retired FBI and current Criminal Minds writer/producer) goes in depth on the case of Jerry Sandusky and the extent of Joe Paterno's involvement in any cover-up. Confirming guilt is very tricky in sex abuse cases, and Jim discusses the factors that enable some predators to abuse for years.
- You don't need to confirm guilt these days, just an allegation is enough to ruin your life (See here).

Jim Clemente is a retired FBI agent and current advisor, writer and producer for the TV series "Criminal Minds." A graduate of Fordham University School of Law, Jim was the head of the Child Sex Crimes Prosecution Team in Bronx County for the New York City Law Department. As a result of undercover work that led to the imprisonment of a child sex offender, Clemente was recruited into the FBI. From 1998 until October 2009 he was a Supervisory Special Agent in the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit in Quantico, Virginia. He is an expert in the fields of Sex Crimes Investigations, Sex Offender Behavior, Child Sexual Victimization, and Child Pornography. Clemente has investigated and consulted on thousands of cases involving the violent and sexual crimes, sexual victimization of children, and he has interviewed hundreds of victims and offenders. He has also testified as an expert witness and lectured on these topics across the country and around the world.

Study

---

WA - Child Porn Investigation Nets 200 Suspected Sex Offenders

Original Article

01/03/2013

By ALICIA A. CALDWELL

WASHINGTON - More than 200 adults have been arrested in an international investigation of child pornography, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Thursday.

The agency's director, John Morton, said 123 child victims were identified during the five-week investigation, which ended in early December. ICE and local authorities found 110 victims in 19 U.S. states, while the others were living in six countries elsewhere.

Morton declined to provide specific details about which foreign countries were involved, saying only that there were some cases in Mexico.

The investigation, dubbed "Operation Sunflower," was part of ICE's effort to find and rescue victims, and arrest abusers and people who make or transmit child pornography.

"We have to attack child exploitation relentlessly and together. There is no other way, there is no other answer," Morton said. "It is a wrong among wrongs. We are literally defending the defenseless."

Morton also announced arrest warrants for two unidentified adults charged in Los Angeles with molesting a girl who appeared in online photos to be about 13 when she was abused. The man and woman were identified only as "John Doe" and "Jane Doe" and authorities believe they may have been in the San Fernando Valley area north of Los Angeles when they abused the girl. Photos of the abuse investigators found online are believed to be about 11 years old, Morton said.

The victims ranged in age from less than 1 to 17 years old. Morton said 44 of the victims were living with their accused abusers.

Among those arrested were 51-year-old [name withheld], of Pageland, S.C., who is accused of producing child pornography using a 6-year-old girl. [name withheld]  who has pleaded not guilty, was arrested Nov. 8 and is facing federal charges. His attorney, Michael Allen Meetze, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

[name withheld], 54, of Eastpointe, Mich., was arrested Nov. 27 on charges of possession and receipt of child pornography. Investigators found a video in his home of two underage girls showering at his house when they served a warrant at his home. [name withheld] was a court security officer and formerly a reserve police officer in Michigan.

[name withheld] has not entered a plea, according to court records. His attorney, Robert S. Harrison, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In Fresno, Calif., 26-year-old [name withheld], a convicted sex offender, was arrested Nov. 6 on federal charges of distribution and possession of child pornography. ICE said a 7-year-old mentally disabled girl was rescued. According to court records, [name withheld] was in federal custody and has not entered a plea. His attorney, Victor Chavez, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

See Also:

• VA - Pentagon declined to investigate hundreds of purchases of child pornography

---

So what ever happened to all the FBI and other government officials who were busted in a child porn sting? That seems to have been buried under the rug.

Playlist Link

---

Even the FBI knows the media & politicians distort the truth!

Original Article

By Ashli-Jade Douglas

Child Abductions - Known Relationships Are the Greater Danger

According to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), every year, more than 200,000 children are abducted by family members. An additional 58,000 are taken by nonrelatives with primarily sexual motives. However, only 115 reported abductions represent cases in which strangers abduct and kill children, hold them for ransom, or take them with the intention to keep.1

Media news outlets have portrayed that abductors primarily consist of strangers or registered sex offenders (RSO), which has proven invalid in the past 2 fiscal years (FY). When a child is reported missing, members of the media advise parents to check sex offender registries to prevent their child from possible abduction or sexual victimization. However, FBI reporting indicates that RSOs are a minimal part of the problem. In FY 2009, an RSO was the abductor in 2 percent of child abduction cases; in FY 2010, this figure dropped to 1 percent.2

Although parents teach their children to stay away from strangers, most neglect to teach them not to allow anyone, even someone they know, to take them without parental consent. Additionally, children frequently are instructed to obey elders without question, adding to their vulnerability to offenders known to the child victim.

Over the past 4 years, the FBI has seen a decrease in abductions committed by a stranger or RSO. However, it is important to note that abductors with sexual intentions are, in fact, sexual offenders who have not yet been identified and, therefore, are unknown to local law enforcement agencies.

A majority (68 percent) of the child abduction cases the FBI’s Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) team has assisted in has resulted in the identification of an offender who had a relationship with the child victim.3 Moreover, an RSO was involved in only 10 percent of the investigations, 5 percent of who knew the victim.

In FY 2009, 63 percent of child abduction cases involved an offender known to the victim; only 1 percent were RSOs.4 In FY 2010, 70 percent of child abduction cases resulted in the identification of an offender who had a known relationship with the victim; less than 1 percent of the abductors were RSOs.5

RSOs contribute to a miniscule part of the child abduction problem. In contrast to media reporting, the number of cases involving a registered sex offender is decreasing. In addition to the FBI reporting, NCMEC has revealed that there were no RSOs involved in AMBER Alert cases in 2009.6

Although abductors can vary in age, race, or physicality, the FBI assesses with high confidence that the majority of child abductors involved in FBI child abduction cases, CARD team deployments, and AMBER Alerts have a relationship with the child victim. Moreover, despite media reporting, the FBI confidently assesses that the majority of child abductions are committed by persons with a relationship to the child they abduct.

See Also:

• How many -child abductions- are caused by registered sex offenders, annually?

Endnotes:

1. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, press release, May 18, 2009; http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/servlet/NewsEventServlet?LanguageCountry=en_US&PageId=4046 (accessed April 26, 2011).
2. For the purpose of this article, the author defines abduction as “the initial report of a child taken without the knowledge of a parent or guardian.”
3. The FBI’s Child Abduction Rapid Deployment (CARD) team was established in 2009 to provide FBI field offices with a resource team of additional investigators with specialized experience in child abduction matters. These regional teams provide rapid, on-site response to provide investigative, technical, and resource assistance during the most critical time period following a child abduction. In 2009, the team had the most deployments since its inception.
4. Based on FBI investigations.
5. Ibid.
6. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 2009 AMBER Alert Report; http://www.missingkids.com/en_US/documents/2009AMBERAlertReport.pdf (accessed April 26, 2011).

Ms. Douglas is an intelligence analyst with the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division.

---

FBI Hopes To Launch Iris-Scan Database To Track Criminals

Original Article

07/05/2012

By Ryan Gallagher

First it was fingerprints, then DNA. Now databases of iris scans are next on the biometrics list for law enforcement agencies in their efforts to track criminals.

As part of a $1 billion upgrade, the FBI is implementing a Next-Generation Identification System that will expand its old fingerprint database to allow for “rapid matching” of physical identifiers including iris scans, facial images, and palm prints, Mashable reported today.

The FBI, which is reportedly working with Massachusetts-based BI2 Technologies, aims to launch a pilot nationwide database of iris scans by 2014. The FBI has already been provided with more than 12,000 iris images from “current law enforcement agency clients” for analysis and testing, according to BI2’s president, Sean G. Mullin.

This isn’t a wholly new development. BI2 says agencies in 47 states have been gathering iris data in prisons as part of an inmate identification scheme for six years. The company is also rolling out a biometric device—built into an iPhone app—that can be used remotely to recognize and identify people based on iris, face, or fingerprint.

There are obvious civil liberties concerns around collecting ever more kinds of biometric data on a nationwide scale, even if only of convicts. BI2 says that its iris technology addresses privacy issues because subjects have to “agree to enroll and participate” in order to have their eyes photographed. But because currently all of BI2’s iris scans from across the United States are stored centrally on a server located in Texas, the ultimate safety and security of the technology is questionable. Though the iris scans are encrypted, there is always the possibility hackers could gain access.
- Oh come on, you expect us to believe the highlighted?  I'm sure someone in jail/prison won't have a choice.  So what happens if someone decides to not participate?  I'm sure they'd go to jail/prison and then be forced to comply!

In addition to what the FBI is calling an “iris repository,” it is also further embracing facial recognition technology. Last year the agency revealed that it wants to allow local police to identify unknown subjects in photos. Meanwhile, not to be outdone, biometrics are also on the Department of Homeland Security’s agenda. The DHS is building a program called Future Attribute Screening Technology that it hopes will "detect cues indicative of mal-intent" based on factors including ethnicity, gender, breathing, and heart rate.

Video Link


Video Link

---

IN - Former FBI Agent (Donald John Sachtleben) Arrested On Child Porn Charges

Donald John Sachtleben

Original Article

05/14/2012

Man Accused Of Possession, Distribution Of Child Porn

INDIANAPOLIS - A former Indianapolis FBI agent has been arrested on federal child pornography charges.

Donald John Sachtleben, 54, of Carmel, who retired from the FBI's Indianapolis office, was arrested Friday on preliminary charges of possession of child pornography and distribution of child pornography, RTV6's Jack Rinehart reported.

In September 2010, authorities began investigating a person they believed was trading images of child pornography online, leading to an arrest earlier this year.

According to the criminal complaint, some of the images in that case were traced to Sachtleben's computer at his Carmel home.

Authorities searched Sachtleben's home earlier this month and found 30 image and video files of child pornography, investigators said.

Sachtleben appeared in federal court Monday morning.

If convicted, he could face up to 20 years in prison on the distribution charge and 10 years on the possession charge.

Sachtleben worked as a bomb expert during his career with the FBI.

According to his LinkedIn page, he managed investigative teams at several major terrorist attack scenes, including the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Oklahoma City bombing, the bombing of the USS Cole and the crash of United Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2011.

Sachtleben was also the lead agent on the search of Ted Kaczynski's cabin in Montana, according to published reports.

"The mission of our Project Safe Childhood initiative is to investigate and prosecute anyone found to engaged in the sexual exploitation of children," U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Hogsett said in a news release. "Today's announcement underscores this serious commitment and should make clear that, no matter who you are, you will be brought to justice if you are found guilty of such criminal behavior."

Video Link

---

FBI releases app to assist in finding missing children

Original Article

08/08/2011

By Ed Oswald

Echoing a move made by other government agencies as of late, the FBI on Monday debuted its first in-house mobile application called Child ID. The iOS app aims to give parents a central location to store information about their children in the event they are lost or kidnapped.

The app will store information such as vital statistics and pictures of the child, which then can be easily e-mailed to law enforcement to aid in their investigations. The FBI has also included information on keeping children safe, as well as what to do if your child does indeed go missing.

The FBI stressed that while the app does collect information, it does not send the information to the agency. "All data resides solely on your mobile device unless you need to send it to authorities," it said.

Currently the app is only available for the iOS platform, and can be downloaded now in the App Store. The FBI said it has plans to release Child ID for other platforms, but in all cases it would not charge for it. It also plans to publicize the app through public service announcements to air in the near future.

Both the National Child Identification Program and the American Football Coaches Association would help to get the word out on the app. The AFCA is producing the PSA, but would also publicize its availability at football games around the country.

---

FBI has been given broad new powers to search everything!!

Video Link

---

F.B.I. Agents Get Leeway to Push Privacy Bounds

Original Article

06/12/2011

By CHARLIE SAVAGE

WASHINGTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving significant new powers to its roughly 14,000 agents, allowing them more leeway to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people who have attracted their attention.

The F.B.I. soon plans to issue a new edition of its manual, called the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, according to an official who has worked on the draft document and several others who have been briefed on its contents. The new rules add to several measures taken over the past decade to give agents more latitude as they search for signs of criminal or terrorist activity.

The F.B.I. recently briefed several privacy advocates about the coming changes. Among them, Michael German, a former F.B.I. agent who is now a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, argued that it was unwise to further ease restrictions on agents’ power to use potentially intrusive techniques, especially if they lacked a firm reason to suspect someone of wrongdoing.

“Claiming additional authorities to investigate people only further raises the potential for abuse,” Mr. German said, pointing to complaints about the bureau’s surveillance of domestic political advocacy groups and mosques and to an inspector general’s findings in 2007 that the F.B.I. had frequently misused “national security letters,” which allow agents to obtain information like phone records without a court order.

Valerie E. Caproni, the F.B.I. general counsel, said the bureau had fixed the problems with the national security letters and had taken steps to make sure they would not recur. She also said the bureau, which does not need permission to alter its manual so long as the rules fit within broad guidelines issued by the attorney general, had carefully weighed the risks and the benefits of each change.

“Every one of these has been carefully looked at and considered against the backdrop of why do the employees need to be able to do it, what are the possible risks and what are the controls,” she said, portraying the modifications to the rules as “more like fine-tuning than major changes.”

Some of the most notable changes apply to the lowest category of investigations, called an “assessment.” The category, created in December 2008, allows agents to look into people and organizations “proactively” and without firm evidence for suspecting criminal or terrorist activity.

Under current rules, agents must open such an inquiry before they can search for information about a person in a commercial or law enforcement database. Under the new rules, agents will be allowed to search such databases without making a record about their decision.

Mr. German said the change would make it harder to detect and deter inappropriate use of databases for personal purposes. But Ms. Caproni said it was too cumbersome to require agents to open formal inquiries before running quick checks. She also said agents could not put information uncovered from such searches into F.B.I. files unless they later opened an assessment.

The new rules will also relax a restriction on administering lie-detector tests and searching people’s trash. Under current rules, agents cannot use such techniques until they open a “preliminary investigation,” which — unlike an assessment — requires a factual basis for suspecting someone of wrongdoing. But soon agents will be allowed to use those techniques for one kind of assessment, too: when they are evaluating a target as a potential informant.

Agents have asked for that power in part because they want the ability to use information found in a subject’s trash to put pressure on that person to assist the government in the investigation of others. But Ms. Caproni said information gathered that way could also be useful for other reasons, like determining whether the subject might pose a threat to agents.

The new manual will also remove a limitation on the use of surveillance squads, which are trained to surreptitiously follow targets. Under current rules, the squads can be used only once during an assessment, but the new rules will allow agents to use them repeatedly. Ms. Caproni said restrictions on the duration of physical surveillance would still apply, and argued that because of limited resources, supervisors would use the squads only rarely during such a low-level investigation.

The revisions also clarify what constitutes “undisclosed participation” in an organization by an F.B.I. agent or informant, which is subject to special rules — most of which have not been made public. The new manual says an agent or an informant may surreptitiously attend up to five meetings of a group before those rules would apply — unless the goal is to join the group, in which case the rules apply immediately.

At least one change would tighten, rather than relax, the rules. Currently, a special agent in charge of a field office can delegate the authority to approve sending an informant to a religious service. The new manual will require such officials to handle those decisions personally.

In addition, the manual clarifies a description of what qualifies as a “sensitive investigative matter” — investigations, at any level, that require greater oversight from supervisors because they involve public officials, members of the news media or academic scholars.

The new rules make clear, for example, that if the person with such a role is a victim or a witness rather than a target of an investigation, extra supervision is not necessary. Also excluded from extra supervision will be investigations of low- and midlevel officials for activities unrelated to their position — like drug cases as opposed to corruption, for example.

The manual clarifies the definition of who qualifies for extra protection as a legitimate member of the news media in the Internet era: prominent bloggers would count, but not people who have low-profile blogs. And it will limit academic protections only to scholars who work for institutions based in the United States.

Since the release of the 2008 manual, the assessment category has drawn scrutiny because it sets a low bar to examine a person or a group. The F.B.I. has opened thousands of such low-level investigations each month, and a vast majority has not generated information that justified opening more intensive investigations.

Ms. Caproni said the new manual would adjust the definition of assessments to make clear that they must be based on leads. But she rejected arguments that the F.B.I. should focus only on investigations that begin with a firm reason for suspecting wrongdoing.

Video Link

---

FBI & Pentagon officials purchased and downloaded child porn - 5,200 employees caught

But will they be charged like any other civilian? That is the question. My guess, is they won't, because they are above the law, apparently. And why is this not major news on every single news outfit? What are they hiding?

Every one of them should be arrested, thrown in prison, and once they are out, on the sex offender registry for life, and forced to life by the same sex offender residency laws everyone else lives by. But I am sure this will be pushed under the carpet and buried.

Click the PENTAGON link above to see more. More videos here., and more on Project Flicker here.

Playlist Link

---

MI - Federal investigators in Detroit mine Facebook for crime info

Original Article

04/25/2011

By Robert Snell

Search warrants let them access photographs, cell phone numbers, possible accomplices

Detroit - Federal investigators in Detroit have taken the rare step of obtaining search warrants that give them access to Facebook accounts of suspected criminals.

The warrants let investigators view photographs, email addresses, cellphone numbers, lists of friends who might double as partners in crime, and see GPS locations that could help disprove alibis.

There have been a few dozen search warrants for Facebook accounts nationwide since May 2009, including three approved recently by a federal magistrate judge in Detroit, according to a Detroit News analysis of publicly available federal court records.

The trend raises privacy and evidentiary concerns in a rapidly evolving digital age and illustrates the potential law-enforcement value of social media, experts said.

Locally, Facebook accounts have been seized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and FBI to investigate more than a dozen gang members and accused bank robber [name withheld] of Detroit.

"To be honest with you, it bothers me," said [name withheld], 25, who was indicted Tuesday on bank robbery charges after the FBI compared Facebook photos with images taken from a bank surveillance video. "Facebook could have let me know what was going on. Instead, I got my door kicked down, and all of a sudden I'm in handcuffs."

Federal investigators defend the practice. "With technology today, we would be crazy not to look at every avenue," said Special Agent Donald Dawkins, spokesman with the ATF in Detroit.

The FBI suspected [name withheld] was behind a string of bank robberies across Metro Detroit that netted more than $6,300. Special Agent Juan Herrera said an informant told the FBI about [name withheld]'s Facebook account. It was registered under the name "[name withheld]."

In several photos on Facebook, [name withheld] was wearing a blue baseball hat and blue hooded sweatshirt, both featuring a Polo emblem. That's the same outfit the FBI said the suspect wore when he stole $390 from a Bank of America Branch in Grosse Pointe Woods on Nov. 26, according to federal court records.

His Facebook photos also included one in which [name withheld] wore a red Philadelphia Phillies baseball hat, which the FBI said [name withheld] donned while robbing $1,363 from a PNC Bank branch in St. Clair Shores on Dec. 21, according to court records.

On Jan. 26, U.S. Magistrate Judge Virginia Morgan gave approval for the FBI to seize information from [name withheld]'s Facebook account. The warrant was executed within four hours.

Facebook gave the FBI [name withheld]'s contact information, including birth date, cell phone number, friends, incoming and outgoing messages, and photos.

[name withheld] was charged in a criminal complaint Feb. 7 and indicted Tuesday on five bank robbery charges. He is free on a $10,000 unsecured bond.

"I'm innocent until proven guilty," [name withheld] told The Detroit News. "They're basically going off my clothes. Ralph Lauren is a popular clothing line."
- I agree.  What would stop a "friend" from noticing that, getting the same clothes, and making it appear as if he did it?  I'm not saying that is what occurred here, but it's possible.

He's since updated his Facebook photo. [name withheld] swapped the blue Polo hat and blue Polo sweatshirt for white ones featuring the iconic Polo horse.

Despite the search warrants, his Facebook information page was still public Thursday.

Morgan, the federal magistrate judge, also approved two search warrant requests from the ATF late last year and in February to search the accounts of at least 16 people suspected of belonging to a Detroit area gang. The affidavit justifying the search remains sealed in federal court.

Even with the access, investigators are having a hard time keeping up with high-tech crooks. In February, an FBI official testified before a House subcommittee about the difficulty accessing electronic communications on social media sites and email even with court approval.

"The FBI and other government agencies are facing a potentially widening gap between our legal authority to intercept electronic communications pursuant to court order and our practical ability to actually intercept those communications," FBI General Counsel Valerie Caproni testified.
- That's how it should be.  When the government starts to be able to do whatever they wish, whenever they wish, then we are living in a communist country.

Monitoring real-time Web-based conversations is particularly difficult, she said.

The FBI uses the term "Going Dark" to label the gap between having the authority to access electronic communications and the Internet service providers' capability to gather the information. "This gap poses a growing threat to public safety," Caproni testified.

Concerns over privacy

Information gleaned from the Internet raises constitutional and evidentiary issues that must be considered, including privacy and the right against unreasonable searches and seizures, said Chief U.S. District Judge Gerald E. Rosen, who also is an evidence professor at Wayne State University. Evidence obtained from the Internet and social media sites also raises issues about whether the information can be authenticated, he said.

"The Internet is the next frontier for the development of Fourth Amendment law," Rosen said, referring to the amendment protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures.

A Facebook spokesman said the company receives a "significant volume of third-party data requests" that are reviewed individually for "legal sufficiency."

"We do not comment publicly on data requests, even when we disclose the request to the user. We have this policy to respect privacy and avoid the risk that even acknowledging the existence of a request could wrongly harm the reputation of an individual,"said Andrew Noyes, Facebook manager of public policy communications. "We never turn over 'content' records in response to U.S. legal process unless that process is a search warrant reviewed by a judge.We are required to regularly push back against overbroad requests for user records, but in most cases we are able to convince the party issuing legal process to withdraw the overbroad request, but if they do not, we fight the matter in court (and have a history of success in those cases.)"

Spokeswomen for the U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI declined to discuss techniques used by investigators.

It is unclear exactly how many search warrants have been executed for Facebook accounts. But requests — in Maryland, New York, North Carolina, Virginia, California, Pennsylvania, Montana and Alabama — come amid a backlash from users who complained too much of their personal information was being disclosed.

The San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties organization based in San Francisco, launched a campaign recently to encourage Facebook and others to disclose when and how often law-enforcement agencies request user account information.

---

DC - FBI and Department of Justice pushing for new sex offender island

Cristy Sheldon

Original Article

THIS IS OF COURSE SATIRE!

04/20/2011

By Charles Doppelganger

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Cristy Sheldon was one a nice, innocent young kid who loved to get on the Internet, despite her parents wishes, and chat with people online.

She recently became a victim of sexual abuse by a man claiming to be another 14 year old child, fitness buff, who loves to work out.

She met the man online

Cristy doesn't want anybody else to suffer the same fate as her, so she is now working with the Federal Bureau of Investigations and Department of Justice, to pass a new law to further punish all the evil, sick, perverted monsters roaming the cyber world. This will also prevent them from living under bridges like trolls, or in your backyard behind the bushes.

The law will be named after her, to honor her name, and will be called "Cristy's Law."

The law will force all states to comply, or they will lose their federal grant money that has been set aside by the NotSmart office.

The law has already passed the House, and next goes to the Senate.

Sex Offender Island

If passed, the law will convert Hawaii into a "sex offender" island where all people who have ever been convicted of a sex crime, of any nature, will be rounded up and shipped to.  This would include your grand parents, if they married under the age of 18, public urinaters, kids who have experimented with sex with someone their own age, if they are under the age of 18, and many other related sex crimes.

Click to enlarge

The law will also force the offenders to wear special clothing, to help identify them, if they ever escape.  The uniforms will be similar to what the Jews and others had to wear during Hitler's reign.  For example, their uniforms will be supplied with patches to help easily identify different classes of people.  Click the image to the right to see the patches they will have to wear (in red).

Sex Offender Mark

All offenders will also be required to get a tattoo or mark on their forehead, so if they ever escape and dispose of their uniforms, then people can still identify them easily.

The FBI stated this was not done to punish offenders, but to protect society and the children from those who wish to do them harm.  They are also considering putting other criminals on a similar online registry to further help protect society.

If you would like to voice your support for this new law, then visit the FBI's web site and click on the contact link.

The Department of Justice would also like to inform you on how to potentially identify a possible sex offender.  Below is a list of traits many share.

Typical Sex Offender

• Are they driving a van or ice cream truck?
• Do they usually wear long trench coats, even during the summer?
• Are they bald, grumpy all the time, and like to hang out in the bushes at parks or playgrounds?
• Are they, or have they, ever offered your kids candy, or want them to sit on their laps?
• Do they pretend to be kids online?
• Do they work at McDonalds or some other place with a playground?
• Do they like to dress up in bear costumes?
• Do they wear thick rimmed glasses?
• Do they live with their parents in the basement, and spend a lot of time on the computer?

These are just a few of the many things to look for to help protect your kids from sex beasts.

Heil Hitler!

So visit the above web sites, or come to the congressional building in Washington DC on May 15th, 2011, and let the people in congress know you support their proposed law.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Mein Führer

---

VA - Pentagon declined to investigate hundreds of purchases of child pornography

Original Article

09/03/2010

By John Cook

A 2006 Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigation into the purchase of child pornography online turned up more than 250 civilian and military employees of the Defense Department -- including some with the highest available security clearance -- who used credit cards or PayPal to purchase images of children in sexual situations. But the Pentagon investigated only a handful of the cases, Defense Department records show.

The cases turned up during a 2006 ICE inquiry, called Project Flicker, which targeted overseas processing of child-porn payments. As part of the probe, ICE investigators gained access to the names and credit card information of more than 5,000 Americans who had subscribed to websites offering images of child pornography. Many of those individuals provided military email addresses or physical addresses with Army or fleet ZIP codes when they purchased the subscriptions.

In a related inquiry, the Pentagon's Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) cross-checked the ICE list against military databases to come up with a list of Defense employees and contractors who appeared to be guilty of purchasing child pornography. The names included staffers for the secretary of defense, contractors for the ultra-secretive National Security Agency, and a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. But the DCIS opened investigations into only 20 percent of the individuals identified, and succeeded in prosecuting just a handful.

The Boston Globe first reported the Pentagon's role in Project Flicker in July, citing DCIS investigative reports (PDF) showing that at least 30 Defense Department employees were investigated.

But new Project Flicker investigative reports obtained by The Upshot through the Freedom of Information Act, which you can read here, show that DCIS investigators identified 264 Defense employees or contractors who had purchased child pornography online. Astonishingly, nine of those had "Top Secret Sensitive Compartmentalized Information" security clearances, meaning they had access to the nation's most sensitive secrets. All told, 76 of the individuals had Secret or higher clearances. But DCIS investigated only 52 of the suspects, and just 10 were ever charged with viewing or purchasing child pornography. Without greater public disclosure of how these cases wound down, it's impossible to know how or whether any of the names listed in the Project Flicker papers came in for additional scrutiny. It's conceivable that some of them were picked up by local law enforcement, but it seems likely that most of the people flagged by the investigation did not have their military careers disrupted in the context of the DCIS inquiry.

Among those charged were Gary Douglass Grant, a captain in the Army Reserves and a judge advocate general, or military prosecutor. After investigators executing a search warrant found child pornography on his computer, he pleaded guilty last year to state charges of possession of obscene matter of a minor in a sexual act in California. Others included contractors for the NSA with Top Secret clearances; one of them -- a former contractor -- fled the country after being indicted and is believed to be in Libya.

But the vast majority of those investigated, including an active-duty lieutenant colonel in the Army and an official in the office of the secretary of defense, were never charged. On top of that, 212 people on ICE's list were never investigated at all.

According to the records, DCIS prioritized the investigations by focusing on people who had security clearances -- since those who have a taste for child pornography can be vulnerable to blackmail and espionage. The documents show that the probe then concentrated on people who had been previously suspected of or convicted of sex crimes, or had access to children as part of their Defense Department duties. But at least some of the people on the Project Flicker list with security clearances were never pursued and could possibly remain on the job: DCIS only investigated 52 people, and 76 of those on the Project Flicker list had clearances.

A DCIS spokesman didn't return phone calls. But the agency's own documents obtained via The Upshot's FOIA request indicate that the decision to press investigations forward hinged largely on questions of the resources available to the investigators. "Due to DCIS headquarters' direction and other DCIS investigative priorities, this investigation is cancelled" is a common summation in the files.

A source familiar with the Project Flicker investigations -- who requested anonymity because public disclosure could jeopardize this person's job -- confirmed that departmental resources, and priorities, were decisive factors in letting inquiries lapse.

DCIS is primarily tasked with rooting out contractor fraud and investigating security breaches; its 400 staffers were already plenty busy before Project Flicker dropped 264 more names onto their caseloads. And child pornography investigations are difficult to prosecute. Many judges wouldn't issue search warrants based on years-old evidence saying the targets subscribed to a kiddie porn website once.

"We were stuck in a situation where we had some great information, but didn't have the resources to run with it," the source told The Upshot. Many of the investigative reports obtained by The Upshot end with a similar citation of scarce resources:

Of course, other federal agencies, including ICE and the FBI, may have prosecuted some of the Project Flicker names the DCIS ignored. But that's unlikely, given that some of the DCIS investigations were closed due to lack of cooperation from ICE.

In one case, involving an Army Reserve corporal in the Pittsburgh area, a DCIS agent expressed exasperation after repeatedly trying to get ICE to collaborate with him on the investigation: "Based upon the complete non-responsiveness of ICE ... it is recommended that [the] matter be closed."

As for the 212 Project Flicker names that DCIS didn't investigate, the source familiar with the investigation said there was no systematic effort to inform their superiors or commanding officers of their suspected purchases of child pornography.

---

WA - Jail for former FBI worker (Samuel I. Kaplan) from Virginia

Original Article

08/27/2010

By Paul Duggan

A 65-year-old former FBI employee from Prince William County was sentenced to nearly four years in prison Friday for possessing child pornography.

Samuel I. Kaplan, of Gainesville, who pleaded guilty June 2 in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, was sentenced to 46 months behind bars.

Kaplan was an information technology program manager at an FBI facility in Chantilly when authorities discovered that he had used the FBI's computer network to "facilitate sexually explict communications," the Justice Department said.

Investigators said they later found 10 to 20 images on Kaplan's home computer showing juveniles involved in sex acts.

The investigation was part of the Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide law enforcement initiative to combat child sexual exploitation, authorities said.

---

FBI wants records kept of Web sites visited

Original Article

02/05/2010

WASHINGTON - The FBI is pressing Internet service providers to record which Web sites customers visit and retain those logs for two years, a requirement that law enforcement believes could help it in investigations of child pornography and other serious crimes.

FBI Director Robert Mueller supports storing Internet users' "origin and destination information," a bureau attorney said at a federal task force meeting on Thursday.

As far back as a 2006 speech, Mueller had called for data retention on the part of Internet providers, and emphasized the point two years later when explicitly asking Congress to enact a law making it mandatory. But it had not been clear before that the FBI was asking companies to begin to keep logs of what Web sites are visited, which few if any currently do.

The FBI is not alone in renewing its push for data retention. As CNET reported earlier this week, a survey of state computer crime investigators found them to be nearly unanimous in supporting the idea. Matt Dunn, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in the Department of Homeland Security, also expressed support for the idea during the task force meeting.

Greg Motta, the chief of the FBI's digital evidence section, said that the bureau was trying to preserve its existing ability to conduct criminal investigations. Federal regulations in place since at least 1986 require phone companies that offer toll service to "retain for a period of 18 months" records including "the name, address, and telephone number of the caller, telephone number called, date, time and length of the call."

At Thursday's meeting (PDF) of the Online Safety and Technology Working Group, which was created by Congress and organized by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Motta stressed that the bureau was not asking that content data, such as the text of e-mail messages, be retained.

"The question at least for the bureau has been about non-content transactional data to be preserved: transmission records, non-content records...addressing, routing, signaling of the communication," Motta said. Director Mueller recognizes, he added "there's going to be a balance of what industry can bear...He recommends origin and destination information for non-content data."

Motta pointed to a 2006 resolution from the International Association of Chiefs of Police, which called for the "retention of customer subscriber information, and source and destination information for a minimum specified reasonable period of time so that it will be available to the law enforcement community."

Recording what Web sites are visited, though, is likely to draw both practical and privacy objections.

"We're not set up to keep URL information anywhere in the network," said Drew Arena, Verizon's vice president and associate general counsel for law enforcement compliance.

And, Arena added, "if you were do to deep packet inspection to see all the URLs, you would arguably violate the Wiretap Act."

Another industry representative with knowledge of how Internet service providers work was unaware of any company keeping logs of what Web sites its customers visit.

If logs of Web sites visited began to be kept, they would be available only to local, state, and federal police with legal authorization such as a subpoena or search warrant.

What remains unclear are the details of what the FBI is proposing. The possibilities include requiring an Internet provider to log the Internet protocol (IP) address of a Web site visited, or the domain name such as cnet.com, a host name such as news.cnet.com, or the actual URL such as http://reviews.cnet.com/Music/2001-6450_7-0.html.

While the first three categories could be logged without doing deep packet inspection, the fourth category would require it. That could run up against opposition in Congress, which lambasted the concept in a series of hearings in 2008, causing the demise of a company, NebuAd, which pioneered it inside the United States.

The technical challenges also may be formidable. John Seiver, an attorney at Davis Wright Tremaine who represents cable providers, said one of his clients had experience with a law enforcement request that required the logging of outbound URLs.

"Eighteen million hits an hour would have to have been logged," a staggering amount of data to sort through, Seiver said. The purpose of the FBI's request was to identify visitors to two URLs, "to try to find out...who's going to them."

A Justice Department representative said the department does not have an official position on data retention.

---

"The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly." - Abraham Lincoln

---

F.B.I. and States Vastly Expand DNA Databases

View the article here

04/18/2009

By SOLOMON MOORE

Law enforcement officials are vastly expanding their collection of DNA to include millions more people who have been arrested or detained but not yet convicted. The move, intended to help solve more crimes, is raising concerns about the privacy of petty offenders and people who are presumed innocent.

Until now, the federal government genetically tracked only convicts. But starting this month, the Federal Bureau of Investigation will join 15 states that collect DNA samples from those awaiting trial and will also collect DNA from detained immigrants — the vanguard of a growing class of genetic registrants.

The F.B.I., with a DNA database of 6.7 million profiles, expects to accelerate its rate of growth from 80,000 new entries a year to 1.2 million by 2012 — a 17-fold increase. F.B.I. officials say they expect DNA processing backlogs — which now stand at more than 500,000 cases — to increase.

Law enforcement officials say that expanding the DNA databanks to include legally innocent people will help solve more violent crimes. They point out that DNA has helped convict thousands of criminals and has exonerated more than 200 wrongfully convicted people.

But criminal justice experts cite Fourth Amendment privacy concerns and worry that the nation is becoming a genetic surveillance society.

“DNA databases were built initially to deal with violent sexual crimes and homicides — a very limited number of crimes,” said Harry Levine, a professor of sociology at City University of New York who studies policing trends. “Over time more and more crimes of decreasing severity have been added to the database. Cops and prosecutors like it because it gives everybody more information and creates a new suspect pool.”

Courts have generally upheld laws authorizing compulsory collection of DNA from convicts and ex-convicts under supervised release, on the grounds that criminal acts diminish privacy rights.

DNA extraction upon arrest potentially erodes that argument, a recent Congressional study found. “Courts have not fully considered legal implications of recent extensions of DNA-collection to people whom the government has arrested but not tried or convicted,” the report said.

Minors are required to provide DNA samples in 35 states upon conviction, and in some states upon arrest. Three juvenile suspects in November filed the only current constitutional challenge against taking DNA at the time of arrest. The judge temporarily stopped DNA collection from the three youths, and the case is continuing.

Sixteen states now take DNA from some who have been found guilty of misdemeanors. In South Carolina in 2007, a court ordered a DNA sample to be taken from a man found guilty of loitering for the purpose of prostitution.

As more police agencies take DNA for a greater variety of lesser and suspected crimes, civil rights advocates say the government’s power is becoming too broadly applied. “What we object to — and what the Constitution prohibits — is the indiscriminate taking of DNA for things like writing an insufficient funds check, shoplifting, drug convictions and other cases where police don’t have a need to obtain DNA because it’s not relevant to charges facing them,” said Michael Risher, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union.

This year, California began taking DNA upon arrest and expects to nearly double the growth rate of its database, to 390,000 profiles a year from 200,000.

One of those was Brian Roberts, 29, who was awaiting trial for methamphetamine possession. Inside the huge Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles last month, Mr. Roberts let a sheriff’s deputy swab the inside of his cheek.

Mr. Roberts’s DNA will be translated into a numerical sequence at the F.B.I.’s DNA database, the largest in the world.

The system will search for matches between Mr. Roberts’s DNA and other profiles every Monday, from now into the indeterminate future — until one day, perhaps decades hence, Mr. Roberts might leave a drop of blood or semen at some crime scene.

Law enforcement officials say that DNA extraction upon arrest is no different than fingerprinting at routine bookings and that states purge profiles after people are cleared of suspicion. In practice, a number of defense lawyers say this is a laborious process that often involves a court order. (The F.B.I. says it has never received a request to purge a profile from its own database.)

When DNA is taken in error, expunging a profile can be just as difficult. In Pennsylvania, where DNA cannot be taken from juveniles for misdemeanors, Ellyn Sapper, a Philadelphia public defender, has spent weeks trying to expunge the profile of a 14-year-old boy guilty of assault and bicycle theft — his first misdemeanor. “I’m going to have to get a judge’s order to make sure that all references to his DNA are gone,” she said.

The police say that the potential hazards of genetic surveillance are worth it because it solves crimes and because DNA is more accurate than other physical evidence. “I’ve watched women go from mug-book to mug-book looking for the man who raped her,” said Mitch Morrissey, the Denver district attorney and an advocate for more expansive DNA sampling. “It saves women’s lives.”

Mr. Morrissey pointed to Britain, which has fewer privacy protections than the United States and has been taking DNA upon arrest for years. It has a population of 61 million — and 4.5 million DNA profiles. “What you find is that about 8 percent of the people commit about 70 percent of your crimes, so if you can get the majority of that community, you don’t have to do more than that,” he said.

In the United States, 8 percent of the population would be roughly 24 million people.

Britain may provide a window into America’s genetic surveillance future: As of March 2008, 857,000 people in the British database, or about one-fifth, have no current criminal record. In December, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Britain’s practice of collecting DNA profiles from innocent people, including children as young as 10, violated international privacy protections.

Critics are also disturbed by the demographics of DNA databases, and again Britain’s example is instructive. According to a House of Commons report, 27 percent of black people and 42 percent of all black males are genetically registered, compared with 6 percent of white people.

As in Britain, expanding genetic sampling in the United States could exacerbate racial disparities in the criminal justice system, according to Hank Greely, a Stanford University Law School professor who studies the intersection of genetics, policing and race. Mr. Greely estimated that African-Americans, who are about 12 percent of the national population, currently make up 40 percent of the DNA profiles in the federal database, reflective of their prison population. He also expects Latinos, who are about 13 percent of the population and committed 40 percent of last year’s federal offenses — nearly half of them immigration crimes, including illegal entry — to dominate DNA databases.

Enforcement officials contend that DNA is blind to race. Federal profiles include little more information than the DNA sequence and the referring police agency. Subjects’ names are usually kept by investigators.

Rock Harmon, a former prosecutor for Alameda County, Calif., and an adviser to crime laboratories, said DNA demographics reflected the criminal population. Even if an innocent man’s DNA was included in a genetic database, he said, it would come to nothing without a crime scene sample to match it. “If you haven’t done anything wrong, you have nothing to fear,” he said.

---

Documents: FBI Spyware Has Been Snaring Extortionists and Hackers for Years

View the article here
PDF Document (Affidavit)

The only way for spyware to get onto a machine, is if the person was dumb enough to open an attachment which contained an executable, or, from a web site, or, they are in cahoots with companies, like Microsoft, to automatically update all Microsoft machines with the "spyware!"  At least that is what I think.  I'm no computer security expert!

04/16/2009

By Kevin Poulsen

A sophisticated FBI-produced spyware program has played a crucial behind-the-scenes role in federal investigations into extortion plots, terrorist threats and hacker attacks in cases stretching back at least seven years, newly declassified documents show.

As first reported by Wired.com, the software, called a "computer and internet protocol address verifier," or CIPAV, is designed to infiltrate a target's computer and gather a wide range of information, which it secretly sends to an FBI server in eastern Virginia. The FBI's use of the spyware surfaced in 2007 when the bureau used it to track e-mailed bomb threats against a Washington state high school to a 15-year-old student.

But the documents released Thursday under the Freedom of Information Act show the FBI has quietly obtained court authorization to deploy the CIPAV in a wide variety of cases, ranging from major hacker investigations, to someone posing as an FBI agent online. Shortly after its launch, the program became so popular with federal law enforcement that Justice Department lawyers in Washington warned that overuse of the novel technique could result in its electronic evidence being thrown out of court in some cases.

"While the technique is of indisputable value in certain kinds of cases, we are seeing indications that it is being used needlessly by some agencies, unnecessarily raising difficult legal questions (and a risk of suppression) without any countervailing benefit," reads a formerly-classified March 7, 2002 memo from the Justice Department's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section.

The documents, which are heavily redacted, do not detail the CIPAV's capabilities, but an FBI affidavit in the 2007 case indicate it gathers and reports a computer's IP address; MAC address; open ports; a list of running programs; the operating system type, version and serial number; preferred internet browser and version; the computer's registered owner and registered company name; the current logged-in user name and the last-visited URL.

After sending the information to the FBI, the CIPAV settles into a silent "pen register" mode, in which it lurks on the target computer and monitors its internet use, logging the IP address of every server to which the machine connects.

The documents shed some light on how the FBI sneaks the CIPAV onto a target's machine, hinting that the bureau may be using one or more web browser vulnerabilities. In several of the cases outlined, the FBI hosted the CIPAV on a website, and tricked the target into clicking on a link. That's what happened in the Washington case, according to a formerly-secret planning document for the 2007 operation. "The CIPAV will be deployed via a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) address posted to the subject's private chat room on MySpace.com."

In a separate February 2007 Cincinnati -based investigation of hackers who'd successfully targeted an unnamed bank, the documents indicate the FBI's efforts may have been detected. An FBI agent became alarmed when the hacker he was chasing didn't get infected with the spyware after visiting the CIPAV-loaded website. Instead, the hacker "proceeded to visit the site 29 more times," according to a summary of the incident. "In these instances, the CIPAV did not deliver its payload because of system incompatibility."

The agent phoned the FBI's Special Technologies Operations Unit for "urgent" help, expressing "the valid concern that the Unsub hackers would be 'spooked.'" But two days later the hacker, or a different one, visited the site again and "the system was able to deliver a CIPAV and the CIPAV returned data."

The software's primary utility appears to be in tracking down suspects that use proxy servers or anonymizing websites to cover their tracks. That's illustrated in several cases in the documents, including the 2004 hunt for a saboteur who cut off telephone, cable TV and internet service for thousands of Boston residents. The man's name is redacted from the documents, but the description of the case matches that of Danny Kelly, an unemployed Massachusetts engineer.

According to court records, Kelly deliberately cut a total of 18 communications cables belong to Comcast, AT&T, Verizon and others over a three month period. In anonymous extortion letters to Comcast and Verizon, Kelly threatened to increase the sabotage if the companies didn't begin paying him $10,000-a-month in protection money. He instructed the companies to deposit the cash in a new bank account and post the account information to a webpage he could access anonymously.

When the FBI tried to track him down from his visits to the webpage, they found he was routing through a German-based anonymizer. The FBI obtained a warrant to use the CIPAV on February 10, 2005, and was apparently successful. Kelly went on to plead guilty to extortion, and was sentenced to five years probation.

The CIPAV also played a previously-unreported role in an investigation of a prolific computer hacker who made headlines after penetrating thousands of computers at Cisco, various U.S. national laboratories, and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2005. The FBI agent leading the case sought approval to plant a CIPAV through an undercover operative posing as a Defense Department contractor "with a computer network connected to JPL's computer network," according to one document. The FBI linked the intrusions to known 16-year-old hacker in Sweden.

And in 2005, FBI agents on the Innocent Images task force hit a wall when trying to track a sexual predator who'd begun threatening the life of a teenage girl he'd met for sex. The man's IP addresses were "from all over the world" -- a sign of web proxy use. The bureau sought and won court approval to use the CIPAV on August 9 2005.

Other cases are less weighty. In another 2005 case, someone was unwisely using the name of the chief of the FBI's Buffalo, New York office to harass people online. The FBI got a warrant to use the spyware to track down the fake agent.

Additional cases include:

• In March 2006, the FBI investigated a hacker who took over a Hotmail user's account and acquired personal information. The hacker tried to extort the owner out of $10,000, demanding the victim crete and fund an E-Gold account and e-mail the password to the hacker. The FBI obtained a search warrant allowing them to send the intruder a CIPAV instead, to uncover his or her location.
• In October, 2005, an undercover agent working a case described as "WMD (bomb & anthrax)" communicated with the suspect via Hotmail, and sought approval from Washington to use a CIPAV to locate the subject's computer.
• In December 2005, FBI agents sought to use the spyware to track down another extortionist who sent an e-mail to a casino threatening violence.
• In June 2005, an intruder deleted a database at an unnamed company and demanded payment to restore it. The FBI prepared a search warrant affidavit and was ready to ask a judge for authorization to deliver the CIPAV through the hacker's Yahoo e-mail account. They were briefly thwarted when the intruder stopped communicating with the victim, but after a month of silence the hacker reestablished contact and, presumably, got the FBI's spyware for his trouble.

The documents appear to settle one of the questions the FBI declined to answer in 2007: whether the bureau obtains search warrants before using the CIPAV, or if it sometimes uses so-called "pen register" warrants that don't require a showing of probable cause that a crime has been committed. In all the criminal cases described in the documents, the FBI sought search warrants.

The records also indicate that the FBI obtained court orders from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which covers foreign espionage and terrorism investigations, but the details are redacted.

The FBI released 152 heavily-redacted pages in response to Threat Level's FOIA request, and withheld another 623. We're scanning the documents now, and we'll add them to this story later Friday.

See Also:

• FBI Spyware: How Does the CIPAV Work? -- UPDATE
• FBI's Sought Approval for Custom Spyware in FISA Court
• 'Thank You For Your Interest in the FBI'
• Appeals Court Clarifies: Government Spyware Not Protected in Ruling
• FBI's Magic Lantern Revealed
• FBI's Secret Spyware Tracks Down Teen Who Made Bomb Threats

---