P2P news

27th May 2004 17:16 #1

Member

p2pnet.net News Opinion:- Jason Heath Morgan from Chico in California is accused by the FBI of being the worst kind of criminal - a man who gets his kicks from kiddie porn - and a Sacramento law enforcement team recently received the 2004 National Exploited Children's Award for their work in bringing him and his activities into the light of day.

Morgan, 26, allegedly posted notices, "seeking and offering to receive, exchange, and distribute visual depictions, the production of which involved the use of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct."

For more than three weeks, "every Web site, every e-mail, every photo image, every chat room conversation he viewed or took part in was scrutinized, as the 26-year-old Morgan unwittingly became the first person in the United States to have his Internet usage monitored live by federal agents probing child pornography under a new law."

The quotes come from a Sacramento Bee story here and refer to the fact that under Bill S.151, FBI agents were able to watch Morgan's every online move live and in real-time, and without his knowledge.

Pleading not guilty to child pornography charges, he remains in federal custody, says the SacBee.

"We're standing over the top of you"
That another potential child molester has been taken off the streets is excellent news. But the story has implications well beyond that.

Among other things, the PROTECT (Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today) Act, "Authorizes the interception of wire, oral, or electronic communications in the investigation of kidnaping [sic], sex trafficking, and sex offenses against children".

Tagged S.151, it passed in 2003 and allows enforcement agencies to use hardware to access phone lines to carry out Internet surveillance in the same way they conduct phone taps.

And, "although civil libertarians have raised concerns about other government efforts to monitor personal computer use, this law, passed in the shadow of the Bush administration's highly publicized USA Patriot Act, so far has attracted little opposition," says the SacBee.

Morgan came to the attention of law enforcement last year as he allegedly cruised chat rooms frequented by suspected pedophiles," it continues.

Previously, "agents would have had limited ability to go after Morgan, other than obtaining a search warrant for his computer and its contents."

Technology used in the surveillance is very similar to a phone tap, says the SacBee, going on: "Agents attached a monitoring device to Morgan's phone line, then tracked his Internet activity from remote computers.

With the wiretap in place, "it doesn't matter who you're dealing with, we're standing over the top of you watching everything that's going on'," Ronald Wilczynski, the Sacramento FBI agent overseeing the probe, is quoted as saying.

"PATRIOT threatens to chill free speech"
As we write this, the American Civil Liberties Union and Electronic Frontier Foundation, among others, are trying to do something about the National Security Letters (NSLs) used by the FBI to demand detailed information about people's private Net communications from ISPs, web mail providers and other communications service providers.

Authorized by the USA PATRIOT Act, NSLs are issued directly by FBI agents without court supervision and without probable cause.

"Before PATRIOT, the FBI could use National Security Letters only for securing the records of suspected terrorists or spies," says EFF attorney and Equal Justice Works Fellow Kevin Bankston.

"Now the FBI can use them to get private records about anybody it thinks could be relevant to a terrorism or espionage investigation, without ever having to show probable cause to a judge."

By allowing FBI agents to access the complete online history of innocent Americans without proper safeguards against abuse, "PATRIOT threatens to chill free speech on the Internet and make it impossible for Internet users to share unpopular ideas or associate with controversial groups anonymously," says the EFF in a statement.

Using National Security Letters, "the FBI can see what websites you visit, what mailing lists you subscribe to, who you correspond with, and much more - all without judicial oversight of any kind," EFF attorney and Equal Justice Works Fellow Kevin Bankston states.

"Yet this unrestrained power to examine innocent citizens' First Amendment activities online is merely one of the unconstitutional surveillance authorities granted to the FBI by the PATRIOT Act."

(Thursday 27th May 2004)

time 23.16hrs (UK TIME)

===========
Sick s**t