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Don't Click that Link

By Corey Rayburnyung

Both Orin Kerr at Volokh Conspiracy and Jeralyn at TalkLeft recently covered the story of how the FBI is utilizing fake child porn links to get probable cause for home searches.  This is from the media account of the story: The FBI has recently adopted a novel investigative technique: posting hyperlinks that purport to be illegal videos of minors having sex, and then raiding the homes of anyone willing to click on them. Undercover FBI agents used this hyperlink-enticement technique, which directed Internet users to a clandestine government server, to stage armed raids of homes in Pennsylvania, New York, and Nevada last year. The supposed video files actually were gibberish and contained no illegal images. A CNET News.com review of legal documents shows that courts have approved of this technique, even though it raises questions about entrapment, the problems of identifying who's using an open wireless connection--and whether anyone who clicks on a FBI link that contains no child pornography should be automatically subject to a dawn raid by federal police...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sex Crimes on March 25, 2008 (boomark / email).