Lawyer: Dark Web Child Porn Site Ran Better When It Was Taken Over by the FBI

Lawyer: Dark Web Child Porn Site Ran Better When It Was Taken Over by the FBI

https://motherboard.vice.com/read/lawyer-dark-web-child-porn-site-ran-better-when-it-was-taken-over-by-the-fbi

By:
Date: 2016-08-23

In February 2015, the FBI took control of Playpen, the largest dark web child pornography site at the time. But instead of shutting the site down, the agency kept it going for just under two weeks, in order to deliver malware to its visitors in the hope of identifying suspects in its investigation.

Newly filed court exhibits now suggest that the site performed substantially better while under the FBI's control, with users commenting on the improvements. The defense for the man accused of being the original administrator of Playpen claims that these improvements led to the site becoming even more popular.

“The FBI distributed child pornography to viewers and downloaders worldwide for nearly two weeks, until at least March 4, 2015, even working to improve the performance of the website beyond its original capability,” Peter Adolf, an assistant federal defender in the Western District of North Carolina, writes in a motion to have his client’s indictment thrown out.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Exposed 1000s of Pornographic, Racist Government Emails But Now Faces Her Own Scandal

Pennsylvania Attorney General Exposed 1000s of Pornographic, Racist Government Emails But Now Faces Her Own Scandal

http://abcnews.go.com/US/pennsylvania-attorney-general-exposed-1000s-pornographic-racist-government/story?id=40030106

By: Byron Pitts, Michelle Kessel, and Geoff Martz
Date: 2016-06-21

Pennsylvania’s Attorney General Kathleen Kane is used to going up against criminals, not her own colleagues, but after she helped expose an email scandal win the state government, her career has been in jeopardy.

In 2014, Kane’s office released close to 400 pages of emails between state government employees, including some high-ranking state officials, exchanged on the state’s email server that were full of racism, sexism and pornography. The scandal was dubbed Porngate, and Kane said it involved a number of judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officials.

“I couldn’t believe there was violence involved, and I couldn’t believe this wasn’t just some Playboy photos ... 398 pages, much of it hard-core porn,” Kane told “Nightline.”

“The hard-core pornography shared on state computers, on state time, between state actors … That is not boys being boys,” she continued. “It's assault upon our criminal justice system and quite honestly it’s unacceptable.”

Embattled Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane sat down for an interview.