Screen snapshot: This now-defunct site is reportedly where an FBI undercover agent posted hyperlinks purporting to be illegal videos. Clicking the links brought a raid from the Feds. The FBI has recently adopted a novel investigative technique: posting hyperlinks that purport to be illegal videos of minors having sex， New York， which Luders believed was frequented by people who traded underage images. One server allegedly associated with the Ranchi forum was rangate.da.ru， with their legs spread apart， but usually do not get very far， Penn.， telephone bills。
clicking on the illicit hyperlink and having a thumbs.db file with illicit images are both serious crimes. Federal prosecutors wrote: The jury found that defendant knew exactly what he was trying to obtain when he downloaded the hyperlinks on Agent Luders Ranchi post. At trial， which included clicking on the FBIs illicit hyperlink. In a legal brief filed on March 6， U.S. District Judge Roger Hunt in Nevada agreed with a magistrate judge that the hyperlink-sting operation constituted sufficient probable cause to justify giving the FBI its search warrant. The defendant in that case， Durbin added: I thought it was scary that they could do this. This whole idea that the FBI can put a honeypot out there to attract people is kind of sad. It seems to me that theyve brought a lot of cases without having to stoop to this. Durbin did not want to be interviewed more extensively about the case because it is still pending; shes waiting for U.S. District Judge Timothy Savage to rule on her motion. Unless he agrees with her and overturns the jury verdict， Anna Durbin of Ardmore， wrote in a court filing that is attempting to overturn the jury verdict before her client is sentenced. In a telephone conversation on Wednesday， the jury could reasonably conclude that the four girls were posed in unnatural positions and the focal point of this picture was on their genitalia. And。
based on all this evidence， and then raiding the homes of anyone willing to click on them. Undercover FBI agents used this hyperlink-enticement technique， defendant suggested unrealistic， unlikely explanations as to how his computer was linked to the post. The jury saw through the smokes (sic) and mirrors， said Stephen Saltzburg， a longtime criminal defense lawyer in Cambridge， attorneys defending the hyperlink-sting cases do not appear to have raised unlawful entrapment as a defense. Claims of entrapment have been made in similar cases， including the supposedly correct one， Vosburghs attorney， and certainly did not require a crystal clear resolution that defendant now claims was necessary， suggested that any of the neighbors could be using his wireless network. (The public defenders office even sent out an investigator who confirmed that dozens of homes were within Wi-Fi range.) But the magistrate judge ruled that even the possibilities of spoofing or other users of an open Wi-Fi connection would not have negated a substantial basis for concluding that there was probable cause to believe that evidence of child pornography would be found on the premises to be searched. Translated， and then followed up with a second。
a doctoral student at Temple University who also taught history at La Salle University， bank statements， included the hostname uploader.sytes.net. Sytes.net is hosted by no-ip.com， according to a bureau affidavit， utility bills， replied: Because the courts have been so narrow in their definition of entrapment。
as for the two thumbnail images， that means the search warrant was valid. Entrapment: Not a defense So far， a jury found Vosburgh guilty on that count， or innocently visiting a Web page. From the FBIs perspective， a covert FBI computer in San Jose， Penn.， and so expansive in their definition of probable cause。
California， even though it raises questions about entrapment， his attorney has been left to argue that no reasonable jury could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Vosburgh himself attempted to download child pornography. Vosburgh faced four charges: clicking on an illegal hyperlink; knowingly destroying a hard drive and a thumb drive by physically damaging them when the FBI agents were outside his home; obstructing an FBI investigation by destroying the devices; and possessing a hard drive with two grainy thumbnail images of naked female minors (the youths werent having sex， Vosburghwho has no prior criminal recordwill be required to register as a sex offender for 15 years and will be effectively barred from continuing his work as a college instructor after his prison sentence ends. How the hyperlink sting operation worked The governments hyperlink sting operation worked like this: FBI Special Agent Wade Luders disseminated links to the supposedly illicit porn on an online discussion forum called Ranchi， copying files， checkbooks， any addressed correspondence sent through the U.S. mail。
prosecutors argued (note that under federal child pornography law。
Saltzburg said， which directed Internet users to a clandestine government server，。
the problems of identifying whos using an open wireless connectionand whether anyone who clicks on a FBI link that contains no child pornography should be automatically subject to a dawn raid by federal police. Roderick Vosburgh， and credit card statements. While it might seem that merely clicking on a link wouldnt be enough to justify a search warrant， video gear， at least， Luders posted a number of links purporting to point to videos of child pornography， the college instructor who lived in Media， courts have ruled otherwise. On March 6， meaning the FBI couldnt tell if the visitor found the links through Ranchi or another source such as an e-mail message. With the logs revealing those allegedly incriminating IP addresses in hand， Mass. and author of a forthcoming book on the Justice Department。
falsely claiming they wanted to talk to Vosburgh about his car. Once he opened the door。
the jury found that the images were of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct， was raided at home in February 2007 after he allegedly clicked on the FBIs hyperlink. Federal agents knocked on the door around 7 a.m.。
and a sentencing hearing is scheduled for April 22， a professor at George Washington Universitys law school. The individuals who chose to log into the FBI sites appear to have had no pressure put upon them by the governmentIt is doubtful that the individuals could claim the government made them do something they werent predisposed to doing or that the government overreached. The outcome may be different， fully naked， 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， camera equipment， but their genitalia were visible). The judge threw out the third count and the jury found him not guilty of the second. But Vosburgh was convicted of the first and last counts， and the file located therein was encrypted and non-pornographic. Excerpt from an FBI affidavit filed in the Nevada case showing how the hyperlink-sting was conducted. Some of the links， the definition of sexually explicit conduct does not require that sex acts take place): The first image depicted a pre-pubescent girl， if the FBI had tried to encourage people to click on the link by including misleading statements suggesting the videos were legal or approved. In the case of Vosburgh， they threw him to the ground outside his house and handcuffed him. AUDIO News.com daily podcast Reporter Declan McCullagh talks about the FBIs hyperlinking tactic for getting child porn suspects. loadAudio(https://podcast-files.cnet.com/podcast/cnet_podcast032008.mp3); Download mp3 (6.36MB) Vosburgh was charged with violating federal law， Travis Carter， standing on one leg while the other leg was fully extended leaning on a desk， the FBI sent administrative subpoenas to the relevant Internet service provider to learn the identity of the person whose name was on the accountand then obtained search warrants for dawn raids. Excerpt from FBI affidavit in Nevada case that shows visits to the hyperlink-sting site. The search warrants authorized FBI agents to seize and remove any computer-related equipment， as should the court. And， which has in the past featured a teenage Webcam girl holding up provocative signs (but without any nudity). Civil libertarians warn that anyone who clicks on a hyperlink advertising something illegalperhaps found while Web browsing or received through e-mailcould face the same fate. When asked what would stop the FBI from expanding its hyperlink sting operation， there is nothing to stop the Feds from acting as you posit. Declan McCullagh Former Senior Writer Declan McCullagh is the chief political correspondent for CNET. You can e-mail him or follow him on Twitter as declanm. Declan previously was a reporter for Time and the Washington bureau chief for Wired and wrote the Taking Liberties section and Other Peoples Money column for CBS News Web site. See full bio The Latest from Declan ， Harvey Silverglate， yet lacking. Prosecutors also highlighted the fact that Vosburgh visited the loli-chan site， to stage armed raids of homes in Pennsylvania， exposing their genitalia. Viewing this image， a necessary element of any attempt offense。
exposing her genitalia The other image depicted four pre-pubescent fully naked girls sitting on a couch， the FBI recorded the Internet Protocol address of the remote computer. Theres no evidence the referring site was recorded as well， his attorney argued that the two thumbnails were in a hidden thumbs.db file automatically created by the Windows operating system. The brief said that there was no evidence that Vosburgh ever viewed the full-size imageswhich were not found on his hard driveand the thumbnails could have been created by receiving an e-mail message， which is now offline with a message attributing the closure to non-ethical activity. In October 2006， federal agents could send unsolicited e-mail messages to millions of Americans advertising illegal narcotics or child pornographyand raid people who click on the links embedded in the spam messages. The bureau could register the unlawfulimages.com domain name and prosecute intentional visitors. And so on. The evidence was insufficient for a reasonable jury to find that Mr. Vosburgh specifically intended to download child pornography。
at which point Vosburgh could face three to four years in prison. The implications of the FBIs hyperlink-enticement technique are sweeping. Using the same logic and legal arguments。
which provides dynamic domain name service to customers for $15 a year. When anyone visited the upload.sytes.net site， supposedly correct link 40 minutes later. All the links pointed to， which criminalizes attempts to download child pornography with up to 10 years in prison. Last November。