Could Anonymous’ Anti-Child Abuse Drive Have Allowed Portsmouth Paedophiles To Evade Justice?
ANONYMOUS, the hacking group, has been posting the IP addresses of what it says are users of child porn forums. OpDarkNet focuses on the so-called “dark net” where paedophiles distribute and exhange images of children.
Today, Anonymous posted 190 IP addresses posted of people who had downloading a clever piece of bugged software which followed their online movements for 24 hours.
It’s a clever idea, and a righteous campaign. And it makes us wonder why Interpol and other official organisations have not harnessed the skills of Anonymous to help them trap the paedos. Unless they already have?
Meanwhile, in the Portsmouth, Melissa Noon, 30, her partner Robert Hathaway, 36, ran a nudist website that was a front of paedophilia. At Portsmouth Crown Court. Noon, Simon Hilton, Daniel Bell (left), Mark Day, John Maddox and Hathaway were found guilty of distributing indecent photos and videos of children playing naked Twister and being raped.
The gang were caught when authorities in Australia tipped off police in Hampshire. They had uncovered a “mirror image” ring, in which a young child was also abused.
Noon’s convictions include: three charges of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, one of causing a child to watch a sexual act, two of sexual assault of a child, two of arranging a child sex offence, one of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and two of possessing indecent photographs of children.
Hilton, 29, of Wolsey Road, London, was convicted of one charge of arranging a child sex offence.
Day, 45, of Whitefriars Meadow, Sandwich, Kent, was found guilty of one charge of arranging a child sex offence.
Bell, 27, a serving soldier, of Emsworth, was found guilty of two charges of possessing indecent photos of children and one of attempting to distribute an indecent image of children. He was found not guilty of two charges of arranging a child sex offence.
Maddox, 46, of Ellis Avenue, Rainham, Essex, was convicted of a charge of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.
…Hathaway had previously pleaded guilty to 26 offences, including the rape and sexual assault of two children under the age of 13 and possessing indecent images of children.
Also:
Stephen Fraser, 41, of Hemingford Road, Cambridge, admitted 27 charges, including sexual assault of a child, causing a child to engage in sexual activity, engaging in sexual activity in front of a child, arranging a child sex offence and possessing indecent images of children.
Lee Parson, 38, of Arundel Street, Portsmouth, pleaded guilty to arranging a child sex offence, possessing indecent photos of children and taking indecent photos of children.
Jonathan Garner-Harris, 37, a teacher, who lived at Marrick Priory, Marrick, North Yorkshire, was investigated by Durham police and admitted at Durham Crown Court 20 offences, including inciting a child sex offence and 17 counts relating to indecent photos of children.
Good police work trapped these criminals. But might Anonymous in their desire to help accidentally scupper such an investigation by polluting the crime scene or getting the IP address but not the perpetrator…?
Spotter: Gawker
Posted: 2nd, November 2011 | In: Technology Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
