Sheriff Grady Judd says tech companies are not doing enough to take down CP
In the fall of 2019, The New York Times reported a record 45 million online photos and videos of CP, with the problem growing exponentially.
Since the Times article came out, some police departments have spent money trying to update their technology departments in hopes of curbing the problem, but it has not been effective. The problem is growing worse. Is it because the strategy continues to be going after the viewers/possessors instead of channeling money into taking the pictures down? Does the United States not have IT geniuses capable of taking on this task?
Concerning CP, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said, “There’s a finite number of people that deal in this horrific stuff. It’s not a bottomless well. It can be stopped and it could be stopped rather easily by our tech giants who employ tech geniuses.”
But some tech geniuses said because there are so many different platforms and tricks…they don’t expect it to go away anytime soon.
Retired U.S. Secret Service Agent Gus Dimitrelos worked in the field for 25 years and said we have not even put a dent in the problem. “It’s not going anywhere and it’s getting worse because the ability to store data online has grown exponentially just in the past four years.”
It has been said by some in law enforcement that if every viewer/possessor of CP could be found and put in prison, we do not have the prison space to house everyone – not even close.
So, this problem has been going on for decades. Not only has there been no improvement in the situation, but it is getting worse. Isn’t it time to try a different approach? Someone once told me that it is just too easy to click on a mouse. Then take down the pictures so that there is nothing to click on.
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Maybe Sheriff judd knows some one on those pictures look at his words easier to click on mouse for anything then take things down prison are running out of room think stop doing your internet sex sting
Of course, I don’t see him complaining about the role the FBI and ICAC has in distributing said material…. (FAC NOTE: CITATION NEEDED)
Besides, CP lets him parade himself to reporters patting himself on the back for his stupid stings while murder, armed robbery and drugs run rampant through Polk County.
I don’t know about ICAC, but law enforcement at all levels has been unlawfully involved in CP distribution for decades.
While in federal prison, my roommate researched the subject thoroughly. His well written 80-page report contains all of the references to federal case law (over 200 case citations) that one would need to verify the assertion that historically LE may very well be the single largest distributor of CP. It is current as of 2017 and will more than fill the citation gap you mentioned.
FAC, I scanned his report with OCR, cleaned it up in Word and made it available as a PDF if you are interested. I could supply it in Word for those who want to cut and paste from it. It would be a very informative addition to your resources section. Just let me know where to send it.
Below is the report’s abstract.
“In its zeal to arrest those who violate the sexual exploitation of minors statutes, the government has established a decades long pattern of violating those same statutes. This document discusses statutory history, how these laws apply specifically and generally to law officials, and through examination of published case law establishes the clear violation by law officials. Also covered are the Constitutional and legal issues which arise from this behavior, and the available remedies which the court can utilize to redress the official misconduct. Additionally, legal harmless investigative methods occasionally used by law officials are covered, which methods moot the need for the use of illegitimate methods. Finally, foreign commerce and Internet specific issues are discussed and the implications of the government’s use of these facilities.”
Veritas.
Why cares what Shady Grady thinks? He should have been imprisoned and kicked out of office years ago.
#1: What office is Grady Judd running for now??? Or is his position as “sheriff” (in his county) an elected position and this is simply part of the incumbent’s ongoing campaign for reelection?
#2: But, of course, the problem of illegal images online is not a priority and has not been resolved….. and with good reason:
A: There is no public photo-op serving as an incentive for these fame-seeking LEOs to advance that effort. And…
B: LEO’S score lots of points for running online sex offender entrapment schemes and for the “performance art” perp walks or newspaper photo grid displays of those arrested.
Again, there’s no glory associated with simply or routinely removing online illegal images, so there is zero incentive to do so. I would guess that the LEOs’ performance evaluations are based on number of prosecutable arrests, not on doing routine, boring tasks, so why waste time on such things?
Facebook and Twitter are exclusively social media companies (with a few sub brands like Portal and Oculus) while Apple tailors its products towards the user. I’d expect Samsung, Intel, AMD, and Microsoft to have very little reports, too.
Common sense dictates that as technology advances, the means to make things advances, too. I remember how amazing Internet radio was when it first came out, and now little churches in the middle of nowhere can live stream both audio and video of their services regularly on Facebook/YouTube using nothing more than a cell phone.
The number of phone scammers has gone up, drug trafficking is easier than ever, getting hacked is a regular worry, so of course, CP production has increased.
But they’d use the same tired method to get rid of CP as they did with the “War on Drugs.” How’s that working out? I guess if it didn’t work the previous 30-50 years, try the same failed method on something else??
The reason they don’t target sites specifically, is because they prefer the easy route. Besides, the government and law enforcement are some of the biggest contributors to the web availability for CP. It’s how they catch the low hanging fruit. I understand the reason for punishment for possession and distribution, but it needs be genuine possession and distribution, and not accidental. Possession laws are too gray, and leads to convictions when true possession wasn’t warranted. I mean, if someone were to plant drugs in your possession without you noticing, and you were caught with those drugs, than you could be defined as in possession despite not knowing. This could lead to you being charged and possibly convicted. The burden of proof has shifted to the defense decades ago, and that is not how the law is written to work.