Child pornography raid by German police involving 115 suspects

[anonymous713]

Translated via Google Translate:

August 6, 2014 11:29
Nationwide child pornography raid investigation for sexual abuse

A raid for child pornography has brought the investigators on the trail of five men from Berlin, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. They were noticed by posts on the internet.

Investigators searched the homes of 115 users of an Internet forum for homosexuals. Five men suspected of serious sexual abuse of children.

After a nationwide raid for child pornography investigators are focusing on five men from different parts of Germany, which are suspected to have abused children difficult. This is about three men from Berlin at the age of 37, 46 and 49 years and a 49-year-old from North Rhine-Westphalia and a 47-year-old from Lower Saxony, said the Attorney General's Office Frankfurt.

Exchange in an online forum

The men would have by corresponding contributions in the Internet made ​​suspicious, it said. They should have set up an online forum for homosexuals two closed subgroups, in which they exchanged child pornography videos and pictures. There they are also reports of abuse experiences and have given other tips, how to get in contact with children.

Investigators secure ample evidence

In a large-scale raid on Tuesday apartments were searched by a total of 115 suspects between 21 and 60 years in Germany 125. The action on suspicion of dissemination, acquisition and possession of child pornography was directed against some users of an Internet forum for homosexuals.

Arrests did not exist before. 550 policemen secured in the nationwide search thousands of evidence: including 260 computers, 850 external storage media such as hard drives, 150 mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones, and about 7500 CDs or DVDs.

Original article here: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/panorama/bundeweite-kinderpornografie-razzia-ermittlungen-wegen-sexuellen-missbrauchs-1.2079005 (Tor safe, keep scripts off)

[GLover]

Interesting. I wonder whether this has any relation to any other operation, recent or otherwise? I suppose not, as this was a specific forum, more than likely on the clearnet. I wonder how they were discovered?

[anonymous713]

It was probably a clearnet site.

My guess would be that none (or very few) of them took any precautions to shield their identities. I'm thinking their activity must have been fairly blatant to elicit this type of large scale response.

[AWAWAW]

It sounds like a clearnet site to me as well from what the article says.

I suppose it only takes one person to be noticed or to say something to LEA, perhaps another member rolled over.

[Chairman]

Very interesting!  I wonder what site it was...  Obviously not Tor-based, as that is something they'd be crowing about from the rooftops were it to apply.

[lolitosis]

Maybe Tor-istan should send a few missionaries to these clearnet forums to educate people about security and the benefits of Tor (but without mentioning hidden services).

[GLover]

Maybe Tor-istan should send a few missionaries to these clearnet forums to educate people about security and the benefits of Tor (but without mentioning hidden services).

This is always a good idea, but the problem is, you would not necessarily think a forum for gay adult men would turn out to be a hotbed of CP lovers. I would have thought more the fetishist sites, and obviously ones posting legal images of children and commenting on how pretty the children are. Other than this, just anywhere and everywhere, without prejudice.

[Red]

It was probably a clearnet site.

My guess would be that none (or very few) of them took any precautions to shield their identities. I'm thinking their activity must have been fairly blatant to elicit this type of large scale response.

My first guess was that it was related to some tor bust related to freedom hosting. You know, national investigation and over 100 suspects. But reading again looks like they just exchanged over some normal forum.

[Chairman]

Maybe Tor-istan should send a few missionaries to these clearnet forums to educate people about security and the benefits of Tor (but without mentioning hidden services).

Unfortunately this has been tried, with approximately a 0% success rate.  The ease of non-Tor, when used first, generally overshadows Tor itself.

[GLover]

Maybe Tor-istan should send a few missionaries to these clearnet forums to educate people about security and the benefits of Tor (but without mentioning hidden services).

Unfortunately this has been tried, with approximately a 0% success rate.  The ease of non-Tor, when used first, generally overshadows Tor itself.

And therein lies the source of low-hanging fruit, those who provide at least a little buffer to us. What will it take to encourage more people to take up Tor, and to run a relay?

[Chairman]

Maybe Tor-istan should send a few missionaries to these clearnet forums to educate people about security and the benefits of Tor (but without mentioning hidden services).

Unfortunately this has been tried, with approximately a 0% success rate.  The ease of non-Tor, when used first, generally overshadows Tor itself.

And therein lies the source of low-hanging fruit, those who provide at least a little buffer to us. What will it take to encourage more people to take up Tor, and to run a relay?

Ease of use has to be increased by infinity percent.  That will never happen.  No way around it...if people don't start with Tor, or get to Tor early, or have a general understanding of security...they'll be going away quickly.

During my research binge (the fruits of which are starting to appear) I came across a quote from someone who used P2P to trade his productions - he said in an email to a new producer that he preferred P2P because "LEA are all over the chatrooms".  We can see how absurd this is....they can't.

[GLover]

Maybe Tor-istan should send a few missionaries to these clearnet forums to educate people about security and the benefits of Tor (but without mentioning hidden services).

Unfortunately this has been tried, with approximately a 0% success rate.  The ease of non-Tor, when used first, generally overshadows Tor itself.

And therein lies the source of low-hanging fruit, those who provide at least a little buffer to us. What will it take to encourage more people to take up Tor, and to run a relay?

Ease of use has to be increased by infinity percent.  That will never happen.  No way around it...if people don't start with Tor, or get to Tor early, or have a general understanding of security...they'll be going away quickly.

During my research binge (the fruits of which are starting to appear) I came across a quote from someone who used P2P to trade his productions - he said in an email to a new producer that he preferred P2P because "LEA are all over the chatrooms".  We can see how absurd this is....they can't.

I'd consider Tor's usability to be far greater now than it was 10 years ago, around the time I first began using it. I came at this from p2p, and the increasing paranoia instilled in me by finding out truths, such as how easy it was to get an IP address (and hence a physical address) for anyone, which lead me to researching security, and then finding out about TOR (The Onion Router, as it was known back then). Also a virus from an adult porn site.

Reading up on how LE found it easy to bust p2p users came long after i'd left p2p, and began using Tor exclusively for on-topic activities, even NN sites such as the early Newstar ones. Surely sending a hundred articles on such busts would make them think twice?

I'd consider TBB to be extremely simple. It doesn't even have to be installed. How that can be deemed difficult or complicated in any way is beyond me.

[Chairman]

That makes sense.  But think of it this way:

1. You are hankering for some child pornography
2. Choice - go with Tor or P2P

If Tor:

1. Install browser
2. Get browser set up securely
3. Understand how to use browser
4. Try to hunt down links
5. (hours later) Find a working link
6. If you're lucky, you don't need to register.  If you do, get ready to either upload or prove yourself in some way.  Wait a couple days.
7. Start downloading something.
8. Wait a few more hours, it finished, enjoy!

If P2P:

1. Install P2P software
2. Open P2P software
3. Type "PTHC" in search bar
4. Start downloading, wait a few hours.
5. Enjoy!

One of these takes forever, a lot of skill, and a ton of searching.  It is totally hit and miss.  The other still takes a bit of time, but is infinitely easier.  And if you add to that the dangerous attitude of "look 500 people downloaded this, what are the odds I'll get caught?" then you have a recipe for disaster.

[gameover]

That makes sense.  But think of it this way:

1. You are hankering for some child pornography
2. Choice - go with Tor or P2P

If Tor:

1. Install browser
2. Get browser set up securely
3. Understand how to use browser
4. Try to hunt down links
5. (hours later) Find a working link
6. If you're lucky, you don't need to register.  If you do, get ready to either upload or prove yourself in some way.  Wait a couple days.
7. Start downloading something.
8. Wait a few more hours, it finished, enjoy!

If P2P:

1. Install P2P software
2. Open P2P software
3. Type "PTHC" in search bar
4. Start downloading, wait a few hours.
5. Enjoy!

One of these takes forever, a lot of skill, and a ton of searching.  It is totally hit and miss.  The other still takes a bit of time, but is infinitely easier.  And if you add to that the dangerous attitude of "look 500 people downloaded this, what are the odds I'll get caught?" then you have a recipe for disaster.

and that is tor, which I find is far easier than say freenet or other networks