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Crime Politics

Anonymous Asks Activists To Fight Pedophiles In 'Operation Deatheaters' 413

HughPickens.com writes The Independent reports that hacktivist group Anonymous, in a project named Operation DeathEaters, is calling for help in its fight against international pedophile networks, or what it calls the "paedosadist industry" and has issued a video instructing activists on how they can aid in the operation. The Anonymous project is intended to break what it says is a conspiracy of silence among sympathetic politicians, police and mainstream media to downplay the full extent of the online child sex industry. "The premise behind OpDeathEaters is to expose high level complicity, obstruction of justice and cover-up in the paedo-sadist industry in order to show the need for independent inquiries," says Heather Marsh, an online activist who is helping to co-ordinate the operation and describes herself as an "old friend" of Anonymous. The Anonymous database, which will be hosted on the GitHub online repository, promises to collate cases from all around the world, cross-referencing connections within sub-groups including the police, armed forces, schoolteachers, politicians, media, academics and religious organisations. The database's ultimate purpose has yet to be fully determined, but in the first instance the group says it wants to shut down the child-sex industry by "dismantling the power structure which held it there" and by "educating to create a cultural change".

The group is calling on volunteers to help with the ongoing work, which has been divided into three steps. The first is about collecting "all the factual information," second is to "share that information as widely as possible," and the third step is "to set up an independent, internationally linked, inquiry into all the areas which do not appear to have been investigated properly." Activists point to the muted media coverage given to a recent case in Washington DC in which Michael Centanni, a senior Republican fundraiser, was charged with child sex offences after investigators traced transmissions of child pornography to his computers in his basement. The case was not covered by The Washington Post or the New York Times, and was only picked up by a local NBC affiliate state and The Washington Examiner, a small conservative paper in the city. According to the court filings, Centanni was found in possession of 3,000 images, many apparently filmed in his own bedroom, including one showing a man raping a five-year-old girl who cries "no" and "mommy" while the man says "good baby" and "stop crying," according to one filing.
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Anonymous Asks Activists To Fight Pedophiles In 'Operation Deatheaters'

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  • by Slick_W1lly ( 778565 ) on Sunday January 25, 2015 @09:16PM (#48901665)

    There are many things Anonymous does which are morally dubious. But, I have to say, I can't really take issue with this vigilantism.

    After all "think of the children!". But uh.. actually, don't. It's kinda disturbing. Or do.. since, it's disturbing, and one shouldn't bury one's head in the sand because.. it's hard to think about.

    • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 25, 2015 @09:37PM (#48901757)

      Except their plan is basically grab everyones private information and make it public and hope that they only find the pedos.

    • by khasim ( 1285 ) <brandioch.conner@gmail.com> on Sunday January 25, 2015 @09:43PM (#48901777)

      I'm sure that they have the best of intentions. The problem is with the underlying assumption that there is some kind of conspiracy.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenatchee_child_abuse_prosecutions [wikipedia.org]

      Once you accept that there is a conspiracy, there is no end to it.

      If they were just interested in cataloguing the various cases then that could be done by scripts and Google news. If something is not getting media exposure then it is more likely to be because of lazy "journalists" than because someone is trying to bury the story.

      • by davydagger ( 2566757 ) on Sunday January 25, 2015 @10:08PM (#48901855)
        Boston Marathon Bomber case comes to mind as someone who had his life destroyed because a few lazy assholes with no burder of proof decided to be judge and jury, and leave the man out to a lynch mob justice

        Given that its most likely that "Anonymous" at this point is mostly government agents now, its going to be real intresting to see who they finger as pedophiles, and if any of these people are actually guilty.

        • by log0n ( 18224 ) on Sunday January 25, 2015 @10:37PM (#48901945)

          ....

          What?

        • by TiggertheMad ( 556308 ) on Sunday January 25, 2015 @10:44PM (#48901965) Journal
          This also looks a lot like a slightly unpopular kid going and beating up the most unpopular kid to make everyone else like them more.

          Pedophiles are like Nazis: They are widely assumed to be completely and thoroughly evil and thus worthless human beings. If you are going to pick a group to engage in vigilante activity against this is just about the perfect one, because who is going to going to stand up and say 'that's not right'. Unlike other extremely unpopular groups like Human traffickers or actual no-Nazis, pedophiles are not generally gun toting violent lunatics, so the risk of being murdered in retaliation is pretty low.

          If you want to break the law to try to uphold the law, this is a logical choice, I guess.
          • by sharknado ( 3217097 ) on Sunday January 25, 2015 @11:40PM (#48902161)

            Pedophiles are like Nazis

            You have that backwards. Pedophiles are the group that society wants to watch burn. The group that nobody will cry for as they are marched to the stake, or the concentration camp, or the guillotine. The group that politicians use as moral grounds for passing laws based on hate and vigilantism instead of justice. It's a slippery slope my friends.

            • by ZeRu ( 1486391 ) on Monday January 26, 2015 @02:29AM (#48902629)
              Paedophilia itsef is a slippery slope as well. There is a drastic difference between having a sex with a 5-year old and a 15-year old, and yet both of those gets you placed in a jail (from what I know about laws on the matter at least).
              • by cheetah_spottycat ( 106624 ) on Monday January 26, 2015 @04:01AM (#48902839)
                No, it's not. The slippery slope is where the legal definition got extended so much beyond the clinical definition that it no longer makes any sense by any rational criteria in an alarming number of cases it is applied to. Before we go out on the street and call for a witch hunt, the common definition of "pedophilia" needs to be reformed, so that it again means actual child abuse, and neither "12 year old boys discover their sexuality like everyone else did during puperty" nor "17 year old girlfriend sends naughty pictures to 18 year old boyfriend" or any completely normal, consensual and non-threatening behaviour in between. Free those resources to fight actual child abuse, and we don't need self-appointed trigger happy internet superheroes with torches and pitchforks who think who need to take the law into their own hands.
                • by drinkypoo ( 153816 ) <drink@hyperlogos.org> on Monday January 26, 2015 @08:09AM (#48903529) Homepage Journal

                  Before we go out on the street and call for a witch hunt, the common definition of "pedophilia" needs to be reformed, so that it again means actual child abuse,

                  You don't even know what pedophilia means. It doesn't mean child abuse, because "philia" doesn't mean abuse.

                  Trading sexually explicit pictures of minors by definition depends on minors being harmed. Trading non-sexually-explicit pictures of minors for sexual gratification is creepy as fuck, but it's not harming minors. Pedophilia isn't harming minors, child abuse is. Not all pedophiles abuse children, or even trade in media which actually involves children being subjected to child abuse.

                  Pedophilia has been equated with child abuse only for bad reasons, and here you are helping it along. Cut that ignorant shit out.

        • by Nyder ( 754090 )

          Boston Marathon Bomber case comes to mind...

          Yes, that comes to mind to me also, proof that the NSA has been wasting our tax payers money for a decade...

          • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

            Actually, you can't blame this one on the NSA. Their mission is to observe and alert. In the case of the Boston Marathon Bomber, the Russian FSB (the follow on for the KGB) told the US authorities that these brothers were Islamic terrorists. And the FBI did nothing about it.

            Who's in charge of the FBI? Oh, Eric Holder. Well, that figures.

            What's on second.

            Ida know . . . third base.

            This call for vigilantism looks seriously dubious to me . . .

        • I'm genuinely curious ? what "someone" had his life destroyed ????
      • by ultranova ( 717540 ) on Sunday January 25, 2015 @11:01PM (#48902027)

        The problem is with the underlying assumption that there is some kind of conspiracy.

        There probably is. Not the purposefully coordinated kind where everyone meets in a dark room somewhere to plot their actions, but the kind where everyone sharing fundamentally rotten values leads to effectively coordinated flock behaviour. For examples of this, look at Catholic Church's recent scandals; but it's hardly the only organization that sets the mask of respectability above the wellbeing of mere children.

        People are trained to pretend they are helpless against systemic injustices from the day they're born. It's what allows those injustices to continue existing. If a child molester takes advantage of this trained response to look the other way, for example if the local cops ignore what "respected" members of their community do with their children, it's a matter of semantics whether that should be counted as a conspiracy or not.

        In any case, there's going to be a lot of pain to go around as this culture of silence runs headfirst into the Information Age, becomes effectively defunct, and forces people to see what's been all around them all this time, whether they want to or not. The world will be better for it, though.

        • Re: (Score:2, Interesting)

          by Anonymous Coward

          The problem is with the underlying assumption that there is some kind of conspiracy.

          There probably is. Not the purposefully coordinated kind where everyone meets in a dark room...

          Indifference versus conspiracy.

          Depending how you count, something like 20,000 children (under 5) die of poverty every day. And there are far more people trained up to do science (science PhDs) than available jobs. They could be finding cures for cancer but instead their talent and education are wasted.

          ...forces people to see what's been all around them all this time, whether they want to or not.

          The people who control the world's economy are certainly aware of poverty and disease. But they would prefer to have the world's economy produce frivolous luxury items.

        • by Slashjones ( 3879223 ) on Sunday January 25, 2015 @11:57PM (#48902199)

          There probably is.

          The real conspiracy, if one exists at all, is when freedom-hating scumbags conspire together to rile up with public with claims that we need to stop the pedophiles ("child molester" is a better term) and get rid of all child porn, just so they can push through laws which violate our constitution, our freedoms, and our privacy.

        • You seem to forget, that your self-righteousness collides with logic at one crucial point: Abuse in the Catholic church DID come out, and police have arrested plenty of "respected" pedophiles, like the Republican operative mentioned in this very thread.
        • by Tom ( 822 )

          Not the purposefully coordinated kind where everyone meets in a dark room somewhere to plot their actions, but the kind where everyone sharing fundamentally rotten values leads to effectively coordinated flock behaviour.

          Which is not a conspiracy. The first rule of searching for the truth is to call things by their proper names. A conspiracy, by both legal and colloquial definition, requires agreement between the parties. Agreement requires communication (not necessarily verbal, but explicit).
          If everyone on the highway drives too fast, you can argue about "everyone sharing [fundamental values] leads to effectively coordinated flock behaviour", but that still only makes it a lot of speeding tickets and not a conspiracy.

          It's

    • by MikeBabcock ( 65886 ) <mtb-slashdot@mikebabcock.ca> on Sunday January 25, 2015 @10:10PM (#48901863) Homepage Journal

      Except that you've given every one of these people a free pass if you hack their computers because the court can no longer prove the data was there to begin with and not just planted.

    • There are many things Anonymous does which are morally dubious.

      For example they have already forgotten about their pledge to take down ISIS interweb sites...

      Sometimes I think they are just a bunch of publicity whores, but I haven't yet figured out what it is they get out of making announcments, doing it 1/4 assed, and quickily forgetting what they were doning and moving on to the next great headline grabber...

      • Anonymous isn't some kind of coordinated collective. Anyone can take on the name, and yes, in the years after the project chanology, this is what likely happened. The kind of things "Anonymous" used to get into was usually just defacing websites or posting flashing signs on an epilepsy forum. They've always been inexperienced kids that don't actually know anything about programming or security. So in a way, it was always about getting attention.
        • Anonymous isn't some kind of coordinated collective. Anyone can take on the name...

          Apperently, almost 100% of those now using the name are glorified skript kiddies.

      • Sometimes I think they are just a bunch of publicity whores, but I haven't yet figured out what it is they get out of making announcments, doing it 1/4 assed, and quickily forgetting what they were doning and moving on to the next great headline grabber...

        That's pretty much how teenagers operate in general.

    • Vigilante 'justice' just ends up with lots of collateral damage. Plus, I would think that they would want to go after *child molesters*, not merely someone who is sexually attracted to prepubescent children. Pedophiles aren't necessarily child molesters, and vice versa.

      We don't need more "Think of the children!" witch hunts; our society has too many of those already.

    • I agree! Let's replace our judicial system and its ineffective division of powers with full on witch hunt! I think my neighbour is one, too. Fuck due process, let's burn down his house! Here, want a torch? Or are you with the witches?
  • Charged /= Guilty (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Harlequin80 ( 1671040 ) on Sunday January 25, 2015 @09:22PM (#48901709)

    I know nothing about the particular case that they are referring to. But the fact that it wasn't widely reported is actually a good thing. Being charged is not the same as being convicted. There are too many cases of people being tried in the media and having their lives destroyed when they actually haven't done anything wrong.

    Given people are so fucking stupid they will attack paediatricians thinking they are paedophiles just sums up the wider mobs inability to effectively deal with the information.

    • by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 25, 2015 @09:28PM (#48901723)

      He pled guilty a couple of weeks ago.

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Anonymous Coward

        "Centanni will be sentenced on April 9. The charge carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison and potential financial penalties. Centanni will also be required to register as a sex offender for a minimum of 15 years."

        http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/GOP-Fundraiser-Michael-Centanni-Pleads-Guilty-to-Child-Pornography-287555231.html

        • by Sarten-X ( 1102295 ) on Sunday January 25, 2015 @10:53PM (#48901995) Homepage

          So in other words, justice is being served, and a sentence is being delivered that the judge (within the guidelines set by legislators) feels is appropriate to the crime committed.

          There's nothing left for Anonymous to do, except to remind the world that this guy did something bad, and by so doing, perpetuate the shame and embarrassment his friends and family are subjected to. It won't affect the perpetrator himself, because he'll be in prison for the entire life of this "operation".

          Harassing innocent bystanders is what Anonymous does best.

    • by SeaFox ( 739806 ) on Sunday January 25, 2015 @09:34PM (#48901743)

      Being charged is not the same as being convicted. There are too many cases of people being tried in the media and having their lives destroyed when they actually haven't done anything wrong.

      Yes, and isn't it interesting how the media has looked the other way in the case of Michael Centanni, but is happy to rake someone over the coals any other time? Sounds like the media is completely aware of how damaging the court of public opinion is, and are showing some favoritism towards those in power -- the very people we should be most vigilant about.

      • by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Sunday January 25, 2015 @09:59PM (#48901825) Journal
        All the same, I'm not sure "Lobbyist Accused of Being Evil" is particularly newsworthy.
        • Jokes aside, that's about it. The case in question is a bog-standard investigation and prosecution. The only notable twist is the guy's political connections. There's really no reason for widespread coverage.

          This stunt may as we'll be Operation Our Favorite Crime, spreading awareness of Anonymous' obsession with this particular flavor of felony. We'll put it up next to the neckbeard ranting about his favorite video game, and the fat guy touting the virtues of his favorite food. Just like the armchair art cr

          • Yeah, we're agreed on this one. I kind of wonder if they started the campaign because they think it's some kind of Republican conspiracy, and they want to expose it.

            Also, I am kind of skeptical of someone who is "an old friend" of anonymous, without being anonymous herself.
          • by SeaFox ( 739806 )

            Jokes aside, that's about it. The case in question is a bog-standard investigation and prosecution. The only notable twist is the guy's political connections. There's really no reason for widespread coverage.

            Then, to quote Harlequin80 above, why is it "there are too many cases of people being tried in the media and having their lives destroyed when they actually haven't done anything wrong"? Why isn't every case treated as this one was?

            • Why isn't every case treated as this one was?

              Is that a rhetorical question, or do you really not understand the capricious nature of the mainstream news, the primary goal of which is to get views?

      • isn't it interesting how the media has looked the other way in the case of Michael Centanni

        Not really. He's a fund raising hack, not someone of particular note or in any position of power.

        It sounds more like you read "Republican" and went off the deep end with your assumptions than any indictment of the media.

    • by nbauman ( 624611 )

      Given people are so fucking stupid they will attack paediatricians thinking they are paedophiles

      That really is true, btw.
      http://www.theguardian.com/uk/... [theguardian.com]
      Doctor driven out of home by vigilantes

  • Many top level elites deserve to be dragged from office and put in jail forever.

    And not just for these crimes, but for basically everything which is wrong with the world today.

    But this sort of corruption reveal might just trigger the kind of revolutionary anger needed.

    I hope Anonymous has thought about lots of protection plans, because this will get bloody and dirty fast if they start to pick up momentum.

    Things to look for:

    -FOX News personalities coming up with apologist talking points to defend c

  • Errors (Score:4, Insightful)

    by manu0601 ( 2221348 ) on Sunday January 25, 2015 @09:35PM (#48901747)
    Like everyone I think fighting pedopornograhy is a good thing, but what will happen if Anonymous post something wrong about someone?
  • I don't buy it for a second.
    "sympathetic"? No one is sympathetic to pedophiles.
    • Re:I Don't Buy It (Score:5, Insightful)

      by davidwr ( 791652 ) on Sunday January 25, 2015 @11:25PM (#48902101) Homepage Journal

      No one is sympathetic to pedophiles.

      I guess that depends on what you mean by sympathetic and what you mean by pedophile.

      I assume you meant "child molester" not pedophile. Someone else has in another sub-thread already said that pedophiles who control their urges should be commended not called scum.

      As for child molesters:

      Anyone who due to biology or upbringing (e.g. being brainwashed to enjoy sex while a child themselves) that lets them enjoy having sex with kids or young teens and who due to biology or upbringing lacks the self control to keep away from the insides of kids' pants deserves prison (or a psych lockup if legally insane), in- and (if not a life sentence) post-prison mental-health care, and, yes, sympathy.

      Why sympathy? You can't help your biology. You can't help your up-bringing. You CAN and MUST make your own choices as an adult, but if you are facing life with "two strikes against you," you do deserve and have my sympathy. But if I'm your juror that sympathy won't reduce your punishment.

      • by RatBastard ( 949 )

        Add to this that many child molesters are not pedophiles and things get even messier. A lot of child molestations are basically rape: acts of anger, domination and ownership, especially when committed by new step-parents.

  • by davidwr ( 791652 ) on Sunday January 25, 2015 @10:45PM (#48901971) Homepage Journal

    Suspected != guilty and if they go around publicizing suspects or even people who the police have named as suspects or "persons of interest" who turn out to be innocent, it will hurt Anonymous's own reputation big-time.

    What they - and everyone else - can and should do is make sure that if you do run across child porn or links to what you think is child porn, you immediately report it to all relevant authorities and that if the authorities seem to be ignoring a case, that all relevant news outlets are notified. If the news outlets seem to be participating in a cover up, notify other news outlets, but be careful: What looks like a "news outlet conspiracy of silence" may be because the FBI is in the middle of a sting and the feds have asked the news outlets to keep quiet until the trap is sprung. If Anonymous's well-meaning attempts to bring things into the open result in the sting being aborted or going bust, well, that would be bad.

    On a side-note:

    * Do not go "looking for" child porn - you could wind up being charged and convicted yourself. If you are wondering what it's like, my best educated guess is it is like looking at images of concentration-camp children: 1) the underlying event that happened to land on camera haunts the person in the photograph for his or her life, 2) the image itself is likely to be so stomach-churning that it will haunt you for a long time, and even if it doesn't, 3) the knowledge of what happened to that child should haunt you for a long long time (if it doesn't, either you have grown jaded and I'm sad for you, or you need to talk to someone because your conscience may be less than that of the average adult's and this diminished conscience may lead you to hurt someone without realizing it and/or without caring)

    * If you routinely do things in your fight against child-porn that put you at a higher risk of running across it, as some of these Anonymous guys likely are, take technical steps to reduce your risk (use a text-only browser, for instance), and have a lawyer on retainer. Ask your lawyer what steps you need to take so when the police do come knocking it's painfully obvious to the police, the jury, and to everyone else that you are not intending to actually download or possess the stuff but sometimes it gets through your technical barriers.

    • Suspected != guilty and if they go around publicizing suspects or even people who the police have named as suspects or "persons of interest" who turn out to be innocent, it will hurt Anonymous's own reputation big-time.

      Yes, it would hurt Anonymous's sterling reputation as fine, upstanding citizens, full of kindness and charity, the very model of intergrity and all that is good in the world.

    • If the news outlets seem to be participating in a cover up, notify other news outlets, but be careful: What looks like a "news outlet conspiracy of silence" may be because the FBI is in the middle of a sting and the feds have asked the news outlets to keep quiet until the trap is sprung.

      Or the news outlets don't judge something that "links to what you think is child porn" to be newsworthy. (Which it isn't actually.) Or they lump you in with the dozens (or more) other tips from "crazies" they get on a dai

  • idiotic (Score:4, Insightful)

    by slashmydots ( 2189826 ) on Sunday January 25, 2015 @10:49PM (#48901985)
    So there's a conspiracy of high ranking officials worldwide who all are in the same child abuse ring? I wonder if they've been presented with the counter-evidence of ummmmmmmm no there's not. They're going after something that doesn't exist. Yeah, I'm sure NBC didn't cover a story well enough because there's a giant pro-child abuse lobby working for them. Are they even serious? No wonder these people don't have full time IT jobs to occupy their times.
  • by CaptainDork ( 3678879 ) on Sunday January 25, 2015 @11:05PM (#48902041)

    ... Anonymous need help?

    Since the real Anonymous got sent to jail.

    This is a publicity stunt.

  • but fight pedophile criminals.

    That being said, i doubt that i wnat to put justice in this respect in anonymous hands.

The 11 is for people with the pride of a 10 and the pocketbook of an 8. -- R.B. Greenberg [referring to PDPs?]

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