Does it feel odd to anyone else that a platform for something this universally condemned in any jurisdiction can operate for 4 years, with a catchy name clearly thought up by a marketing person, its own payment system and nearly six figure number of videos? I mean even if we assume that some of those 4 years were intentional to allow law enforcement to catch as many perpetrators as possible this feels too similar to fully legal operations in scope.
Illegal business can operate online for a long time if they have good OpSec. Anonymous payment systems are much easier these days because of cryptocurrencies.
Is that why Trump is so for them?
Yeah, more or less
It's a side effect of privacy and security. The one side effect they're trying to use to undermine all of the privacy and security.
This has nothing to do with privacy! Criminals have their techniques and methods to protect themselves and their "businesses" from discovery, both in the real world and in the online world. Even in a complete absence of privacy they would find a way to hide their stuff from the police - at least for a while.
In the real world, criminals (e.g. drug dealers) also use cars, so you could argue, that druck trafficking is a side effect of people having cars...
Well, it does have to do with privacy and security, it just doesn't matter if it's legal or not for them. These people (in the US) always make a point that criminals will buy guns whether it's legal or not, but then they'll argue they need to destroy privacy because criminals are using it. It doesn't make sense, but it doesn't need to because honesty or consistency aren't important.
with a catchy name clearly thought up by a marketing person
A marketing person? They took "Netflix" and changed the first three letters lol
So you are saying it is too creative for the average person in marketing?
universally condemned
There are a few countries that would disagree
Which countries do you have in mind where videos of sexual child abuse are legal?
With the amount of sites that are easily accessed on the dark net though the hidden wiki and other sites. This might of been a honeypot from the start.
On the contrary, why would they announce that they seized the site? To cause more panic, and to exaggerate the actual situation?
In addition, that last point should be considered because even if they used these type of operations, honeypotting would still be considered illegal. So Ultimately what is stopping the supreme power to abuse that power on other people?
Fuck man. I used to use a program called “Kidpix” when I was a kid. It was like ms paint but with fun effects and sounds.
Holy. Shit. This is somehow glorious on an oled iPad screen. The late 1900s never looked so good.
Thank you for given me a nostalgia jolt that I didn’t know I wanted, but am fully enjoying right now
When I read the very first bit I was like "oh is that a new kids tv streaming platform from the same creators as kidpix?" Then I was immediately hit with the reality of the grim world we live in
I used to love the dynamite tool!
I loved the explosion sound, and the "oh no" when you click the undo button. I have the Windows versions of KidPix on CD somewhere.
Haha yep, kidpix deluxe 3 I remember fondly
Same here! We had it on a Macintosh LC 575. I will never forget those sound effects haha.
Omg I remember Kidpix! It was great!
This… not so much.
On average, around 3.5 new videos were uploaded to the platform every hour, many of which were previously unknown to law enforcement.
Absolutely sick and vile. I hope they honey potted the site and that the arrests keep coming.
1.8m users, how the hell did they ran that website for 3 years?
That’s unfortunately (not really sure) probably the fault of Germanys approach to that. It is usually not taking these websites down but try to find the guys behind it and seize them. The argument is: they will just use a backup and start a “KidFlix 2” or sth like that. Some investigations show, that this is not the case and deleting is very effective. Also the German approach completely ignores the victim side. They have to deal with old men masturbating to them getting raped online. Very disturbing…
I think you are mixing here two different aspects of this and of similar past cases. I the past there was often a problem with takedowns of such sites, because german prosecutors did not regard themselves as being in charge of takedowns, if the servers were somewhere overseas. Their main focus was to get the admins and users of those sites and to get them into jail.
In this specific case they were observing this platform (together with prosecutors from other countries in an orchestrated operation) to gather as much data as possible about the structure, the payment flows, the admins and the users of this before moving into action and getting them arrested. The site was taken down meanwhile.
If you blow up and delete)such a darknet service immediately upon discovery, you may get rid of it (temporarily) but you might not catch many of the people behind it.
This feels like one of those things where couch critics aren't qualified. There's a pretty strong history of three letter agencies using this strategy successfully in other organized crime industries.
Honestly, if the existing victims have to deal with a few more people masturbating to the existing video material and in exchange it leads to fewer future victims it might be worth the trade-off but it is certainly not an easy choice to make.
With everything going on right now, the fact that I still feel physically sick reading things like this tells me I haven’t gone completely numb yet. Just absolutely repulsive.
I know I'm not heartless yet because I am still traumatized by the brick in the window video...
I'll probably regret asking, but I'm out of the loop and insatiably curious.
Brick in the window video?
If it's what I'm thinking of, camera footage of a vehicle interior.
Driving down the highway, going under an overpass when a brick gets tossed by some kids and goes through the window.
Passenger hit, husband is driving and screams.
You know that scream they mention in The Princess Bride? That "only someone experiencing ultimate suffering" can make?
If you know, you know.
I've never seen that video but I can hear that scream from the husband. That's some fucked up shit.
Oh no. I remember that video now. I didn't need to remember that video. Why did I have to ask?!
It's not an overpass. A loose brick falls off a truck going in the opposite direction, bounces off the pavement once, then goes through the windshield.
Edit: oh hurray, there's two different brick videos.
Well, I know what other video I'm never watching.
And people wonder why I don't like being around any vehicle that carries things...
Fuck. Don't make me think about that video. Fuck. Shit.
Gonna ruin me, but seconding. Brick in the window video?
To sanitize the traumatic video as much as possible: A man is driving under an overpass and a brick is dropped through the passenger side window instantly killing his wife. He reacts in horror.
Not just horror... the torment in that voice... fucking hell. Feel so bad for them both.
They're probably referencing the video where a woman was killed after a brick flew through the windshield. I haven't watched it, but it is on YouTube and I've heard that the husband's cries are not so nice.
I don't remember if it was kids throwing bricks off of a bridge or if it was something else.
1.8 million users and they only caught 1000?
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
