FC: FBI misled, deceived judges in online child porn investigations

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A52935-2003Mar6.html

   By LARRY NEUMEISTER
   The Associated Press
   Thursday, March 6, 2003; 6:58 PM

   Two federal judges have dealt a potentially crippling blow to a
   nationwide Internet child pornography crackdown, saying the FBI
   recklessly misled judges to get search warrants that were used in
   making more than 100 arrests.

   Constitutional safeguards cannot be relaxed just because "the crimes
   are repugnant," said U.S. District Judge Denny Chin in New York as he
   dismissed evidence obtained against one defendant. Chin's ruling,
   dated Wednesday, was released publicly Thursday.

   U.S. District Judge Catherine Perry in St. Louis, throwing out
   evidence against another defendant Thursday, said "false information
   was recklessly included in the search warrant application."
...
   Chin called the intrusion of privacy by the government "potentially
   enormous."

   "Thousands of individuals would be subject to search, their homes
   invaded and their property seized, in one fell swoop, even though
   their only activity consisted of entering an e-mail address into a Web
   site from a computer located in the confines of their own homes," he
   wrote.

   Defense lawyers said both judges considered new evidence that
   demonstrates the FBI recklessly used erroneous information in its
   search warrant applications. Nearly identical applications were used
   in cases across the country.
...




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