Operation Ore exposed

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk>
Date: August 4, 2005 8:31:33 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Operation Ore exposed


Hi Dave:

There's a very detailed and interesting account in the PCPRO website  
about problems with a highly-publicised IT crime investigation here  
in the UK. The full story is at:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/features/74690/operation-ore-exposed.html

Here is my attempt to extract the main points:


> Operation Ore exposed
>
> Operation Ore is the UK's biggest ever IT crime investigation, but  
> expert witness Duncan Campbell reveals that many prosecutions were  
> founded on falsehoods
> ...
> Operation Ore launched on British TV screens on 20 May 2002. The  
> BBC led on 'mass arrests over online child porn'. Thirty-six people  
> were arrested, with promises of thousands more to follow. It made  
> for compelling television, and provoked a rash of tabloid activity,  
> but it also led to increased pressure on the police to bring the  
> remaining thousands to justice.
> ...
> Unfortunately, not all the evidence presented was quite as clear  
> cut as it seemed. Clearly visible on the bulletin was a computer  
> screen displaying Exhibit One of Operation Ore. In the middle of  
> the screen were the words 'Click Here CHILD PORN'.
> ...
> However, this most critical computer evidence produced in Operation  
> Ore, I have found, was flawed. On 2 October 2002 in Fort Worth,  
> Texas, incorrect evidence was handed to a British police officer by  
> Nelson. He swore it as true evidence and was backed up by Mead. The  
> evidence was then distributed throughout Britain, shown on TV and  
> paraded in courts up and down the land.
>
> The objective of Operation Ore was the protection of vulnerable  
> children from adult abuse and harm. But the mistakes meant huge  
> quantities of police, technical and social work resources were  
> misdirected to some futile and ill-founded investigations. The  
> worse result was damage to innocent lives, and the welfare of  
> families and children.
> ...
> Their common cause was a 1999 police operation in Fort Worth,  
> Texas. Billed as the exposure of the world's largest 'paedophile  
> ring', America's 'Operation Avalanche' had swelled by 2002 to a  
> global crusade.
>
> The entire investigation depended on computer evidence. What was on  
> the Internet, who logged in to it, when and how? On this digital  
> sword, many lives and careers would be tested and some would end.
> ...
> My work so far has led to three Ore defendants being acquitted and  
> to all the American evidence being ditched in respect of a fourth.  
> But even for those never charged, or acquitted before trial, the  
> experiences are so scarring that no-one wants to talk.
> ...
> The records suggest that because of the media and police enthusiasm  
> to hunt down supposed Internet paedophiles, important questions  
> about the evidence were never asked, or asked in time. As recently  
> as last December the police were still unwilling to admit to the  
> House of Commons that thousands of names on the Landslide list were  
> not paedophiles and were known to have paid only for adult material.
>
> Through no fault of their own, many people and their families will  
> never recover from the false stigma of having been associated with  
> child pornography. They are the victims of a combination of  
> technical naivety and fear, fed by a media circus demanding fast  
> results and the exposure of big names. As the Internet continues to  
> become more transparent, the risk is that the stage may be set for  
> a 21st century witch-hunt.
> ...


cheers

Brian Randell

--
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon  
Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/


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