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

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Fri Mar 07 2003 - 06:59:38 PST

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    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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