UK banks’ child porn powers
p2pnet.net News:- British banks and savings and loan associations have been given new powers to pull credit cards from customers, if the cards have been used to access images of child abuse on the internet, says EarthTimes.
This new power is subsequent to a three year campaign by children’s charities which Judy Mallaber, Labour MP helped to lead, it says.
“This all started when 7,200 UK citizens were caught under Operation Ore using payment cards to access child abuse images from a site in Texas”. ‘You could have your credit card taken away if you did not pay your bills but not if you had been caught downloading child pornography using the card,’ she said.”
In an earlier p2pnet story on Operation Ore, “What we’ve got here is nothing less than a 21st Century witch-hunt,” said a Reader’s Write.
“Police, prosecutors and public alike are so desperate to ‘nail the perps’ that they overlook exculpatory evidence in their headlong rush to judgement. Even those who have been acquitted will never be the same again – there will be a cloud of suspicion looming over them for the rest of their lives.”
The comment post quotes a Sunday Times story which stated:
“Dozens of men accused of downloading child pornography from the internet may have been wrongly prosecuted, according to expert prosecution and defence witnesses.
“New evidence suggests that Operation Ore, Britain`s biggest child pornography investigation, may have prosecuted innocent men on the basis of discredited American police testimony and questionable forensic methods.
“Jim Bates, a computer expert who has served as a witness for the prosecution or the defence in more than 100 child porn cases, says many Ore cases are now likely to collapse or be overturned in the Court of Appeal. ‘It has been a shambles from the word go,’ he said.”
Also See:
EarthTimes – U.K. Banks to cancel credit cards of online child pornography offenders, July 21, 2006
Operation Ore – UK comic in kiddie porn case, May 11, 2006
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July 22nd, 2006 at 12:05 am
Not to mention that child porn has been used as a red herring numerous times in the US in order to justify the circumvention of the law in order to wire tap and have ISPs collect information on everyone. Also worth mentioning is that the MPAA/RIAA have used this excuse numerous times to attack P2P filesharing. What they don’t realize is that networks like Freenet facilitate the sharing of all types of information…cryptically and anonymously. To spy on everyone when it’s already proven to be useless is insane.
July 22nd, 2006 at 6:05 am
If I were a kiddy pr0n dealer, I would find new government intrusion on people’s rights
desirable. What most people do not know is that many, many governments provide a free marketing tool to child predators. This marketing tool is called the public sexual offender database. While this database is clearly unconstitutional in many circumstances, it does allow pornographers to find likely buyers of their crap.
As far as banks being able to cancel the credit card of people who buy kiddy pr0n, I do not know if that is a good idea as perverts who buy this sort of thing can always use private pre-paid cards. Buying kiddy porn is also a potent waepon for character assassins who happen to obtain the credit card information on their victims. Prepaid credit cards can also be assigned the name and address of character assination victims. As laws change criminals adapt.
July 26th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
Forcing a person who has already served his sentence to register in these databases intrude on his or her right to pursue happiness. It is hard to be able to live in a society and make friend when everywhere one goes the government tells people he or she is a monster. These databases can also give governments power to slander people with impunity. What if someone is wrongfully convicted, yet a government continues to smear that person’s name. Jon has a suit filed against him by Sharmon Networks. The people on these list cannot even post a rebuttal to government claims.
With that said, I want to let you know that I cannot stand child rapists. As far as I am concerned, people who are accused of this crime should get a fair trial. If convicted after receiving a fair trial in which their constitutional rights are protected, the person should either be locked away for life or receive the death penalty. Restricting people’s movemnts, requiring registration, etc is a slippery slope proposition. Once allowed, it can be applied to any offence. Governments simply have too much power.
July 28th, 2006 at 12:04 am
Pursuit of happiness is not a constitutionally protected thing. It is mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution. The THEORY is that wrongful convictions will be found out through evidence, but we know that isn’t going to work in most cases.
I agree wholeheartedly with everything you are saying, however. I was personally convicted of having child porn on my computer because of a loophole in the law in my state that the prosecution used to hold lots of jail time over my head to make me plead guilty for a misdemeanor sentence but with the SAME felony going on my record, and of course loss of rights and the registration that came with it. Never went to trial. The computer was a WORK computer, no less, in an easily accessible office. All potential employers see, however, is “sexual exploitation of a minor.” Guess where that leads.
I shouldn’t be deprived of my right to own a gun because of this, but I am. I can’t get a *new* job–I’m stuck in low-income work. I am a victim of parents’ fears. And yet, I have younger brothers and a sister that look up to me, no one who didn’t find out in the news about my case even thinks that I have this on my record, and I have to live in active fear of children because any accusation may land me behind bars.
I spent a week in jail after arrest. No prison time. They dragged the trial out for four years until a certain D.A. needed to look good for re-election.
Where’s my incentive to “re-integrate” into society now? I’ve got what looks like child rape to the average idiot HR department on my record, but I didn’t do anything remotely like that. It would be easier to commit credit card fraud to get along than to find an employer that will hire a felon, much less a sex offender.
I’m on the bad end of the smoking gun of child protectionism. Your children are NOT that much more important than me, that you should effectively imprison me for life “for the childrens’ sake.” Especially when I’d never harm them. And if someone wants to rape and murder your kids at school, they can easily drive their car from their home ten miles from the restricted zone of the school to rape and murder them. You’re an idiot if you think restricting where offenders live will save your child.