gonzo
12-27-2007, 09:29 AM
Brad Willman was installing networking equipment out of an emergency van in British Columbia when a policeman showed up and asked for him. Willman knew the officer from a case he was involved with a couple of years earlier, so he didn't worry--until he arrived at the police station and was introduced to a couple of U.S. cops.
The visit marked the end of Willman's version of vigilante justice.
A Trojan Horse Used for Good
It was 2000, and Willman was 19. He had spent the past few years surreptitiously distributing a Trojan horse program to more than 1,000 people to try to uncover child-porn activities. All told, Willman said his work sent around 70 people to prison.
But then Willman stumbled on a prominent California judge. He discovered that Ronald Kline (http://www.pcworld.com/tags/Ronald+Kline.html), at the time a superior court judge in Orange County, had a big collection of child porn and a diary on his PC indicating he was planning to try to seduce young boys. The high-profile case put an end to Willman's career as a crime-fighter.
"Oh, I knew it was illegal," Willman said in a recent phone interview. "But I really didn't care. I felt if I'm helping a few people in the process, cool." Until Kline, Willman had managed to remain anonymous.
Read the rest of this article.... (http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140731-c,cybercrime/article.html)
This reminds me of the guy that got off using PGP to encrypt his kiddie porn files on a technicality.
Anyone interested in discussing the moral vs the legal dilemna here?
The visit marked the end of Willman's version of vigilante justice.
A Trojan Horse Used for Good
It was 2000, and Willman was 19. He had spent the past few years surreptitiously distributing a Trojan horse program to more than 1,000 people to try to uncover child-porn activities. All told, Willman said his work sent around 70 people to prison.
But then Willman stumbled on a prominent California judge. He discovered that Ronald Kline (http://www.pcworld.com/tags/Ronald+Kline.html), at the time a superior court judge in Orange County, had a big collection of child porn and a diary on his PC indicating he was planning to try to seduce young boys. The high-profile case put an end to Willman's career as a crime-fighter.
"Oh, I knew it was illegal," Willman said in a recent phone interview. "But I really didn't care. I felt if I'm helping a few people in the process, cool." Until Kline, Willman had managed to remain anonymous.
Read the rest of this article.... (http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,140731-c,cybercrime/article.html)
This reminds me of the guy that got off using PGP to encrypt his kiddie porn files on a technicality.
Anyone interested in discussing the moral vs the legal dilemna here?