Georgia court finds probable cause though investigator did not contact person who discovered CP

The Georgia Court of Appeals held in Manzione v. State that the failure of a Georgia investigator to contact the Yahoo! employee who reported child pornography to NCMEC did not invalidate a search warrant. 719 S.E.2d 533 (2011). An employee at Yahoo! discovered four images of child pornography and tracked the IP address to Athens, Georgia. The employee reported this information to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) where the images and information were forwarded to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations....

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Comedian Louis CK weighs challenges of piracy and profit in new video release

Louis CK posted his PayPal account page to his website. I do not dedicate a lot of time to discussing music, movie, or software piracy on this blog as those topics are covered extensively on other blogs. However, I did want to bring up a story I read concerning comedian Louis CK's new video. The comedian decided to forego digital rights management and traditional advertising. Instead, the download is simply for sale on his website. "The experiment...

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First Circuit vacates CP convictions after FBI agent makes improper statements

The First Circuit recently reversed a child pornography conviction after admission of improper testimony. United States v. Vázquez-Rivera, 665 F.3d 351 (1st. Cir. 2011). The FBI had conducted a chatroom operation, posing as a 14-year-old girl. After sending video to the "girl" of a man (no face identifiable) masturbating, the FBI tracked the IP address back to the home of the defendant. Over 100 images of child pornography were found on the home computer, which was apparently accessible by seven people. The first issue...

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EFF releases guide to help international travelers protect files

Last week, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) released a 21-page guide titled "Defending Privacy at the U.S. Border: A Guide for Travelers Carrying Digital Devices." It contains information on how travelers should backup their data, minimize what they carry with them, and encrypt files. There are several exceptions to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment, one being the border search exception. At least one federal appellate court...

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Tech Watch: How to track Internet activity back to a user

Be sure to visit Cybercrime Review's YouTube channel in the future for more videos like this. If you have any suggestions for video topics, post your ideas in the comments bel...

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Fourth Circuit vacates CP transportation convictions as multiplicitous

The Fourth Circuit vacated 26 convictions for transporting child pornography as plain error of multiplicity in United States v. Buczkowski, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 25190 (4th Cir. 2011). The defendant had been charged with possession and transportation of child pornography after a computer repairman found 27 images of child pornography on defendant's computer. The images were of his niece, some of which were pictures of the defendant and niece engaging in sexual acts. The defendant had been working for a military contractor in Iraq, and because he...

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CDA claim against Facebook's "Sponsored Stories" feature survives motion to dismiss

When Facebook released its Sponsored Stories feature in January, many users instantly began complaining. Yesterday, a lawsuit concerning the feature survived Facebook's motion to dismiss. Sponsored Stories connects a Facebook user's likes and check-ins to paid advertising. For example, if a user likes Nike, their name may appear on Nike's website when one of the user's Facebook friends visits the site. Though users can opt-out from being used...

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No probable cause to search home after sex offender conducts possible CP search at work

In United States v. Busby, the defendant's employer noticed that the computer assigned to him was performing searches such as "young-angels" and downloading torrents like "Pthc-Russia10Yo-11Yo-Little-Brother-And-Sister-2BoyGirls-Fucking-Just-Posing-Or-Naked-Pthc-R." 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 145217 (N.D. Cal. 2011). The employer contacted the police and the laptop was seized. The following day, a search warrant was obtained for the defendant's residence because the laptop had also been used at the defendant's  home and contained images...

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Conviction reversed after juror uses Twitter during trial

An Arkansas juror tweeted during trial, “Choices to be made. Hearts to be broken. We each define the great line.” It was brought to the attention of the court after counsel discovered it and realized a reporter was following the juror. Ultimately, the trial judge found that the juror disregarding a specific instruction not to tweet was not a material breach of the juror's oath. Then, the juror continued to tweet in a similar manner despite constant reminders not to do so. On appeal before the Arkansas Supreme Court, the court reversed and remanded...

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Fifth Circuit reverses CP charge because computer was shared, dissent suggests argument is 'nonsense'

In United States v. Moreland, 665 F.3d 137 (2011), the Fifth Circuit dealt a crushing blow to prosecutors, finding that where a computer is shared between multiple users and no evidence clearly proves which user viewed child pornography found on it, a conviction will not stand. The defendant lived with his wife and father. The three shared two computers, and the defendant's father often used them late at night. In September 2007, the wife found Internet history that indicated viewing of child pornography, and she reported it to...

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Electronic evidence authenticated by pictures, greetings, and stated interests

In previous posts, I have attempted to list what courts look for when authenticating digital evidence. A recent California case almost adds a new one to the list. I may be reading too much into the opinion, but it's a worthwhile argument nonetheless. The issue concerned authentication of a printed MySpace profile. People v. Valdez, 201 Cal. App. 4th 1429  (2011). It contained the following that was attributable to the alleged author:...

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Derogatory statements toward "enthroned tulku" labeled free speech, defendant compared to Colonists

The case of United States v. Cassidy (2011 WL 6260872) has made headlines in recent days for many reasons. Cassidy was charged under the federal stalking statute (18 U.S.C. § 2261A(2)(A)) for actions on  Twitter and a blog. Cassidy met the victim, "an enthroned tulku or reincarnate master who was enthroned in 1988 as a reincarnate llama" after claiming to be a tulku. Cassidy worked with the victim for two weeks, and upon termination, went to cyberspace to complain.  In total, the victim claims that over 7,000 tweets were directed...

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Asking "u free tonight" not a substantial step under federal enticement statute

The Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces recently addressed whether a chat room conversation fell under the underage enticement statute by the question "u free tonight" being a substantial step. Finding it not to be, the decision was reversed. United States v. Winckelmann, 70 M.J. 403 (2011). The defendant was charged with attempted enticement of a minor under 18 U.S.C. § 2422(b) (among other charges) for a chat room conversation in which he thought he was chatting with a 15-year-old male. When asked if he would have sex with 15-year-olds,...

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Probable cause existed where teenager used images of CP to turn in his father

In United States v. Wilker, the court found that probable cause existed where the defendant's son took evidence of defendant's child pornography collection to the police. 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144264 (N.D. Iowa). The evidence included two images and two VCR tapes alleged as being from a hidden camera kept in the defendant's bathroom. Going by the testimony of the son and the son's friend, law enforcement obtained a warrant to search the defendant's house. The defendant argued that probable cause would not have existed if law enforcement had disclosed...

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Court applies exception provision of federal Wiretap Act

In a recent wiretapping case, the court made a brought up an important Wiretap Act provision that should be clarified. The plaintiff learned that his conversation with a J.P. Morgan Chase Bank employee had been recorded by the company. The court holds that under the federal Wiretap Act, the plaintiff cannot state a claim. "The statute prohibits an interception that is 'for the purpose of committing any criminal or tortious act in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States or of any State.' 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d). Courts have interpreted...

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No suppression for CP found during TSA search

In United States v. McCarty, the Hawaii federal district court reconsidered a child pornography case after it had been vacated and remanded from the Ninth Circuit. When the defendant's luggage was scanned at an airport, a mass was noticed around his laptop. Fearing explosives, the TSA employee opened the bag, pulled out an envelope of photos, and several photos fell out. By normal procedure, the agent must flip through the photos for explosives material. The photos ranged from newspaper clippings of children's underwear ads to images of nude children,...

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Site tracks torrent users by IP address, allows database search

A new website has file sharers terrified. Somewhat. Maybe. Not really. The website, www.youhavedownloaded.com, tracks torrent downloads against the downloader's IP address. A visit to the website will automatically display files downloaded using your current IP address. You can also do a search for a specific IP, torrent, or filename. This Minnesota IP address downloaded two episodes of the new tv show, New Girl. Of course, if you...

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Tech Watch: MAC addresses vs. IP addresses

The differences between MAC addresses and IP addresses remain an issue of confusion. After a recent discussion I observed that confused the two, I thought I would try to explain how each works. The computer first sends data to the network's router, using its local network IP address and MAC address. Each packet contains the computer's MAC address. Once the data leaves the network, it drops the MAC address and sends the data through the IP address...

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Maine SC finds chat log properly authenticated by detective testimony

The Maine Supreme Court recently held that a chat conversation between the victim and defendant was properly authenticated after a detective who witnessed the conversation testified to its legitimacy (State v. Churchill,   32 A.3d 1026 (2011). The victim, a 12-year-old girl, used instant messaging software to converse with the defendant while detectives monitored the conversation. After the chat was over, the victim emailed a transcript...

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5th Circuit addresses CP sentencing, terms of release

The Fifth Circuit released a 38-page opinion today regarding sentencing enhancements and terms of supervised release in a child pornography case, United States v. Miller, 665 F.3d 114 (5th Cir. 2011). Miller appealed his 220-month sentence and release terms, but the judgment was affirmed by the appellate court. Miller had pled guilty to the knowing transportation or shipment of child pornography. For sentencing purposes, the court found that he had possessed 495 images, engaged in sexually explicit chats with children, and requested child pornography...

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New cybercrime textbook released

I would like to take a post to congratulate Professor Thomas K. Clancy on the publication of his new textbook, Cyber Crime and Digital Evidence: Materials and Cases, published by Lexis. Professor Clancy "test drove" his text in our Cybercrime class last fall, and my copy remains an excellent reference tool. Unfortunately, I've already maxed out on classes offered by him so this brown nosing does me no good. Clancy is the director of the National Center for Justice and the Rule of Law (where he developed, among other projects,...

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Va. court sanctions attorney for frivolous SCA claim

A Virginia circuit court recently denied a claim under the Stored Communications Act where plaintiff alleged an SCA violation regarding Facebook accounts where the information was publicly accessed. Womack v. Yeoman, 2011 Va. Cir. LEXIS 143. The case concerned plaintiff's injuries sustained from a vehicle accident. The defense counsel used MySpace and Facebook to research the plaintiff and her family to learn more about...

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Tech Watch: New privacy add-ons and services

There are always new browser add-ons or other services being introduced to provide more privacy and security while online. Though I have never tried any of these (and also do not endorse them or guarantee how well they work), the concepts may be helpful for us to understand how they might be used. A service called BTGuard allows BitTorrent users to download files from the file sharing network with anonymity. The service "gives you a[n] anonymous IP address and encrypts your downloads" for $6.95 per month. Or, upgrade to a virtual private network...

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Cal. court modifies probation conditions for CP possessor

A California appellate court modified conditions of probation in a child pornography case (People v. Kinley, 2011 Cal. App. Unpub. LEXIS 9410 (2011)). Kinley had taken his computer for repairs, and employees found a screen saver displaying child pornography. The requirement not to "reside near" parks, schools, etc. was modified to state "reside within 2,000 feet" because it was too vague.  A ban on possession of toys, stuffed animals, and games without permission from the probation officer was constitutional. "It is not unreasonable to require...

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Restitution under § 2259 awarded by NY District Court

Several recent court opinions have dealt with restitution damages under 18 U.S.C. § 2259, and you can find earlier postings on this blog regarding these cases here. In United States v. Hagerman, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141231 (N.D.N.Y. 2011), the court addressed these same issues in a lengthy opinion. Here's a brief (as brief as I could make it!) outline of the arguments: Evidentiary hearings are not necessary to determine restitution under § 2259. The victim of the child pornography was such because: The materials are a permanent...

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Sanctions may be ordered where employee reformatted drive to remove CP

In Océ North America v. MCS Servs., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141209 (D. Md. 2011), the court held that an employee wiping a hard drive that contained child pornography was a violation of the company's discovery obligations.Océ was involved in a lawsuit and was under a preservation order. The company had sent e-mails to every employee ordering them not to delete any information from their computers. One employee, however, used software to remove data from his computer. Océ argued that the employee's intent was to delete child pornography on the...

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ICANN to create additional top-level domains

A Senate committee has asked ICANN to slow the release of new top-level domains (TLDs). ICANN is a nonprofit organization that handles Internet domain name issues. A top-level domain is the last part of a domain name, as shown here: Many TLD's exist now - .com, .gov, .org, .edu, .biz, etc. In the past, these limits have forced some businesses to get less desirable domain names because their desired .com was already taken. The organization has...

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Mass. court finds lack of probable cause in e-mail account with CP

The Appeals Court of Massachusetts struck down a search warrant for lack of probable cause in Commonwealth v. Finglas,  957 N.E.2d 1132  (2011). Investigators had been contacted by America Online (AOL), reporting that the account of user "NATALY20" contained five images of child pornography. The images had been received from another e-mail account. NATALY20's account was tracked to the defendant. Law enforcement obtained a search warrant...

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Cal. court reverses CP possession conviction

California courts have held that possession of multiple images of child pornography constitute only a single act of possession (People v. Hertzig, 156 Cal. App. 4th 398 (2007)). Also, the simultaneous possession of child pornography in multiple containers (hard drives, DVDs, etc.) in the same location is also only one act (People v. Manfredi, 169 Cal. App. 4th 622 (2008)). In a recent case, People v. Sample, the defendant was convicted...

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SCA minimum damages only awarded with actual damage

An Illinois blogger was injured in a car accident, and while in the hospital, her employer obtained access to her personal Facebook and Twitter accounts and used them to promote the employer's website (she had a large personal following). When she became aware this was happening, she asked her employer to stop. They failed to do so, requiring her to change her passwords. In her lawsuit, she alleged (among other arguments) that her employer had violated the Stored Communications Act (SCA). The evidence showed hat the employer did, in fact,...

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Fourth Circuit examines image requirement for probable cause, subjective "obscenity"

In United States v. Wellman, the Fourth Circuit held that an image of child pornography was not required to show probable cause and that a requirement of "obscenity" is not subjective.  663 F.3d 224 (4th Cir. 2011). West Virginia's ICAC identified an IP address using Gnutella that had shared five images determined to be child pornography according to their hash values. Police tracked the IP address to Wellman (who had also been convicted of sexual abuse of a child in 1987 and was not registered as a sex offender as required by law). Wellman...

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Yahoo! awarded over $600 million for CAN-SPAM violations

In Yahoo! Inc. v. Xyz Cos., 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 139848 (S.D.N.Y. 2011), Yahoo! alleged that the defendant sent hoax emails using the Yahoo! name and mark notifying the individuals that they had won a lottery. In all, 11,660,790 emails were estimated to have been sent. A default judgement was entered for Yahoo! after a finding of violations of the CAN-SPAM Act and trademark counterfeiting, awarding damages of $610,039,500 plus attorneys' fees. The CAN-SPAM Act, 15 U.S.C. § 7701. et seq. allows liability where an e-mail contains headings that...

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Facebook download feature useful in ESI discovery

Though it came out about a year ago, I have just now used the "Download Your Information" feature to do just that with my account. It allows a user to download nearly all activity they have had since joining Facebook into a single ZIP file. While it doesn't include what I have done on other's profiles and posts, everything that has ever been posted on my wall is there - all the way back to the first wall post on March 5, 2005 (Facebook was so...

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Plans to manually cancel CP downloads did not negate intentional distribution

The defendant in a recent Third Circuit case argued he should have been given a two-level sentencing enhancement, rather than a five-level, because he did not intentionally distribute child pornography. He admitted to configuring his file sharing program to share images of child pornography, but he claimed that he planned to "intervene and manually [] cancel each attempted upload." Unfortunately for him, at least one image was downloaded by another user. This argument was rejected because he could have configured the program not to share the...

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Tech Watch: New USB drive has combination case and 256-bit encryption

There's a new USB flash drive that's soon to be on the market that has some features you've only seen in movies. Meet the Crypteks USB. It comes in an ultra-high-grade aluminum alloy combination lock case with 14,348,907 possible combinations. Once you get it open, it has 256-bit AES hardware encryption. And there's more - you also get to set the number of password wrong attempts before it reformats itself. It isn't out yet (probably later this month), but the price will be around $130....

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Advocacy group releases child sex trafficking report

Shared Hope International released report cards yesterday for each state with regard it its attempts to eliminate demand for child sex trafficking and to identify and assist victims. Only four states received a "B" grade (there were no "A's", while 25 received an "F". Texas has the highest grade at 83.5, while Wyoming received the lowest at 29.5. The rating is basted on six factors: Criminalization of domestic minor sex trafficking Criminal...

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10th Circuit affirms conviction in Craigslist scam

The Tenth Circuit has affirmed a conviction of wire fraud and identity theft and various sentencing enhancements. The defendant, an Oklahoma citizen, had posted multiple ads on Craigslist soliciting people with a great deal of debt. He told them that if they paid him half the amount, the rest would be taken care of through a debt-assistance program. Once someone contacted them, the defendant used stolen credit cards and bank account numbers to pay the bills. When the payments were discovered to be fraudulent and were reversed, the victims contacted...

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Washington court reverses sexual exploitation of minor conviction

The Washington Court of Appeals recently reversed a sexual exploitation of a minor conviction because the defendant only asked a child to send a nude photograph, but the child never took or sent the picture. Throughout the e-mail exchange, the defendant repeatedly asked the child to send nude pictures, but she refused to do so. The statute makes it a crime if a person “[a]ids, invites, employs, authorizes, or causes a minor to engage in sexually...

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Cal. cybercrime investigator's e-mails exposed

Last week, hacker group Anonymous published the private e-mails, home address, and telephone number of the special agent supervisor for computer crime investigations in California's Department of Justice. They also accessed his voicemail, text messages, and Google Voice account. Posts from the International Association of Computer Investigative Specialists's private discussion list were included in the 38,000 e-mails. The release is...

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Defendant may have had authority to access electronic storage

In Shefts v. Petrakis, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136538 (C.D. Ill. 2011), a court denied summary judgment where a business partner accessed an employee's e-mail in violation of the SCA because he may have had authority to do so. The plaintiff and defendant were two of four partners in a business. After hearing various reports of wrongdoing by the plaintiff (including sexual harassment of employees), the defendant asked their computer technician to have a copy of plaintiff's e-mail account copied to his laptop. The plaintiff argues that this was...

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Facebook, FTC settle on privacy concerns

An agreement was reached today between Facebook and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding concerns about Facebook users' privacy. The settlement requires Facebook to develop a comprehensive privacy program and have outside audits conducted for the next 20 years. The FTC complaint alleged that Facebook shared users' personal information with third parties and advertisers without their knowledge or consent, changed privacy policies without...

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SCOTUS denies cert in case on CP victim restitution

The Supreme Court yesterday denied certiorari in Amy, the Victim in the Misty Child Pornography Series v. Monzel, 181 L. Ed. 2d 508 (2011) (an appeal from United States v. Monzel, 641 F.3d 528 (2011)) which could have resolved a circuit split regarding child pornography victim restitution. In April, the DC Circuit denied that "Amy", a victim of child pornography that has been spread around the globe, was entitled to no more than nominal damages under Section 2259 and the CVRA. The issue is whether defendants must pay only nominal...

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Wired.com explains how Big Brother is watching you

Wired.com recently published an article titled "9 Reasons Wired Readers Should Wear Tinfoil Hats" which hypothesized the many ways in which the government tracks us electronically. The post explains how the government [probably] uses wiretapping, tracking devices, border search, fake cell phone towers, government malware, and more. Some of it is simply written to entertain conspiracy theorists, but it is interesting to ponder nonetheless. It's...

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6th Circuit vacates pornography ban as condition of release

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the po...

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Military court finds Facebook messages authenticated

The United States Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals held in United States v. Grant, 2011 CCA LEXIS 217 (A.F. Ct. Crim. App. 2011) that Facebook correspondence admitted into evidence in a court-martial proceeding were properly authenticated by testimony from the recipient. As I discussed here, authenticating messages from Facebook can be a tricky process. The court listed several reasons for its decision: Messages contained the defendant's name and profile picture A witness testified that: She had just met the defendant when he requested her...

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Company alleges SCA, Wiretap, and CFAA claims against former VP

In Exec. Sec. Mgmt. v. Dahl, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132538 (C.D. Cal. 2011), The APEX Group (an event security firm) alleges that former employees (one was a VP and board member) made misrepresentations that caused them to lose a contract with the PGA. The ten claims include violations of the SCA, Wiretap Act, and the CFAA. The defendants moved for summary judgment. The SCA claim is the most interesting. Apex argues two violations - unauthorized access to e-mail and deletion of information on Apex laptops. The latter argument was struck...

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Court finds cell site location data to be protected by Fourth Amendment

A federal district court held that cell site location data obtained without a search warrant to be unconstitutional, bringing the number of such holdings to more than a dozen, according to the Wall Street Journal. In a one page opinion, Judge Lynn Hughes (S.D. Tex.) ruled that "[w]hen the government requests records from cellular services, data disclosing the location of the telephone at the time of particular calls may be acquired only by a warrant issued on probable cause." The government had argued that the location data was a business...

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Defendant wins on restriction not to live near school in CP possession case

The defendant in United States v. Schweizer, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132065 (D. Nev. 2011) challenged the sentencing requirement that forbade him from living within 200 yards of a school, park, or other location children may congregate after being convicted of possession of child pornography. The defendant and his wife have lived near a middle school for nearly twenty years, and this requirement would require them to sell their home. The court modified the requirement to exempt their current home. As justification, the court noted that he is 62...

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FTC settles with website violating COPPA

The Federal Trade Commission recently settled a case with www.skidekids.com, a website promoted as a "Facebook and Myspace for kids," after the website illegally collected information from thousands of children in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), 15 U.S.C. § 6501. Skid-e-kids targets children ages 7-14 and seeks to create a Facebook-type environment that is child-friendly. The settlement requires...

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International Cybercrime Roundup

Here's a look at recent news in the cybercrime field from other countries: CANADA - The case of a convicted child pornographer who possessed 4.5 million images (the largest ever in Canada) has set the sentencing "benchmark ... at the maximum." How long exactly? Five years. CHINA - A website hosting illegal copies of Windows operating systems was recently shutdown. Over 4,000 copies were downloaded in 2011 alone. SERBIA - Police broke up a child...

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WiFi hotspots to increase 350% by 2015

The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) released a study projecting WiFi hotspots to increase by 350% to a total of 5.8 million by 2015. The increased use of data by smartphones is the predominant reason for the expansion as use of smartphones continues to increase. Already in the United States, smartphones outnumber laptops on WiFi hotspots. The WBA membership includes Comcast, Time Warner, Google, AT&T, Cisco, Intel and other leading technology companies. The full report is available he...

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'Seize-it-all-and-sort-it-out-later warrant' struck down by court

In United States v. Schesso, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 129993 (W.D. Wash. 2011), a search warrant was struck down for being too broad after applying CDT III. German authorities discovered an IP address in the U.S. sharing child pornography in October 2008, and a search warrant was obtained in June 2010. The application sought "broad authorization to seize and examine every sort of computer storage device." Applying Ninth Circuit precdent in U.S. v. Comprehensive Drug Testing, Inc., 621 F.3d 1162 (9th Cir. 2010) (referred to as CDT III),...

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2703(d) order challenged in Wikileaks investigation

Information related to three Twitter accounts was recently obtained by the government by a 2703(d) order in an investigation related to Wikileaks. The account holders made many claims including: (1) they had a § 2704 right to challenge the order, (2) the release of IP address information violated their Fourth Amendment rights, (3) the order violated their due process rights, and (4) the order violated their First Amendment rights. Finding no violation of § 2704 or any constitutional arguments, the court upheld the order....

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Court awards nominal restitution under § 2259

In United States v. Aumais, 656 F.3d 147 (2d Cir. 2011), the Second Circuit reversed restitution in a child pornography possession case. Aumais had no connection to the victim, "Amy", in the pornography nor did she know of his existence. Amy's impact statement made no mention of Aumais and was written before he was arrested. The court held that "where the Victim Impact Statement and the psychological evaluation were drafted before the defendant was even arrested--or might as well have been-- ... the victim's loss was not proximately caused...

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