U.S. prosecutors have dismissed a case against a man accused of child pornography because the FBI refused to disclose its investigative practices.
The Feds discovered the Playpen child pornography site on the Tor network, which serves as a venue to anonymize web-browsing activity. While Tor conceals users' location and identity by routing all connections through a complex set of computers and encrypting all data, the Feds somehow managed to reveal the users' real identities on the Tor Playpen website.
The operation led to 200 prosecutions. However, prosecutors have now dropped all charges against a man accused of downloading explicit photos of minors from the popular Playpen website, since the government refused to disclose how it came to reveal those identities.
FBI Tor Hack / Playpen Methods Remain Classified
The FBI used "network investigative techniques" to reveal users' real identities despite Tor's efforts, but in court it refused to comply with a request for information regarding its techniques. Rather than divulging its methods, the FBI preferred to see all charges dropped.
The accused in question is Jay Michaud, a school worker who was accused back in July 2015 of sharing child pornography through Playpen. Michaud has claimed to be innocent all along and the public defenders representing him fought to force the FBI to share their technique for exposing hundreds of child porn collectors across the United States. Since the FBI refused to reveal its methods, a federal judge had to prevent prosecutors from using evidence against Michaud.
Beyond Reasonable Doubt Or No Conviction
To achieve a successful conviction, prosecutors have to prove the suspect is guilty beyond reasonable doubt, and it needs solid evidence to do so. At the same time, the accused also has the right to request all evidence for review, including how the government obtained said evidence, if it will be used toward a conviction.
In this case, the FBI managed to breach the anonymity Tor promises and the means used to collect the evidence from the dark web make up a sensitive matter. The technique is valuable to the FBI, so the government would rather compromise this case rather than release the source code it used.
"The government must now choose between disclosure of classified information and dismissal of its indictment," federal prosecutor Annette Hayes said in a court filing on Friday. "Dismissal without prejudice leaves open the possibility that the government could bring new charges should there come a time within the statute of limitations when and the government be in a position to provide the requested discovery."
The dismissal is troubling not only because it leaves potential pedophiles out and about, but also because it promotes a practice where the government seems to be above the law. The FBI actually ran Playpen for a while, albeit briefly, and it's worrisome to see it's willing to bend or even break the law to track down criminals it's not willing to prosecute. The dismissal brings good news not only for Michaud, but likely for a slew of other pending cases like this one, in which the FBI-obtained evidence would be similarly inadmissible without proving its origin.
