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The FBI is not eager to reveal (more) details about methods it used to identify Tor users as part of a child pornography case. FBI's Operation Torpedo previously unmasked Tor users by serving them malicious scripts from secretly seized .onion sites.
The FBI is resisting calls to reveal how it identified people who used a child pornography site on the Tor anonymising network. The agency was ordered to share details by a Judge presiding over a case involving one alleged user of the site. Defence lawyers said they need the information to see if the FBI exceeded its authority when indentifying users. But the Department of Justice (DoJ), acting for the FBI, said the details were irrelevant to the case. "Knowing how someone unlocked the front door provides no information about what that person did after entering the house," wrote FBI agent Daniel Alfin in court papers filed by the DoJ which were excerpted on the Vice news site.
The Judge ordered the FBI to hand over details during a court hearing in late February. The court case revolves around a "sting" the FBI carried out in early 2015 when it seized a Tor-based site called Playpen that traded in images and videos of child sexual abuse. The agency kept the site going for 13 days and used it to grab information about visitors who took part in discussion threads about images of child abuse.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Thursday March 31 2016, @11:43PM
The government seized an illegal child porn website and by means undisclosed harvested the userbase. One assumes they went before a judge to get the warrants used to seize the users PCs and gain the evidence which will now be used to send them off to be sodomized in Federal prison for the rest of their probably short lives. The details of the exploit used should only be disclosed to the judge or to Congressional oversight because, as I said in the first post and is a point very conspicuously ignored by all the outraged replies, the only actual purpose in demanding to see the exploit is to close the hole in Tor and prevent the government from using it again. Sources and methods are the crown jewels in both intelligence work and law enforcement.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by BK on Friday April 01 2016, @12:06AM
Except that, in the United States, law enforcement is obliged to follow a set of rules that make it fundamentally different in its responsibilities than a national intelligence agency.
The defendant in this case is pretty unsympathetic. The problem is that these cases are used to build precedent, and not just for thought criminals. The government always pushes the limits in these cases.
I suppose that since I've done nothing wrong, I should be quiet since I have nothing to fear…
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 01 2016, @12:28PM
Evidence can be provided to lawyers with the obligation of non-disclosure. Courts can hold closed sessions and seal evidence. The defence lawyers could be given everything they demand, and the Tor project itself needn't get a whiff.
The only reason for a party to withhold evidence is if that evidence would be harmful to their case.