International law enforcement has been working on Operation Ore since 2003, when investigators uncovered an Internet child porn business in Texas with over 250,000 customer records. The Guardian reported today that one of the worst cases so far has concluded with two people going to jail.
It’s a terrifying story, but at the core is the ability of police to process data quickly to follow leads and catch criminals before they can harm innocent children. If this threat is not mitigated fast enough by the police to bring the risk levels down, parents will not have much choice beyond demanding some form of official validation/certification from anyone who claims that they should be trusted with a child’s safety.
“A man and his girlfriend were jailed today for raping a 12-week-old child they were babysitting and taking pictures of the abuse.
Alan Webster, 40, was jailed for life after pleading guilty at St Albans crown court to rape, indecent assault, permitting indecent images to be taken of a child and making indecent images in February and March 2004.”
This is a truly horrendous crime, but the link with Operation Ore does not ring true. The internet business in Texas was closed down in 1999 when Texas law enforcement raided the firm. So its difficult to see how indecent images in this case, dating from February and March 2004 could be related to that enquiry.
Operation Ore, the UK branch of the investigation is in severe trouble following numerous disclosures of innocent people being wrongly accused. The authorities may be engaged in a little positive spinning by suggesting that this truly appalling crime was traced as a result of the massively discredited Ore enquiry.
So, was this evil pair discovered from their names appearing on the Ore list, or is it merely convenient for the police to now suggest that as Operation Ore receives more and more criticism?
Operation Ore sites are being shut down. So what’s going on? Did Authority realise it was on shaky ground and applied pressure on “Another Constableâ€? and “Googleâ€?? Has some semblance of common sense kicked in at long last as funds expended on Operation Ore threaten to bankrupt some police forces? The big mistake was to assume that credit card evidence alone was sufficient for a conviction. If class actions suits succeed and costs and damages are as large as they should be (what cost ruining are person’s life and rendering them unemployable?), the police in some forces will be back on bicycles.
Operation Ore has definitely been criticized, but I think you guys are missing the point of this particular case. If you read the article, you might notice:
That clearly was not just evidence based on credit card transactions.