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Feds Bust Social Network for Child Porn Collectors

by Terrence O'Brien on May 28, 2010 at 11:10 AM

Niche social networking sites are a dime a dozen these days. If you've got an interest, chances are you can find a social network dedicated to it. Apparently, that even extends to disturbing and illegal hobbies, like collecting child pornography. Working in conjunction with local police departments, federal prosecutors have broken up one such network, leading to the arrests of more than 50 people so far.

At one point, the site boasted more than 1,000 users trading explicit images of underage girls and boys. Accessing the network required a membership and password, and accounts were tightly controlled. In order to join, new members needed to be sponsored by existing users, and then others had to vote on whether or not to allow the person membership. It also featured a hierarchical structure that granted extra permissions to users who had attained the rank of "trusted member," "grand master," "moderator," and "administrator." At the top of the pile was the "root administrator," alleged ringleader Delwin Savigar, who is currently serving a 14-year prison sentence in the U.K. for sexually assaulting three underage girls.

The site allowed members to exchange images and share advice on how to build their collections without getting caught by authorities. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D. DeBrota told the AP that the group was not focused on actually producing material. Of course, to up the impossibly ante of depravity, some members were actively abusing children and documenting their crimes. These criminals were made priority targets during the recent arrests.

Authorities broke the investigation wide open when they arrested a member of the social network on unrelated charges in Alabama, consequently granting them access to the inner workings of the site. Arrests were made all over the United States, and the investigation was kept under tight wraps to avoid tipping of participants. We shiver; we wish this was some horrible plot in 'CSI,' but tragically, it is not. [From: Associated Press]

Tags: child porn, ChildPorn, ChildPornography, crime, criminal, delwin savigar, DelwinSavigar, feds, law, police, socialnetwork, socialnetworking, top

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