One for Anonymous – Child Porn Sites Taken Down Through #OpDarknet
This is awesome news as Operation Darknet (#OpDarknet), an anonymous Tor Onion site that seems to be focusing attention on taking down child pornography. The Pastebin website has stated the following:
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At apprx 8:30 CST while browsing the Hidden Wiki we noticed a section called Hard Candy which was dedicated to links to child pornography. We then removed all links on the website, within 5 minutes the links were edited back in by an admin. For this reason, we will continue to make the Hidden Wiki unavailable.
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At apprx 8:45 CST we noticed 95% of the child pornography listed on the Hidden Wiki shared a digital fingerprint with the shared hosting server at Freedom Hosting.
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At apprx 9:00pm CST on October 14, 2011 We identified Freedom Hosting as the host of the largest collection of child pornography on the internet. We then issued a warning to remove the illegal content from their server, which they refused to do.
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At apprx 11:30pm CST on October 14, 2011 We infiltrated the shared hosting server of Freedom Hosting and shutdown services to all clients due to their lack of action to remove child pornography from their server.
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At apprx 5:00pm CST on October 15, 2011 Freedom Hosting installed their backups and restored services to their child pornography clients. We then issued multiple warnings to remove all child pornography from their servers, which Freedom Hosting refused to do.
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At apprx 8:00pm CST on October 15, 2011 despite new security features, we once again infiltrated the shared hosting server at Freedom Hosting and stopped service to all clients.
The site goes on to state that “…Freedom Hosting has been declared #OpDarknet Enemy Number One.” Of course, this is a vigilante move, which technically should not be condoned, but how do you not applaud a group for doing something that should be immediate anyway?
Of course, if you do find child pornography, the best course of action is to call local authorities and log all information you can about the site (IP address, time of day you came across the site, any email or other item that will lead authorities to the correct location).
A great win for anyone surfing the internet.