Chris Wittwer

Chris Wittwer has gotten some press for posting names, photos, and addresses of registered sex offenders in the UK on his website.  He's named his group "Children Have Rights in Society."  The first letters of this spell out "C.H.R.I.S."  As in his name.  Of course, one problem with this is that pedophiles sometimes like to talk about "children's rights" too.  As in claiming that children should have the "right" to have sex with adults.  It's surprising that someone who claims to be very knowledgeable about online predators would not have known that.

He's had some legal issues related to anger management problems at football games and other locations.  It's unclear whether he will face charges related to posting prohibited information about a notorious juvenile offender's alleged new identity on his website.  Perhaps it's not too surprising that there's a large "Make a Donation" button that appears at the top of every page on his site, including that one.  There are also frequent requests for funds on the C.H.R.I.S. Facebook page.  Although the site has a plethora of links, there's no information about how much money the organization raises or where it goes.  C.H.R.I.S. even displays an animated graphic of a burning candle to honor children who have died of abuse.  How could one be so cynical and unmoved as to ask questions about the lack of financial transparency?  That would be almost as crass as asking about the origin of the fire that burned down the pub he used to run.

Mr. Wittwer also claims that he's been "attacked three times near his home" by sex offenders he's put on his site.  Child molesters are often wimps that avoid confrontation with adults, so it's rather amazing that there would have been three attacks.

Chris Wittwer actually has been involved in a fair amount of online conflict.  But is it really just a matter of him being targeted by online predators?  Based on screenshots someone sent me, it doesn't look like it.  He's essentially encouraging members of his group to mass-report another Facebook group called "Sexual abuse must stop."  Is this group preying on children or even violating Facebook's policies?  Not that I could see.  But it did contain some people that Chris didn't like.  Presumably, that was enough.

Ars Technica

Facebook shut down Ars Technica's page, accusing them of copyright infringement.  Given that Ars Technica was apparently just posting their own material to their page, it's not entirely clear where the alleged infringement would have occurred.  Facebook hasn't given them any hints either.  The story is up at  http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2011/04/facebook-shoots-first-ignores-questions-later-account-lock-out-attack-works.ars

Update (6:34 PM CST):  The Ars Technica page was restored.  Facebook is apparently working on an official statement.

I Tawt I Taw a Pedophile

We've seen "Love Little" repeatedly.  He's not too subtle about his interests.

And yet another pedo looking for groups.

Pati and Rafa

I'd guess that "Pati Nova" and "Rafi Massa" would be Marcos Teia.  Again.

Carolina

Carolina Smith claims to be a middle school girl.  Of course, most middle school girls wouldn't have child pornography keywords as their interests.

So we can't exactly get surprised that "she" is looking to trade.

TSA Screener Arrested

Via Philly.com, a TSA screener at the Philadelphia International Airport has been charged in distributing child pornography.  This coincides with recent controversy about TSA screening procedures, particularly those involving children.

A passenger screener at Philadelphia International Airport is facing charges that he distributed more than 100 images of child pornography via Facebook, records show.

Federal agents also allege that Transportation Safety Administration Officer Thomas Gordon Jr. of Philadelphia, who routinely searched airline passengers, uploaded explicit pictures of young girls to an Internet site on which he also posted a photograph of himself in his TSA uniform.

We were quite familiar with his Facebook accounts.  He showed up as "Tom Gibbons", "Tom Gibson", and "Mark Rogers."  Below is a a screenshot from the Mark Rogers profile.

His wall was not publicly viewable, but sources said that was even grosser.  We were told that he'd expressed interest in sexually abusing young girls as well as looking at their photos.

The complaint describes some of the images that he uploaded to Photobucket.  One titled "Hehehehehehe.jpg" depicted "a naked prepubescent girl lying on her back with her legs spread apart and her genitalia exposed.  An adult's hand is seen inserting a pink sexual object into the child's genitalia.  The child is holding a pink ball in her mouth that appears to be attached to a strap around the child's face."

According to the indictment, Gordon used at least six different Facebook accounts to post over 100 sexually explicit images of minors.  He also allegedly possessed more than 600 child pornography files, including videos and images.   He was a member of at least one closed group called "PTHC Lovers" on Facebook.  Below is a partial screenshot of the member list.

Since he'd listed Raleigh as his location on his Facebook profiles, we contacted the North Carolina ICAC about him.  Although it turned out that he was actually from Pennsylvania, they were helpful and responsive.  We thank everyone involved in apprehending him.  However, the idea that someone like this was in a position to conduct intensive pat-down searches of children at airports is extremely disturbing.

Good Friday

Early this morning, someone sent me a link to a publicly viewable photo album that somebody had posted to Facebook.  I wearily clicked on it and instantly wished I hadn't.  There were a number of young boys, some engaged in various sex acts with adult men.  All I could do was go to Cybertipline, fill out the report form, and clear my browser cache to make sure that the images were deleted.  Facebook will almost certainly shut down the account and file their own reports with law enforcement if the person who posted them appears to live in a country that will do something about it.  But there will always be more online predators.

Ironically, today is Good Friday, a Christian religious holiday commemorating Jesus's crucifixion and death.  Crucifixion was a horrible way to die, and I always wondered what kind of people would want to watch it.  There may be certain parallels between Jesus, who was publicly tortured and humiliated, and the victims of child pornography.  In Matthew 25, Jesus makes the point that whatever is done to the least of God's people is done to God.  Surely this would apply to the children in the photos and videos, whose abuse and humiliation are freely circulated online.