User:Homologeo

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Greetings, my fellow Wikipedians!

This is just a starting point for my User Page.

Please leave suggestions and ideas on my Talk Page in regards to how I could improve my editing skills, how to make a good user page, and which articles could use a fresh pair of eyes.

Can't wait to get more involved in the workings of this wondrous world of Wikipedia, ~ Homologeo 03:58, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

Order of Events?

This is from the Anti-pedophile activism page:

The website contributed to the arrest of James P. Finn III of Michigan in late July of the same year. After their first featured "Wikisposure Project" "article of the month" inspired a mailing of fliers throughout Finn's community, reports say that a family member of Finn's then made allegations of illegal online activities. Finn was found with 600 images and 30 videos of children, of which three have lead to charges of child pornography.[13] He faces up to 20 years in jail. [14] In 1998, James Finn III ("Jimf3") was the webmaster of one of the oldest pedophile communities online, BoyChat.[15] He stepped down from this position in January of 1999.[16]

Finn has disputed the idea that BoyChat and other pedophile resources were breeding grounds for child pornography to the media on several occasions. "I have been active on BoyChat for over two years and I've been the webmaster for about 18 months and I've never known such activities to go on," he says. "First, BoyChat strictly enforces rules against such picture trading and against meeting boys. Not only do I and other administrators watch out for this, a very large cadre of regular posters are careful to warn newcomers about the realities of the board".[17]

I am confused as to the order of events. Did Finn first say, "First, BoyChat strictly enforces rules against such picture trading and against meeting boys. Not only do I and other administrators watch out for this, a very large cadre of regular posters are careful to warn newcomers about the realities of the board" and the was arrested. Or was this statement made after his arrest? Jmm6f488 08:06, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

This is a pretty interesting case, I admit I'm also interested in the order of events. Since other details related to the case don't seem to have been made public as of yet (if they would ever) such as Finn's admitting to or denying downloading the child pornography found on his computer, I'm more prone to believe this is a statement he made on the BoyChat forum the case describes his having posted to. Possibly asking contributors to that forum who would have a greater interest in the case than us (and be more familiar with searching its archives) could turn up whether or not he said something along those lines there. Even if the statement is quoted from him in custody, it sounds like the sort of thing a controversial forum like that would provide as a standard disclaimer. Tyciol 18:52, 20 August 2007 (UTC)

Boychat has been around for ages, and is a public chat board. In order to remain legal, it enforces a collection of rules, which prohibit using the board for meeting minors, picture trading, graphic depictions of sexual acts, libel, and various other things. So the statement Finn made about Boychat was prior to any of his legal problems, and accurately reflected how the board is run.

PJ then started pressuring BoyChat's ISP's upstream provider, and accusing them publicly of "promoting pedophilia" or whatever. They caved, and threatened to unplug everyone, whereupon a bunch of longstanding Boychat regulars, including Jim, mounted both a fund-raising effort and a search for stable bandwidth. These efforts were successful and Boychat continued to operate.

A person working with PJ then leafleted Jim's neighborhood with fliers calling him a "pedophile activist" and saying he was a danger to children. The local sheriff, rather than investigating this harrassment, decided to investigate Jim instead, stating the opinion that in his professional experience, it was impossible for pedophiles to "resist their urges." He obtained a search warrant, and claims to have raided Jim in the act of downloading the child porn pictures for which he has been charged, which is at the very least a remarkable coincidence rarely seen in law enforcement. The sheriff also characterized a bunch of other stuff on Jim's computer as featuring child-exploitative situations, but since he hasn't been charged for it, it probably wasn't porn. In the past, law enforcement has made such claims about mainstream movies they think appeal to pedophiles, so it's anyone's guess what the other material contained.

I haven't seen anything in the news about the case for weeks, and the last thing I read was Jim's lawyer stating that Jim was innocent of the charges, and that it was their intention to try the case in court, and not in the media.

So that's the sequence of events, based on the news stories I've read, and occasional peeks at stuff posted on PJ and BC. Some have speculated that PJ managed to con Jim into downloading something timed to exactly coincide with the execution of the search warrant. But there's no independent confirmation whether or not that happened. So I guess we'll all just have to wait and see what happens at the trial. Hermitian 03:42, 8 September 2007 (UTC)