About a year ago I found a very intriguing article/document concerning the high profile child *advertiser censored* busts. I can't find it now. IIRC, it was on some unlikely site like Focus on the Family. But in going to Wiki today, I see some of the information repeated. I'm simply left numb by the numbers. I don't want to imbed but all these quotes are from the Wiki.
From the article titled "Operation Ore":
"Operation Ore was a British police operation that commenced in 1999 following information received from US law enforcement, which was intended to prosecute thousands of users of a website reportedly featuring child *advertiser censored*. In the United Kingdom, it led to 7,250 suspects identified, 4,283 homes searched, 3,744 arrests, 1,848 charged, 1,451 convictions, 493 cautioned and 140 children removed from suspected dangerous situations and an estimated 39 suicides. While Operation Ore did identify and prosecute a number of sex offenders, the validity of the police procedures was later questioned, as errors in the investigations were claimed by some to have resulted in a large number of false arrests."
and
"Operation Ore followed the similar crackdown in the United States, called Operation Avalanche, though in the US only 100 people were charged from the 35,000 US access records available."
From the article on "Operation Cathedral":
"Operation Cathedral was a police operation that broke up an international child *advertiser censored* ring called The Wonderland Club operating over the Internet. It was led by the British National Crime Squad in cooperation with 13 other police forces around the globe,[1] who arrested 107 suspects across 12 countries on September 1, 1998. Seven UK-based men were convicted for their part in the ring in 2001. One reason for the high profile of the operation was the unusually high number of images involved possessed and produced and distributed by Wonderland Club: 750,000 images with 1,200 unique identifiable faces. Despite substantial work by many of the agencies involved only a very small number of those appearing in the images have been identified...."
and
"...
Because of the publicity the operation received, full names and addresses were almost always divulged to the media thus exposing direct relatives (wives and children) to potential danger from vigilante types among the general public." [Maybe this is why we can't find all the info in one place]
and from this site:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2000/oct/01/ameliagentleman.philipwillan
British link to 'snuff' videos
October 1, 2000
"Britain is a key link in the biggest ever international investigation into the production and supply of paedophile 'snuff' movies - in which children are murdered on film - an Observer investigation can reveal.
The key suspect in the inquiry, a Russian who was arrested last week in Moscow for distribution of thousands of sadistic child *advertiser censored* videos and pictures, was traced following the seizure of his products from British paedophiles. Dmitri Vladimirovich Kuznetsov, a 30-year-old former car mechanic in Moscow, was identified after British Customs and police traced the origin of violent child *advertiser censored* videos found in the UK back to Russia.
Last week Italian police seized 3,000 of Kuznetsov's videos on their way to clients in Italy, sparking an international hunt for paedophiles who have bought his products. The Italian investigators say the material includes footage of children dying during abuse...."
and from this site:
http://vigilantantis.wordpress.com/...-child-*advertiser censored*-rings-worldwide/
Operation Joint Hammer Busts Child *advertiser censored* Rings Worldwide
"About 170 people, including more than 60 Americans, have been arrested in the breakup of seven major child *advertiser censored* rings worldwide. The U.S. law enforcement agency said Operation Joint Hammer, which started with a tip from Australian authorities in 2006, is already one of the largest child *advertiser censored* probes on record and it isn’t over yet, the agency said on its Web site. The FBI said along with the arrests, authorities rescued 14 girls, some as young as 3, who had been sexually abused by pornographers...."
and
"...A list of 50,000 e-mails from 28 countries, including 11,000 from the United States, was seized from the video producer and that led to the start of Operation Joint Hammer, the FBI said......We’re still working our way through all the cases, said the unnamed FBI agent in charge of the investigation...."
OK, my point. This is just a snippet of the info out their concerning headline grabbing announcements of yet another "massive internet child *advertiser censored* bust". I'm ecstatic when I see them. But look at the sheer enormity of the numbers. Thousands upon thousands of names and customers. Then we hear of 30 or 60 or 72 tried and convicted. What happens to the others? Released on a technicality? Released due to the huge amount of work involved in prosecution? Are they still being watched? We are talking about tens of thousands of people addicted to the vile and violent sexual abuse of children...often as young as newborns.
The other concern I have is that I've got unlimited time and the motivation to watch these cases and yet I get lost. There seems to be a huge amount of disconnect. Is this purposeful or simply a result of the cases being so large? Of course we all want the bad guys caught but don't we want our communities to be aware of the evil that walked their streets, taught in their schools, treated their children in medical offices? We do hear about extremely high profile cases such as Dr. Earl Bradley and Dr. Emilio Luna but unless you're paying close attention, as WSers do, or unless you happen to be the parent of a victim, I seriously doubt you're going to know the name.
This conundrum is exactly what brought me to WS a few years ago. I wanted to start threads on every single "helping professional" I could find so that they'd all be in one place and where the articles wouldn't disappear. I've been floored by the number of news articles that simply vanish (with extremely important info) after a few months. If I or someone else vigilant has cut and pasted some of the details to a thread here, the info is not lost. The victims of child *advertiser censored* are children. Someday, they will be researching their abuses. I want that information available to them. It's their history.