info
Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Repost from ASSLR - What happened to xefig.com and Jaxah
1,404 views
Skip to first unread message
Nomen Nescio
Jan 2, 2024, 8:29:26 PMJan 2
to
What happened to x*ef*ig.com and J*ax*ah
Post by YLeeCoyote » Thu Dec 21, 2023 9:19 pm
J*ax*ah using an alias posted the following unhappy message
J*ax*ah wrote:
Police raid, server seized and charged with having cp. Not coming back.
As x*ef*ig.com is gone and the message was from the same IP that Jaxah used I accept that it is real. I assume that it was something about the ASSTR clone he was hosting or something else on his server.
I will do what I can to remove his posts from here [ASSLR] as requested.
I will add that we are all sorry for what happened and wish things work out well for him.
Post by YLeeCoyote » Thu Dec 21, 2023 9:19 pm
J*ax*ah using an alias posted the following unhappy message
J*ax*ah wrote:
Police raid, server seized and charged with having cp. Not coming back.
As x*ef*ig.com is gone and the message was from the same IP that Jaxah used I accept that it is real. I assume that it was something about the ASSTR clone he was hosting or something else on his server.
I will do what I can to remove his posts from here [ASSLR] as requested.
I will add that we are all sorry for what happened and wish things work out well for him.
Mecca B
Jan 7, 2024, 12:44:01 AMJan 7
to
Our evil government.
Santayana
Jan 7, 2024, 1:34:41 AMJan 7
to
On Sat, 6 Jan 2024 21:43:58 -0800 (PST), Mecca B <meccat...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Our evil government.
No, unless you are a Briton; he was apparently arrested by the UK authorities.
I'll be discussing this at length over the next day or two.
wrote:
No, unless you are a Briton; he was apparently arrested by the UK authorities.
I'll be discussing this at length over the next day or two.
George Forman
Jan 7, 2024, 6:54:00 PMJan 7
to
On Sunday, January 7, 2024 at 12:34:41 AM UTC-6, Santayana wrote:
> On Sat, 6 Jan 2024 21:43:58 -0800 (PST), Mecca B <meccat...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > On Tuesday 2 January 2024 at 17:29:26 UTC-8, Nomen Nescio wrote:
> >> What happened to x*ef*ig.com and J*ax*ah
To find original:
> On Sat, 6 Jan 2024 21:43:58 -0800 (PST), Mecca B <meccat...@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > On Tuesday 2 January 2024 at 17:29:26 UTC-8, Nomen Nescio wrote:
> >> What happened to x*ef*ig.com and J*ax*ah
https://forum.asslr.org
Click 'general' then look for topic "xefig.com/" and go to the last few pages.
Santayana
Jan 8, 2024, 1:23:04 AMJan 8
to
On Wed, 3 Jan 2024 02:29:16 +0100 (CET), Nomen Nescio <nob...@dizum.com>
fact that the arrest/seizure happened at all, but rather it was the timing--
frankly, I did *NOT* expect any type of enforcement action to be undertaken
so quickly. That said, on reflection, I have an idea as to what may have
precipitated this move on the part of the UK authorities.
My intent in writing this post is to examine Jaxah's activities with a
somewhat critical eye, in order to illustrate where I believe he went wrong
-- the idea being not to castigate him for making mistakes, but to educate
others so that they *think* before they potentially undertake legally risky
activity without taking appropriate precautions beforehand to avoid being
traced, identified, and potentially prosecuted.
> I assume that it was something about the ASSTR clone he was hosting or
> something else on his server.
I can only /hope/ that Jaxah did not have CP on his server. That said, with
all due respect to YLeeCoyote, I think that we have to consider that it may
be the existence of the text stories themselves that was the sole (or at
least the primary) reason for the seizure/arrest, as opposed to any other
factor.
Unfortunately, over time, I have observed a culture of denial here in ASSD:
I have seen people make remarks about Frank McCoy, to the effect that he was
only gone after/prosecuted because he had CP on his machine.
Similarly, I have seen statements to the effect that Thomas "Mr. Double"
Arthur was only pursued because he was selling contraband.
Likewise, Ron Kuhlmeyer's previous offense record has also been dredged-up
as a potential justification for /his/ arrest and prosecution.
Remember, all American prosecutions and convictions to date: Fletcher, McCoy,
Arthur and Kuhlmeyer were prosecuted under 18 USC 1462, for importation
and/or transportation of obscene materials, and not primarily for other
offenses.
The general sentiment here in ASSD appears to be the following:
They won't come after me because...
* I don't abuse kids;
* I don't download or view kiddy porn;
* I don't sell anything;
* I don't have a previous record as a sex offender.
I would argue that breaking the law alone (e.g. 18 USC 1462 in the United
States, or its' equivalent in other jurisdictions) is enough to put you at
significant risk.
Some 20 years ago, the risk was very much less apparent -- it was not at all
clear when Karen Fletcher was indicted (circa 2006) that her body of work
was not protected by the First Amendment.
However, with the successful prosecutions of Fletcher, McCoy, Arthur and
Kuhlmeyer, the matter is now not only settled, but carved in stone, even --
particularly in view of the fact that both McCoy and Arthur not only had
their convictions upheld on appeal, but also both their applications to the
United States Supreme Court for judicial review were denied, meaning that
the lower court rulings stand, and constitute legal precedent going forward.
Where Jaxah Went Wrong
======================
There are two mandatory rules frequently mentioned to new (or aspiring) drug
dealers (or hackers, or anyone for that matter) dealing in contraband:
1. Commit only one crime at a time;
2. Don't shit where you eat.
A third rule applicable to digital contraband is:
3. Don't use file-sharing programs/apps (e.g. BitTorrent) to distribute
contraband. The police have a long history of using this type of software
to bust people.
I can practically hear the howls of outrage: "We're not criminals! It's just
stories... it's just text! What about the First Amendment?!"
As far as His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom is concerned (and
also Canada, Australia and New Zealand) those persons who traffick in
stories involving underage characters /are/ criminals. The same is true of
the United States. The law has been settled for decades, and not just in the
United States. The Courts in our various nations pretty-much concur in this
regard.
In the United States obscene material is *NOT* eligible for First Amendment
protections. Frank McCoy tried to challenge that law, and lost, /badly/ --
he ended up paying for it with his life.
You may not agree that text should be considered 'obscene' -- I agree. You
may think that the law is an ass -- also agreed. But whether we like it or
not, the law isn't going to change, let alone anytime soon. Get over it.
You don't have to like it (and, for the record, I *don't*) but you *DO* have
to accept it, because to do otherwise is to deny reality. Should you traffick
in underage stories, and they catch you, you're rather likely to wind-up in
a prison cell.
Now, if Jaxah did, in fact, collect CP, he broke the first rule; in any case,
he definitely broke the second and third rules by running a server out of
his home. Even if he was using a secure email account, and posting safely,
using BitTorrent and running a server from home might, in and of itself,
have been enough to lead to his identification and arrest.
Now, to be entirely fair, Jaxah may not have collected 'child pornography'
as most people in here would understand it, i.e. images of real children
being abused. The United Kingdom classes some images (pseudo photographs) as
child pornography -- like Canada, which classifies /any/ sexually explicit
image of a person under the age of 18 years (even drawn from the imagination)
as 'child pornography'. Accordingly, the child pornography charges /may/
stem from illustrations contained in the ASSTR archive.
Jaxah's primary mistake (which I believe helped lead to his identification)
was that he did not compartmentalize his activities -- rather, he used the
same Gmail address/handle for virtually all of his online activity. (I found
evidence of social media accounts using the same information.)
/Strict/ compartmentalization (and following the above rules) would have
gone a *long* way to help prevent his identification/arrest and server
seizure.
Another mistake was a lack of situational awareness -- he very likely wasn't
aware of some of the legal changes that have taken place in the last few
years. I would offer-up two examples: the UK Online Safety Act, and the U.S.
Cloud Act.
* Passage of the UK Online Safety Act -
This Act, which received Royal Assent in October 2023 (and thereby became
law), has been heavily criticized because Section 122 of the Online Safety
Act provides Ofcom (the UK's FCC equivalent) with the power to compel any
tech firm to scan its content for child sexual abuse or terrorism content,
or else face fines of up to £18 million or 10% of annual turnover.
Content to be scanned includes 'child grooming' texts/emails/messages. It is
a virtual certainty that exchanges of many of the text stories with underage
content would fall afoul of such automated mechanisms looking for 'child
grooming'.
I consider it rather unlikely that automatic scanning played a role in this
instant case, but this is something to be kept in mind for the future. To be
frank, there was no need for this to be used, as Jaxah laid all his cards on
the table face-up, in full public view, right here in this very newsgroup.
* UK entered into a Cloud Act Agreement with the United States -
This, IMO, was a game-changer. For those of you not familiar with the Cloud
Act, let me explain: the Cloud (The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data)
Act allows the US government to compel an American company to hand over data
pursuant to a warrant or subpoena, without any regard to where the data is
physically stored (i.e. overseas).
Conversely, the Cloud Act allows foreign police to demand data directly from
American companies/service providers without recourse to the American courts.
So, for example, the British police could approach Google with only a local
UK warrant, and on the strength of that warrant, Google is legally required
to hand-over the data requested by the foreign authorities. Google (or any
other provider) is actually barred from attempting to have this reviewed in
the American courts.
The foreign authorities can now have the data they requested in days, as
opposed to months/years, as was typically the case under the Mutual Legal
Assistance Treaty (MLAT) process. (A 2013 study showed that the average
length of time to process an MLAT request was 10 months, with some cases
taking much longer.)
IMO, what led to the timing of this raid/seizure/arrest were the comments
that Jaxah made in this NG about moving the server to a foreign jurisdiction,
out of reach of the American (or other) authorities.
Another part of situational awareness is understanding your environment, i.e.
Usenet. Usenet was (and still is, to some degree) a distributed anarchy --
there are still many servers worldwide (albeit not thousands like there used
to be) but it is still very hard to censor. A corollary to this is that once
something is posted to Usenet, it is there more or less FOREVER. As evidence
of this, consider the following:
Frank McCoy died of Covid-19 (contracted in prison) on April, 2nd, 2020. It
is almost four full years since his death, yet Frank's works are apparently
still to be found on Usenet (among other places), if one knows where to
look.
What I am getting at, is be careful of what you post to Usenet, when using a
traceable account -- once something is posted, it is *very* difficult to get
rid of it. (The only way to accomplish that is via cancel messages, and not
every server accepts article cancellation messages. In any case, using cancel
messages is very nearly a lost art.)
As part of being careful, DO NOT announce your plans to break the law, and
DO NOT post evidence of having done so, from a traceable account.
Because he broke these rules, Jaxah may well find himself in the exceedingly
uncomfortable position of having his Usenet postings read into the court
record as evidence against him.
What Can Be Done? - Recommendations
====================================
As much as I hate admitting it, for Jaxah, there is simply nothing to be
done.
First off, if you have been using a traceable account (e.g. Gmail, or other
clearnet email) and/or Google Groups, you should abandon these and start over
with a brand-new identity. The reason for doing this is because security is
NOT retroactive.
Many of you will doubtless be reluctant to do so, but because Google Groups
is soon to abandon support for Usenet, you will have to do this anyway, so
you might as well get on with it now, as opposed to waiting until the last
minute.
FWIW, switching from a Gmail account to e.g. a nymserver account is NOT
enough, if you are using the same identity. The links between identities
have to be *completely* *severed* and the way to do that is to use a brand-
new identity.
I know it sucks to lose all that reputation capital, but it cannot be helped.
> I will do what I can to remove his posts from here [ASSLR] as requested.
Once you make a post, even to a Forum such as ASSLR, you *must* consider it
scraped and/or saved whether by LE or others. Having it deleted after the
fact isn't necessarily going to save you, if you make a mistake.
> I will add that we are all sorry for what happened and wish things work
> out well for him.
I am sorry that happened to him as well. What is particularly distressing is
that this almost certainly could have been prevented with the use of proper
tradecraft. The sole bright spot in this entire debacle is that /should/
Jaxah be convicted and imprisoned, prison sentences in Britain are nowhere
near as long as they tend to be in the United States.
Tradecraft
==========
Use Tor, and Tails, if you can.
Use a tor-based email service: one such is Morke:
http://6n5nbusxgyw46juqo3nt5v4zuivdbc7mzm74wlhg7arggetaui4yp4id.onion/src/register.php
Posts can be sent via email to ASSD using the dizum mail2news gateway:
Send an email addressed as follows:
To: mail2new...@dizum.com
Subject: Your chosen subject line goes here
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.d
References: your references line goes here
[blank line]
Message body goes here.
If you're really serious about security, you'll use a nymserver -- if anyone
wants details, ask.
Usenet can be read from any number of providers, including free ones; some
of those have already been mentioned here in ASSD.
Some providers allow for purchase of blocks of data, e.g. 100GB for something
on the order of $20 or thereabouts. You can pay with cryptocurrency (use
Monero, if possible), and stay anonymous.
If you only read text groups, 100GB is more than enough for a decade of use.
Remember, you only use your news provider to READ news -- all your posting
should be through a mail2news gateway using a Tor-based (or nymserver) email
address.
> Post by YLeeCoyote » Thu Dec 21, 2023 9:19 pm J*ax*ah using an alias
> posted the following unhappy message
>
> J*ax*ah wrote:
> Police raid, server seized and charged with having cp. Not coming
> back.
>
> As x*ef*ig.com is gone and the message was from the same IP that Jaxah
> used I accept that it is real.
I was rather surprised when I read the above. What surprised me was not the
> posted the following unhappy message
>
> J*ax*ah wrote:
> Police raid, server seized and charged with having cp. Not coming
> back.
>
> As x*ef*ig.com is gone and the message was from the same IP that Jaxah
> used I accept that it is real.
fact that the arrest/seizure happened at all, but rather it was the timing--
frankly, I did *NOT* expect any type of enforcement action to be undertaken
so quickly. That said, on reflection, I have an idea as to what may have
precipitated this move on the part of the UK authorities.
My intent in writing this post is to examine Jaxah's activities with a
somewhat critical eye, in order to illustrate where I believe he went wrong
-- the idea being not to castigate him for making mistakes, but to educate
others so that they *think* before they potentially undertake legally risky
activity without taking appropriate precautions beforehand to avoid being
traced, identified, and potentially prosecuted.
> I assume that it was something about the ASSTR clone he was hosting or
> something else on his server.
all due respect to YLeeCoyote, I think that we have to consider that it may
be the existence of the text stories themselves that was the sole (or at
least the primary) reason for the seizure/arrest, as opposed to any other
factor.
Unfortunately, over time, I have observed a culture of denial here in ASSD:
I have seen people make remarks about Frank McCoy, to the effect that he was
only gone after/prosecuted because he had CP on his machine.
Similarly, I have seen statements to the effect that Thomas "Mr. Double"
Arthur was only pursued because he was selling contraband.
Likewise, Ron Kuhlmeyer's previous offense record has also been dredged-up
as a potential justification for /his/ arrest and prosecution.
Remember, all American prosecutions and convictions to date: Fletcher, McCoy,
Arthur and Kuhlmeyer were prosecuted under 18 USC 1462, for importation
and/or transportation of obscene materials, and not primarily for other
offenses.
The general sentiment here in ASSD appears to be the following:
They won't come after me because...
* I don't abuse kids;
* I don't download or view kiddy porn;
* I don't sell anything;
* I don't have a previous record as a sex offender.
I would argue that breaking the law alone (e.g. 18 USC 1462 in the United
States, or its' equivalent in other jurisdictions) is enough to put you at
significant risk.
Some 20 years ago, the risk was very much less apparent -- it was not at all
clear when Karen Fletcher was indicted (circa 2006) that her body of work
was not protected by the First Amendment.
However, with the successful prosecutions of Fletcher, McCoy, Arthur and
Kuhlmeyer, the matter is now not only settled, but carved in stone, even --
particularly in view of the fact that both McCoy and Arthur not only had
their convictions upheld on appeal, but also both their applications to the
United States Supreme Court for judicial review were denied, meaning that
the lower court rulings stand, and constitute legal precedent going forward.
Where Jaxah Went Wrong
======================
There are two mandatory rules frequently mentioned to new (or aspiring) drug
dealers (or hackers, or anyone for that matter) dealing in contraband:
1. Commit only one crime at a time;
2. Don't shit where you eat.
A third rule applicable to digital contraband is:
3. Don't use file-sharing programs/apps (e.g. BitTorrent) to distribute
contraband. The police have a long history of using this type of software
to bust people.
I can practically hear the howls of outrage: "We're not criminals! It's just
stories... it's just text! What about the First Amendment?!"
As far as His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom is concerned (and
also Canada, Australia and New Zealand) those persons who traffick in
stories involving underage characters /are/ criminals. The same is true of
the United States. The law has been settled for decades, and not just in the
United States. The Courts in our various nations pretty-much concur in this
regard.
In the United States obscene material is *NOT* eligible for First Amendment
protections. Frank McCoy tried to challenge that law, and lost, /badly/ --
he ended up paying for it with his life.
You may not agree that text should be considered 'obscene' -- I agree. You
may think that the law is an ass -- also agreed. But whether we like it or
not, the law isn't going to change, let alone anytime soon. Get over it.
You don't have to like it (and, for the record, I *don't*) but you *DO* have
to accept it, because to do otherwise is to deny reality. Should you traffick
in underage stories, and they catch you, you're rather likely to wind-up in
a prison cell.
Now, if Jaxah did, in fact, collect CP, he broke the first rule; in any case,
he definitely broke the second and third rules by running a server out of
his home. Even if he was using a secure email account, and posting safely,
using BitTorrent and running a server from home might, in and of itself,
have been enough to lead to his identification and arrest.
Now, to be entirely fair, Jaxah may not have collected 'child pornography'
as most people in here would understand it, i.e. images of real children
being abused. The United Kingdom classes some images (pseudo photographs) as
child pornography -- like Canada, which classifies /any/ sexually explicit
image of a person under the age of 18 years (even drawn from the imagination)
as 'child pornography'. Accordingly, the child pornography charges /may/
stem from illustrations contained in the ASSTR archive.
Jaxah's primary mistake (which I believe helped lead to his identification)
was that he did not compartmentalize his activities -- rather, he used the
same Gmail address/handle for virtually all of his online activity. (I found
evidence of social media accounts using the same information.)
/Strict/ compartmentalization (and following the above rules) would have
gone a *long* way to help prevent his identification/arrest and server
seizure.
Another mistake was a lack of situational awareness -- he very likely wasn't
aware of some of the legal changes that have taken place in the last few
years. I would offer-up two examples: the UK Online Safety Act, and the U.S.
Cloud Act.
* Passage of the UK Online Safety Act -
This Act, which received Royal Assent in October 2023 (and thereby became
law), has been heavily criticized because Section 122 of the Online Safety
Act provides Ofcom (the UK's FCC equivalent) with the power to compel any
tech firm to scan its content for child sexual abuse or terrorism content,
or else face fines of up to £18 million or 10% of annual turnover.
Content to be scanned includes 'child grooming' texts/emails/messages. It is
a virtual certainty that exchanges of many of the text stories with underage
content would fall afoul of such automated mechanisms looking for 'child
grooming'.
I consider it rather unlikely that automatic scanning played a role in this
instant case, but this is something to be kept in mind for the future. To be
frank, there was no need for this to be used, as Jaxah laid all his cards on
the table face-up, in full public view, right here in this very newsgroup.
* UK entered into a Cloud Act Agreement with the United States -
This, IMO, was a game-changer. For those of you not familiar with the Cloud
Act, let me explain: the Cloud (The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data)
Act allows the US government to compel an American company to hand over data
pursuant to a warrant or subpoena, without any regard to where the data is
physically stored (i.e. overseas).
Conversely, the Cloud Act allows foreign police to demand data directly from
American companies/service providers without recourse to the American courts.
So, for example, the British police could approach Google with only a local
UK warrant, and on the strength of that warrant, Google is legally required
to hand-over the data requested by the foreign authorities. Google (or any
other provider) is actually barred from attempting to have this reviewed in
the American courts.
The foreign authorities can now have the data they requested in days, as
opposed to months/years, as was typically the case under the Mutual Legal
Assistance Treaty (MLAT) process. (A 2013 study showed that the average
length of time to process an MLAT request was 10 months, with some cases
taking much longer.)
IMO, what led to the timing of this raid/seizure/arrest were the comments
that Jaxah made in this NG about moving the server to a foreign jurisdiction,
out of reach of the American (or other) authorities.
Another part of situational awareness is understanding your environment, i.e.
Usenet. Usenet was (and still is, to some degree) a distributed anarchy --
there are still many servers worldwide (albeit not thousands like there used
to be) but it is still very hard to censor. A corollary to this is that once
something is posted to Usenet, it is there more or less FOREVER. As evidence
of this, consider the following:
Frank McCoy died of Covid-19 (contracted in prison) on April, 2nd, 2020. It
is almost four full years since his death, yet Frank's works are apparently
still to be found on Usenet (among other places), if one knows where to
look.
What I am getting at, is be careful of what you post to Usenet, when using a
traceable account -- once something is posted, it is *very* difficult to get
rid of it. (The only way to accomplish that is via cancel messages, and not
every server accepts article cancellation messages. In any case, using cancel
messages is very nearly a lost art.)
As part of being careful, DO NOT announce your plans to break the law, and
DO NOT post evidence of having done so, from a traceable account.
Because he broke these rules, Jaxah may well find himself in the exceedingly
uncomfortable position of having his Usenet postings read into the court
record as evidence against him.
What Can Be Done? - Recommendations
====================================
As much as I hate admitting it, for Jaxah, there is simply nothing to be
done.
First off, if you have been using a traceable account (e.g. Gmail, or other
clearnet email) and/or Google Groups, you should abandon these and start over
with a brand-new identity. The reason for doing this is because security is
NOT retroactive.
Many of you will doubtless be reluctant to do so, but because Google Groups
is soon to abandon support for Usenet, you will have to do this anyway, so
you might as well get on with it now, as opposed to waiting until the last
minute.
FWIW, switching from a Gmail account to e.g. a nymserver account is NOT
enough, if you are using the same identity. The links between identities
have to be *completely* *severed* and the way to do that is to use a brand-
new identity.
I know it sucks to lose all that reputation capital, but it cannot be helped.
> I will do what I can to remove his posts from here [ASSLR] as requested.
scraped and/or saved whether by LE or others. Having it deleted after the
fact isn't necessarily going to save you, if you make a mistake.
> I will add that we are all sorry for what happened and wish things work
> out well for him.
that this almost certainly could have been prevented with the use of proper
tradecraft. The sole bright spot in this entire debacle is that /should/
Jaxah be convicted and imprisoned, prison sentences in Britain are nowhere
near as long as they tend to be in the United States.
Tradecraft
==========
Use Tor, and Tails, if you can.
Use a tor-based email service: one such is Morke:
http://6n5nbusxgyw46juqo3nt5v4zuivdbc7mzm74wlhg7arggetaui4yp4id.onion/src/register.php
Posts can be sent via email to ASSD using the dizum mail2news gateway:
Send an email addressed as follows:
To: mail2new...@dizum.com
Subject: Your chosen subject line goes here
Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.d
References: your references line goes here
[blank line]
Message body goes here.
If you're really serious about security, you'll use a nymserver -- if anyone
wants details, ask.
Usenet can be read from any number of providers, including free ones; some
of those have already been mentioned here in ASSD.
Some providers allow for purchase of blocks of data, e.g. 100GB for something
on the order of $20 or thereabouts. You can pay with cryptocurrency (use
Monero, if possible), and stay anonymous.
If you only read text groups, 100GB is more than enough for a decade of use.
Remember, you only use your news provider to READ news -- all your posting
should be through a mail2news gateway using a Tor-based (or nymserver) email
address.
Kairu Hakubi
Jan 11, 2024, 3:01:38 AMJan 11
to
You're still wrong. If it happened in courts, the courts are wrong. You can't bust people for writing text, no matter what's in it. More 'obscene' things like that are read in schools and libraries daily. Any judge that prosecutes pure text for obscenity should immediately be disbarred, and you should be doing something about that if you're so sure this happened.
Besides, much shadier things go on on the internet every day, it is not that difficult to just host some text.
Besides, much shadier things go on on the internet every day, it is not that difficult to just host some text.
Santayana
Jan 11, 2024, 12:50:24 PMJan 11
to
On Thu, 11 Jan 2024 00:01:33 -0800 (PST), Kairu Hakubi <sixsided...@gmail.com> said:
> You're still wrong.
It's a free country, you can believe whatever you want, until your beliefs
run you headlong smack into reality. Jaxah, I'm afraid, has had to learn
this lesson the hard way.
> If it happened in courts, the courts are wrong.
You're perfectly entitled to believe that the law is wrong, and the courts
are wrong. FWIW, I happen to agree with you -- text should NOT be considered
as obscene, or worse yet, /child/ /pornography/, like it is where I live.
If I /am/ wrong, and people follow my advice about protecting themselves,
then there is no real harm done. (At worst, a tiny bit of time and effort
wasted, perhaps.) The odds of getting busted are low, but the odds can be
lowered further still, by utilizing a few simple tools and techniques.
If, on the other hand, people follow /your/ advice that precautions are
unneccessary, and take no precautions (like Jaxah) and get busted, I would
argue that they have experienced /significant/ harm.
> You can't bust people for writing text, no matter what's in it.
Wow! I guess Frank McCoy had the wrong approach, then -- all Frank /really/
needed to do was to proclaim to the US Marshals, who came to his home to
arrest him:
"You can't bust me for writing text, no matter what's in it" and they would
immediately have backed-off, apologized, and let him go.
If only he had known... Frank (not to mention Karen Fletcher, Thomas Arthur,
and Ron Kuhlmeyer) could all have saved themselves a shit-ton of grief, if
they had only known of that magical incantation!
> More 'obscene' things like that are read in schools and libraries daily.
If you say so. (I'll take your word for it.)
> Any judge that prosecutes pure text for obscenity should immediately be
> disbarred,
Sure, like that's gonna happen, eh? (It would be nice...)
> and you should be doing something about that if you're so sure this
> happened.
So, you're telling me you don't believe that Fletcher, McCoy, Arthur and
Kuhlmeyer were prosecuted and convicted?
I'm not an American citizen nor resident... what do you expect me to do
about American obscenity laws? (I suppose you don't believe that John Robin
Sharpe was convicted in this country either...)
> Besides, much shadier things go on on the internet every day,
I'll take your word for it.
> it is not that difficult to just host some text.
It would take a little more effort to host it safely. Jaxah is the current
poster-child for this, unfortunately.
> You're still wrong.
It's a free country, you can believe whatever you want, until your beliefs
run you headlong smack into reality. Jaxah, I'm afraid, has had to learn
this lesson the hard way.
> If it happened in courts, the courts are wrong.
are wrong. FWIW, I happen to agree with you -- text should NOT be considered
as obscene, or worse yet, /child/ /pornography/, like it is where I live.
If I /am/ wrong, and people follow my advice about protecting themselves,
then there is no real harm done. (At worst, a tiny bit of time and effort
wasted, perhaps.) The odds of getting busted are low, but the odds can be
lowered further still, by utilizing a few simple tools and techniques.
If, on the other hand, people follow /your/ advice that precautions are
unneccessary, and take no precautions (like Jaxah) and get busted, I would
argue that they have experienced /significant/ harm.
> You can't bust people for writing text, no matter what's in it.
needed to do was to proclaim to the US Marshals, who came to his home to
arrest him:
"You can't bust me for writing text, no matter what's in it" and they would
immediately have backed-off, apologized, and let him go.
If only he had known... Frank (not to mention Karen Fletcher, Thomas Arthur,
and Ron Kuhlmeyer) could all have saved themselves a shit-ton of grief, if
they had only known of that magical incantation!
> More 'obscene' things like that are read in schools and libraries daily.
> Any judge that prosecutes pure text for obscenity should immediately be
> disbarred,
> and you should be doing something about that if you're so sure this
> happened.
Kuhlmeyer were prosecuted and convicted?
I'm not an American citizen nor resident... what do you expect me to do
about American obscenity laws? (I suppose you don't believe that John Robin
Sharpe was convicted in this country either...)
> Besides, much shadier things go on on the internet every day,
> it is not that difficult to just host some text.
poster-child for this, unfortunately.
Tim Merrigan
Jan 11, 2024, 2:58:17 PMJan 11
to
--
Qualified immunity = virtual impunity.
Tim Merrigan
--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
www.avg.com
Santayana
Jan 11, 2024, 8:01:43 PMJan 11
to
On Thu, 11 Jan 2024 11:58:11 -0800, Tim Merrigan <tp...@ca.rr.com> said:
[snip]
> One question, who is Ron Kuhlmeyer? The others I know about.
Hi Tim!
Kuhlmeyer is the latest to be prosecuted/convicted in a string of defendants
dating back to 2006. Here is the October 2023 DOJ press release:
Department of Justice Logo - Office Of Public Affairs
Justice.gov - Office of Public Affairs News Press Releases Man Sentenced For
Running Child Obscenity Website
Press Release
Man Sentenced for Running Child Obscenity Website
Thursday, October 5, 2023
For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs
A California man was sentenced today to 33 years and nine months in prison
for multiple obscenity crimes involving children.
According to the indictment, Ron Kuhlmeyer, 65, of Santa Rosa, operated a
website that globally distributed stories about the rape, murder, and sexual
abuse of prepubescent children. Law enforcement determined that Kuhlmeyer
was running his obscenity website from Belize. Kuhlmeyer wrote many of the
stories himself but also published the works of other offenders, including
stories that had been previously published on Mr. Double, another website
dedicated to publishing writings that detail the sexual abuse of children.
Some of the stories on Kuhlmeyer's website described the rape, torture, and
murder of children, while others were accompanied by lifelike computer-
generated images of prepubescent children being sexually abused.
On June 13, Kuhlmeyer pleaded guilty to five counts of importation or
transportation of obscene matters and one count of distributing obscene
visual representations of the sexual abuse of children. Kuhlmeyer was
previously convicted of Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child in Sonoma County,
California, in 2008 and served six years in state prison.
In June 2021, Thomas Arthur, the owner of Mr. Double, was sentenced to 40
years in prison.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice
Department's Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western
District of Texas, Special Agent in Charge Francisco Burrola of Homeland
Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso, and Assistant Director Luis Quesada
of the FBI's Criminal Investigation Division made the announcement.
HSI and the FBI investigated the case, with assistance from the government
of Belize.
Trial Attorneys Austin M. Berry and Adam Braskich of the Criminal Division's
Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney
Brandi Young for the Western District of Texas prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide
initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse,
launched in May 2006 by the Justice Department. Led by U.S. Attorneys'
Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local
resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit
children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For
more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit
www.justice.gov/psc.
Updated October 5, 2023
Topic
Project Safe Childhood
Components
Criminal Division
Criminal - Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
USAO - Texas, Western
Press Release Number: 23-1109
* * *
Santa Rosa man sentenced in federal court for ‘obscenity crimes' involving
children
Federal officials arrested Ron Kuhlmeyer in Texas in March. He was
previously convicted in Sonoma County in 2008 of child sexual abuse.|
[Photo]
Ron Kirk Kuhlmeyer appears in Sonoma County Superior Court in Santa Rosa,
Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2007. (Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat file)
COLIN ATAGI
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
October 9, 2023
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/santa-rosa-man-sentenced-in-federal-court-for-obscenity-crimes-involving/
A Santa Rosa man has been sentenced to 33 years and nine months in federal
prison for running a website of obscene stories about rape, murder and
sexual abuse of young children.
Ron Kuhlmeyer, 65, ran the website from Belize, according to the U.S.
Department of Justice, which added that the site included stories written
by Kuhlmeyer and other offenders.
Kuhlmeyer ran the website in October and November 2022 and charges were
filed against him in March, according to a complaint filed in federal court.
He was arrested March 9 in Texas following an investigation conducted by
Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI, along with the Belize
government. Officials didn't specify why Kuhlmeyer was in Texas.
Court proceedings were held there and Kuhlmeyer pleaded guilty on June 13 to
five counts of importation or transportation of obscene matters and one
count of distributing obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of
children.
His sentencing took place Oct. 5 in Texas, as well. He appeared in the U.S.
District Court, Western District of Texas Midland-Odessa Division, officials
said.
"Some of the stories on Kuhlmeyer's website described the rape, torture, and
murder of children, while others were accompanied by lifelike computer-
generated images of prepubescent children being sexually abused," federal
officials wrote in a statement.
Kuhlmeyer was arrested locally in October 2007 and charged with more than a
dozen counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child, according to Sonoma
County Superior Court records.
The incidents occurred from July 2004 through September 2007. At the time,
he had been working locally as a radio anchor and news reporter for KZST and
KJZY.
Investigators said in 2007 Kuhlmeyer engaged in sexual activity with a girl
beginning when she was 11 years old.
Kuhlmeyer was 45 at the time.
Detectives said he let the girl use a computer in his bedroom, where he
exposed her to pornography and sexual material before touching her breasts
and thigh area.
Kuhlmeyer pleaded guilty in March 2008 to one count of continuous sexual
abuse of a child. All the other charges he'd faced were dismissed.
He was sentenced to six years in prison in that case. The victim later
criticized Kuhlmeyer in a 2008 interview with The Press Democrat.
Federal officials added, earlier this month, that Kuhlmeyer included stories
on his website that also appeared on another website of similar material
called, Mr. Double.
In June 2021, Mr. Double's 65-year-old administrator, Thomas Arthur of
Terlingua, Texas, was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
He began operating the site in 1996 and charged members for access beginning
in 1998, according to the DOJ.
"Evidence at trial showed that the website was Arthur's sole source of income
for more than 20 years," officials wrote in a news release in June.
"The site was taken offline in November 2019 when the FBI executed a search
warrant at his residence near Terlingua, where Arthur administered the site."
You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin...@pressdemocrat.com.
On Twitter @colin_atagi.
* * *
Ex-radio reporter pleads guilty to molest charge
LORI A. CARTER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
March 18, 2008
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/ex-radio-reporter-pleads-guilty-to-molest-charge/
Press Democrat
[Photo]
Ron Kirk Kuhlmeyer appears in Sonoma County Court on Tuesday, December 17,
2007. (The Press Democrat/ Christopher Chung)
A former Sonoma County radio reporter agreed to admit a felony count of
child molestation Tuesday in exchange for 14 others being dropped.
But the deal could still expose Ron Kirk to as long as 16 years in prison,
Judge Eric Labowitz warned as he accepted Kirk's guilty plea. Kirk, who has
no prior criminal record, could also be sentenced to probation or county
jail time when he is sentenced in May.
In either case, he will be required to register as a sex offender for the
rest of his life.
Kirk, 49, whose full name is Ron Kirk Kuhlmeyer, was a KZST and KSRO news
reporter and anchor from 2000 until his arrest last year.
A girl who was a friend of Kirk's family told detectives that he touched her
inappropriately when she was between 11 and 14 years old.
In court Tuesday as his preliminary hearing was set to begin, Kirk admitted
one felony count that alleged more than three lewd acts with the girl between
July 2004 and August 2006.
'I plead guilty, your honor,' said Kirk in a distinctive deep voice, looking
remarkably thinner and grayer than at the time of his arrest.
Kirk's attorney, Chris Andrian, said his client agreed to plead guilty
because he believes he will be eligible for probation.
A psychiatrist will examine Kirk and issue findings before the May 23
sentencing, at which the young girl may speak about the crimes.
Detectives said it appeared Kirk allowed the girl to use a computer in his
bedroom, where he exposed her to pornography and other sexual material and
later touched her breasts and thigh area.
* * *
[snip]
> One question, who is Ron Kuhlmeyer? The others I know about.
Kuhlmeyer is the latest to be prosecuted/convicted in a string of defendants
dating back to 2006. Here is the October 2023 DOJ press release:
Department of Justice Logo - Office Of Public Affairs
Justice.gov - Office of Public Affairs News Press Releases Man Sentenced For
Running Child Obscenity Website
Press Release
Man Sentenced for Running Child Obscenity Website
Thursday, October 5, 2023
For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs
A California man was sentenced today to 33 years and nine months in prison
for multiple obscenity crimes involving children.
According to the indictment, Ron Kuhlmeyer, 65, of Santa Rosa, operated a
website that globally distributed stories about the rape, murder, and sexual
abuse of prepubescent children. Law enforcement determined that Kuhlmeyer
was running his obscenity website from Belize. Kuhlmeyer wrote many of the
stories himself but also published the works of other offenders, including
stories that had been previously published on Mr. Double, another website
dedicated to publishing writings that detail the sexual abuse of children.
Some of the stories on Kuhlmeyer's website described the rape, torture, and
murder of children, while others were accompanied by lifelike computer-
generated images of prepubescent children being sexually abused.
On June 13, Kuhlmeyer pleaded guilty to five counts of importation or
transportation of obscene matters and one count of distributing obscene
visual representations of the sexual abuse of children. Kuhlmeyer was
previously convicted of Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child in Sonoma County,
California, in 2008 and served six years in state prison.
In June 2021, Thomas Arthur, the owner of Mr. Double, was sentenced to 40
years in prison.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice
Department's Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western
District of Texas, Special Agent in Charge Francisco Burrola of Homeland
Security Investigations (HSI) El Paso, and Assistant Director Luis Quesada
of the FBI's Criminal Investigation Division made the announcement.
HSI and the FBI investigated the case, with assistance from the government
of Belize.
Trial Attorneys Austin M. Berry and Adam Braskich of the Criminal Division's
Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) and Assistant U.S. Attorney
Brandi Young for the Western District of Texas prosecuted the case.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide
initiative to combat the epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse,
launched in May 2006 by the Justice Department. Led by U.S. Attorneys'
Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local
resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit
children via the internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For
more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit
www.justice.gov/psc.
Updated October 5, 2023
Topic
Project Safe Childhood
Components
Criminal Division
Criminal - Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
USAO - Texas, Western
Press Release Number: 23-1109
* * *
Santa Rosa man sentenced in federal court for ‘obscenity crimes' involving
children
Federal officials arrested Ron Kuhlmeyer in Texas in March. He was
previously convicted in Sonoma County in 2008 of child sexual abuse.|
[Photo]
Ron Kirk Kuhlmeyer appears in Sonoma County Superior Court in Santa Rosa,
Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2007. (Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat file)
COLIN ATAGI
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
October 9, 2023
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/santa-rosa-man-sentenced-in-federal-court-for-obscenity-crimes-involving/
A Santa Rosa man has been sentenced to 33 years and nine months in federal
prison for running a website of obscene stories about rape, murder and
sexual abuse of young children.
Ron Kuhlmeyer, 65, ran the website from Belize, according to the U.S.
Department of Justice, which added that the site included stories written
by Kuhlmeyer and other offenders.
Kuhlmeyer ran the website in October and November 2022 and charges were
filed against him in March, according to a complaint filed in federal court.
He was arrested March 9 in Texas following an investigation conducted by
Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI, along with the Belize
government. Officials didn't specify why Kuhlmeyer was in Texas.
Court proceedings were held there and Kuhlmeyer pleaded guilty on June 13 to
five counts of importation or transportation of obscene matters and one
count of distributing obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of
children.
His sentencing took place Oct. 5 in Texas, as well. He appeared in the U.S.
District Court, Western District of Texas Midland-Odessa Division, officials
said.
"Some of the stories on Kuhlmeyer's website described the rape, torture, and
murder of children, while others were accompanied by lifelike computer-
generated images of prepubescent children being sexually abused," federal
officials wrote in a statement.
Kuhlmeyer was arrested locally in October 2007 and charged with more than a
dozen counts of lewd or lascivious acts with a child, according to Sonoma
County Superior Court records.
The incidents occurred from July 2004 through September 2007. At the time,
he had been working locally as a radio anchor and news reporter for KZST and
KJZY.
Investigators said in 2007 Kuhlmeyer engaged in sexual activity with a girl
beginning when she was 11 years old.
Kuhlmeyer was 45 at the time.
Detectives said he let the girl use a computer in his bedroom, where he
exposed her to pornography and sexual material before touching her breasts
and thigh area.
Kuhlmeyer pleaded guilty in March 2008 to one count of continuous sexual
abuse of a child. All the other charges he'd faced were dismissed.
He was sentenced to six years in prison in that case. The victim later
criticized Kuhlmeyer in a 2008 interview with The Press Democrat.
Federal officials added, earlier this month, that Kuhlmeyer included stories
on his website that also appeared on another website of similar material
called, Mr. Double.
In June 2021, Mr. Double's 65-year-old administrator, Thomas Arthur of
Terlingua, Texas, was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
He began operating the site in 1996 and charged members for access beginning
in 1998, according to the DOJ.
"Evidence at trial showed that the website was Arthur's sole source of income
for more than 20 years," officials wrote in a news release in June.
"The site was taken offline in November 2019 when the FBI executed a search
warrant at his residence near Terlingua, where Arthur administered the site."
You can reach Staff Writer Colin Atagi at colin...@pressdemocrat.com.
On Twitter @colin_atagi.
* * *
Ex-radio reporter pleads guilty to molest charge
LORI A. CARTER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
March 18, 2008
https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/ex-radio-reporter-pleads-guilty-to-molest-charge/
Press Democrat
[Photo]
Ron Kirk Kuhlmeyer appears in Sonoma County Court on Tuesday, December 17,
2007. (The Press Democrat/ Christopher Chung)
A former Sonoma County radio reporter agreed to admit a felony count of
child molestation Tuesday in exchange for 14 others being dropped.
But the deal could still expose Ron Kirk to as long as 16 years in prison,
Judge Eric Labowitz warned as he accepted Kirk's guilty plea. Kirk, who has
no prior criminal record, could also be sentenced to probation or county
jail time when he is sentenced in May.
In either case, he will be required to register as a sex offender for the
rest of his life.
Kirk, 49, whose full name is Ron Kirk Kuhlmeyer, was a KZST and KSRO news
reporter and anchor from 2000 until his arrest last year.
A girl who was a friend of Kirk's family told detectives that he touched her
inappropriately when she was between 11 and 14 years old.
In court Tuesday as his preliminary hearing was set to begin, Kirk admitted
one felony count that alleged more than three lewd acts with the girl between
July 2004 and August 2006.
'I plead guilty, your honor,' said Kirk in a distinctive deep voice, looking
remarkably thinner and grayer than at the time of his arrest.
Kirk's attorney, Chris Andrian, said his client agreed to plead guilty
because he believes he will be eligible for probation.
A psychiatrist will examine Kirk and issue findings before the May 23
sentencing, at which the young girl may speak about the crimes.
Detectives said it appeared Kirk allowed the girl to use a computer in his
bedroom, where he exposed her to pornography and other sexual material and
later touched her breasts and thigh area.
* * *
0 new messages