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They did more than collect information. They went to great lengths to create information to be collected. A vigilante is someone who takes the law into their

They did more than collect information. They went to great lengths to create information to be collected. A vigilante is someone who takes the law into their own hands. Violence is often a part of that but not required. While they may not be taking on the judgement part of law they are taking on the policing part by organizing a sting operation which is why I labeled them a vigilante organization. You're painting it as if they're simply some sort of community watch program that collects information and turns it over to the police. In truth they're somewhere in between. You're right. I don't know much about child sexual abuse. I don't doubt that sexual perpetrators are extremely likely to continue being sexual perpetrators. But I worry that the alleged perpetrators caught in this sting operation might not all be pedophiles, that the completely unsupervised, unregulated sting operators may have been so overzealous in their pursuit of pedophiles that they may not have made absolutely certain that everyone knew they were talking to a '10 year kid'. I read in another article that the age was in the fake user's profile. Is that the only place the age was listed? Are we sure every perpetrator knew the fake user's age? And what about the quality of graphical rendering of Sweetie? Are we positive that all of the alleged perpetrators thought it was a real person and not a computer generated avatar they were talking to? Maybe some of them realized that it was an avatar. Should it still be a crime then? As for how much trust you have in the operators behind Sweetie, I just don't get it. Intelligent people do extremely stupid things all the time. Perhaps they initiated the sexual advances because that's what they experienced with the 8 year old boy. Perhaps they initiated the advances because in some countries entrapment isn't a concern. The article stated that the alleged offenders were from 71 different countries. I find it hard to believe the Sweetie operators would be well versed in that many different countries' laws. Or perhaps they carefully worded everything exactly as you believe. I have no idea because the article didn't go into it. I've looked for articles that provide more detail but haven't found any. If you have any links, I'd appreciate it.

ScottBurson 12y ago
I think the question you have to ask is, is anyone going to be prosecuted solely on the basis of the evidence gathered by this organization? Such a prosecution would be impossible in the US and EU, and I would hope, most other places as well. The police cannot in general trust evidence they did not collect themselves. What can happen, though, is that they can open investigations on these individuals and get search warrants. If they find evidence of any other crimes, as I think they are likely to, they can prosecute on that basis.
- avalaunch 12y ago
  That sounds better and I'd be more likely to be on board with the program if I knew nobody was being prosecuted solely on the information gathered from the sting operation. I'd still have 2 worries: 1) that the Sweetie organizers might accidentally (or purposely) leak the information of the alleged pedophiles to the public, potentially shaming and humiliating an innocent party, and 2) that other organizations might run their own sting operations but fail to do so in an ethical, responsible manner.

ScottBurson 12y ago

I think the question you have to ask is, is anyone going to be prosecuted solely on the basis of the evidence gathered by this organization? Such a prosecution would be impossible in the US and EU, and I would hope, most other places as well. The police cannot in general trust evidence they did not collect themselves. What can happen, though, is that they can open investigations on these individuals and get search warrants. If they find evidence of any other crimes, as I think they are likely to, they can prosecute on that basis.

avalaunch 12y ago
That sounds better and I'd be more likely to be on board with the program if I knew nobody was being prosecuted solely on the information gathered from the sting operation. I'd still have 2 worries: 1) that the Sweetie organizers might accidentally (or purposely) leak the information of the alleged pedophiles to the public, potentially shaming and humiliating an innocent party, and 2) that other organizations might run their own sting operations but fail to do so in an ethical, responsible manner.