FBI, This Week: Hazardous Devices School

The FBI trains and certifies the nation’s more than 3,000 local, state, and federal public safety bomb technicians at its Hazardous Devices School at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.

Transcript:

Mollie Halpern: The FBI trains and certifies the nation’s more than 3,000 local, state, and federal public safety bomb technicians at its Hazardous Devices School at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.

Unit Chief John Stewart says a centralized training program helps make emergency response operate seamlessly…

John Stewart: They all learn the same principles, they're all taught the same procedures, and they all speak the same language. In the event of a big bombing campaign—similar to what we had in Boston, similar to what we're going through in Austin, Texas, right now—when we send in multiple bomb techs from different jurisdictions and federal agencies, they can all operate together.

Halpern: Students are trained in realistic scenarios on the school’s 500 acres.

Eighteen training villages are set up to accommodate about 1,500 students a year earning their certifications, re-certifications, and taking advanced courses.

Stewart: Each village allows us to run a bomb call in the village—and it has a church and a strip mall and a city hall, a school, a fire department, there's train stations, bus stations—we can perform all of our live actions in there. If the procedure requires us to use an explosive tool, we can do that in that village. We don't have to simulate anything.

Halpern: In addition to teaching at the school, FBI Special Agent Bomb Technicians are strategically located at the FBI’s 56 field offices across the country. To learn more, visit www.fbi.gov. With FBI, This Week, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.

FOR AUDIO

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Make a CyberTipline Report

In March 1998, using hardware, software, and programming assistance donated by Sun MicroSystems, NCMEC launched the CyberTipline® to further NCMEC’s mission of helping to prevent and diminish the sexual exploitation of children.

The CyberTipline provides the public and electronic service providers (ESPs) with the ability to report online (and via toll-free telephone) instances of online enticement of children for sexual acts, extra-familial child sexual molestation, child pornography, child sex tourism, child sex trafficking, unsolicited obscene materials sent to a child, misleading domain names, and misleading words or digital images on the Internet. NCMEC continuously reviews.

CyberTipline reports to ensure that reports of children who may be in imminent danger get first priority. After NCMEC’s review is completed, all information in a CyberTipline report is made available to law enforcement.
In furtherance of NCMEC’s mission, the CyberTipline allows NCMEC to engage with the Internet industry on voluntary initiatives to help reduce the proliferation of child sexual abuse images online. NCMEC uses the information submitted to the CyberTipline to create and tailor NCMEC’s safety and prevention publications that are provided to educators, parents and the public to help to prevent future victimization.

More than 27 million reports of suspected child sexual exploitation have been made to the CyberTipline between 1998 and 2017.

Members of the public are encouraged to report information regarding possible child sexual exploitation to the CyberTipline.

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Controversial Sex-Trafficking Bill Pro and Con

Senate Passes SESTA, the Controversial Sex-Trafficking Bill

By Madeleine Aggeler

On Wednesday, the Senate voted to pass the Stop Enabling Sex-Trafficking Act, a controversial anti-trafficking bill that would make it easier for people to sue websites that “knowingly assist, facilitate, or support sex trafficking.” The bill will now be sent to the White House for President Trump’s signature.

SESTA, or FOSTA (Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act) as it is sometimes known, amends Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which largely protects companies from being held liable for what people post online.

The measure, proposed by Senator Rob Portman, was drawn up following 2016 reports that adults and children were being trafficked on the classifieds website Backpage.com. Though the bill is supposedly intended to fight online trafficking by enabling victims to sue websites, it has been widely opposed by sex workers — who say it will prevent them from being able to do their jobs safely and independently — and free-internet advocates who say it would restrict free speech online, and pose a threat to small internet companies who could now potentially be overwhelmed by lawsuits.

Here’s What’s Wrong With the So-Called Anti–Sex Trafficking Bill

by Amanda Arnold

A Senate vote is expected any day now on the Stop Enabling Sex Trafficking Act (SESTA), a bill that would clarify the country’s existing sex-trafficking laws and update Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, all to ostensibly protect sex-trafficking victims. While the bill has wide political support and a handful of celebrity endorsements, many sex workers and actual advocates for trafficking victims have spoken out against it, arguing that it will make vulnerable populations less safe.

Here’s what to know about SESTA:

What is Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act?
In short, it’s a landmark piece of legislation that protects freedom of expression on the internet. As described by the ACLU: “Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act immunizes websites from legal liability for the comments of their users … it defines Internet culture as we know it: It’s the reason why websites can offer platforms for critical and controversial speech without constantly worrying about getting sued.”

What exactly is SESTA?
In August 2017, Republican senator Rob Portman of Ohio introduced the first version of SESTA, which he designed to make it easier for plaintiffs and state attorney generals to sue Backpage and other websites that “knowingly assist, facilitate, or support sex trafficking.”

READ MORE

Sex Trafficking Bill

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Lucas Warriors raise awareness for missing 5-year-old Lucas Hernandez

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) A group who calls themselves the Lucas Warriors gathered outside Intrust Bank Arena today and it wasn't to watch basketball.

The Lucas Warriors is a group here in Kansas who hopes to find Lucas Hernandez.

On Saturday, members stood outside Intrust Bank Arena with signs in hand in hopes of bringing Lucas home.

The Lucas Warriors talked to both Kansans and out of state fans about Lucas Hernandez and spreading the word about his disappearance.

"I love to tell his story. I think he's such a precious little boy. I think everybody just needs to know his story," says Julie LaForce.

Even if for some it wasn't easy.

"I know myself personally, I'm extremely quiet and kind of shy, so to be out here in the middle of thousands of people is a hard thing for me to do. But at this point, I would do anything to bring Lucas home," says Sheila Medlam.

The group say they have received training from Texas Equusearch to help find Lucas. They also say they're working with Lucas' dad Jonathan and his family to get help from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

As fans asked them "Who's Lucas?" the warrior group was glad they could bring awareness to his disappearance.

"What brings a better crowd than college basketball? Especially since we have Kansas, KU playing here. He needs to go national. He can't be forgotten. I'm not going to let him slip through the cracks. None of us are."

Original Article

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Five defendants convicted of child sex trafficking

Department of Justice
U.S. Attorney’s Office
Western District of Oklahoma

Five Who Purchased and Sold Children for Sex in Oklahoma City Ordered to Serve Combined 38 Years in Prison and Pay Over $635,000 in Restitution to Victims

OKLAHOMA CITY – Five defendants convicted of child sex trafficking were ordered to serve a combined 38 years in federal prison and pay over $635,000 in restitution to victims, announced Robert J. Troester, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

According to court records, in October 2014, Maurice M. Johnson engaged in sex trafficking of two girls (aged 14 and 15) and an adult female.  As soon as the 14-year-old girl was recruited, Johnson instructed her to start calling phone numbers from the escort section of the Yellow Pages to find Tonya Gay Gum, whom he knew as "Carmen."  At the time, Gum operated at least twenty phone numbers listed in the escort section of the Oklahoma City Yellow Pages.  The 14-year-old victim made contact with Gum and sent her photographs of herself and the adult female.  After that, Gum began arranging commercial sex transactions between her established customer base (or new customers who called her phone lines) and the females under Johnson’s control.  Johnson drove the girls to hotels, residences, and commercial spaces, where the customers paid in cash for sex.  After each commercial sex transaction, Gum met the girls at different locations in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area to receive the proceeds, which Gum and Johnson split.  They did not give any money to the victims they trafficked.

A federal grand jury indicted Johnson on December 3, 2014.  He pleaded guilty to child sex trafficking on January 30, 2015, before U.S. District Judge Robin J. Cauthron.  In August 2017, he was sentenced to 240 months in prison and five years of supervised release.

Gum and three customers who purchased sex with the children were indicted by a federal grand jury on June 16, 2015.  On  November 19, 2015, Gum pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking, also before Judge Cauthron.  In August 2017, she was sentenced to 48 months in federal prison and three years of supervised release.

The three customers—William M. Baker, Trung N. Duong, and Curtis A. Anthony—purchased sex with the children in October 2014.  Before their convictions, their cases went before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, which held in February 2017 that they could be convicted of child sex trafficking even if they did not know or recklessly disregard a child victim’s age, so long as they had a "reasonable opportunity to view" the child victim.

On May 9, 2017, Duong pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking.  On November 2, 2017, Baker also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking.  In August 2017, Judge Cauthron sentenced each of them to 24 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release.

Anthony went to trial and was convicted by a federal jury on June 19, 2017, of both conspiracy to commit child sex trafficking and child sex trafficking.  He was sentenced in October 2017 to 120 months in federal prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release.

All of these defendants will be required to register as sex offenders for 25 years after released from custody.

At the time of the sentencings, the court deferred a determination of restitution.  Today Judge Cauthron amended the judgments and ordered all five defendants to pay $635,247 in restitution to victims, with each defendant jointly and severally liable for the full amount immediately.  "Although the innocence of these children cannot be restored, we are pleased that the Court is holding the defendants responsible for paying for the future care and treatment caused by their crimes," said Acting U.S. Attorney Troester.

This case is the result of an investigation by United States Department of Homeland Security and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys McKenzie Anderson and David Petermann prosecuted the case.

Department Of Justice

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YouTube to boost moderator team preventing child exploitation videos

By Ben Lovejoy

Following reports of sexualised videos of children attracting hundreds of comments from suspected pedophiles, YouTube has announced that it will be boosting its content moderator team to 10,000 people – but only by the end of 2018. The current team is reported to be around 8,000 people.

A Times investigation first uncovered the scale of the problem eleven days ago, with volunteer flaggers claiming that YouTube wasn’t taking the problem seriously …

YouTube, part of one of the most valuable enterprises in the world, gave them no help, according to one of the flaggers who spoke to The Times anonymously.

YouTube’s initial response was to acknowledge that it needed to do more to tackle the problem through both machine-learning and additional human resources.

A few days later, the company said that it had removed 150,000 videos, turned off comments on 625,000 more and terminated 270 accounts.

In a new blog post last night, YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki announced the additional measures the company would be taking.

We will continue the significant growth of our teams into next year, with the goal of bringing the total number of people across Google working to address content that might violate our policies to over 10,000 in 2018.

At the same time, we are expanding the network of academics, industry groups and subject matter experts who we can learn from and support to help us better understand emerging issues.

We will use our cutting-edge machine learning more widely to allow us to quickly and efficiently remove content that violates our guidelines.

Wojcicki said that machine-learning had already shown ‘tremendous progress’ in tackling extremist content, and that the company had begun training AI systems to detect videos that may impact child safety, though Buzzfeed notes that the challenge here may be greater.

It’s unclear whether machine learning can adequately catch and limit disturbing children’s content — much of which is creepy in ways that may be difficult for a moderation algorithm to discern.

Part of the issue comprises videos uploaded by children, which may be innocent in intent, but which attract creepy comments and worse from pedophiles.

Screenshots show how one YouTube user left dozens of inappropriate comments on videos posted by boys aged between seven and 14.

“Send me the 2 minute naked wrestling match private,” the user wrote. “And I will tell you everything you need to know to grow your channel. I wanna see u naked. It feels awesome to be naked on YouTube, try it bro.”

The blog post says that YouTube is also ramping up its team of ad reviewers to ensure advertising doesn’t appear alongside or within inappropriate videos.

We believe this requires a new approach to advertising on YouTube, carefully considering which channels and videos are eligible for advertising. We are planning to apply stricter criteria, conduct more manual curation, while also significantly ramping up our team of ad reviewers to ensure ads are only running where they should.

READ MORE

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Atrocities on kids rise in Assam

Guwahati: Assam has reported a three-fold increase in the number of cases relating to crimes against children between 2014 and 2016. Nearly 75 per cent of these were kidnapping cases.

According to the Crime in India 2016 report of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) released by Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday, the number of cases related to crime against children increased from 1,385 in 2014 to 2,385 in 2015 and 3,964 in 2016.

Tripura reported 369 cases, followed by Meghalaya (213), Mizoram (178), Manipur (137), Arunachal Pradesh (134) and Nagaland (25). The report said of the 3,964 cases reported in Assam last year, 2,970 were kidnapping cases followed by murders (35).

With the region prone to trafficking, 1,519 cases of abduction related to procurement of minor girls, followed by 676 cases in which minor girls were kidnapped and forced into marriage. The state reported 32 cases of trafficking and another 31 cases relating to kidnapping for prostitution.

Save the Children, an NGO, blamed poor implementation of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), slow progress of trial and poor enforcement of the laws. "If child protection committees are set up in each village, block and the district as stipulated by ICPS, crimes against children will come down. This will help us keep a database of children and keep watch on crimes against them too. Similarly, criminals like those involved in trafficking rackets are taking advantage of the improved communication like mobile networks to take their targets out easily," project coordinator of Save the Children in Assam, Deba Prasad Sarma, said.

He stressed the need for a state-level action plan to check crimes against children.

Chiranjeeb Kakoty, director of Northeast Society for Promotion of Youth and the Masses (NESPYM), another NGO here, however, said many cases of kidnapping could be cases of elopement. "As soon as a girl goes missing, parents immediately lodge a missing complaint in a police station and in most cases a kidnapping case is also registered. But during investigation, it has often been found that the girl had eloped. Kidnapping and trafficking are serious issues but a large chunk of such kidnappings are mutual elopement," he said.

The NCRB report also revealed 821 cases of sexual offence against children in Assam in 2016 of which 586 were rape cases. Mizoram reported 167 cases followed by Tripura (156), Meghalaya (151), Manipur (43) and Nagaland (27). The cases were registered under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012.

The number of cases of juveniles in conflict, however, came down to 436 in 2016 against 487 in 2014 and 624 in 2015. Meghalaya reported 84 cases involving juveniles. The figure was 57 in Arunachal Pradesh, followed by Mizoram (53), Tripura (25), Nagaland (18) and Manipur (10).

Source - The Telegraph

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