Michael Lewis
Adam Vaughn
The child-porn dragnet known as Operation Candyman - touted as one of the FBI's success stories last year - got rolling when the Feds raided more than 700 homes in the US. The justification for the bureau's search warrants? An agent's affidavit swearing that all members of a free Yahoo! group had opted to receive illegal images via email.
In fact, most of the targeted members had opted out, leaving the FBI with little more probable cause for search than an email address, which anyone on the Net could have entered ("The United States of America v. Adam Vaughn," Wired 10.10). In March, two federal judges tossed out evidence in Candyman cases with sharp rebukes for the FBI's "reckless disregard for the truth" and assault on privacy. St. Louis District Judge Catherine Perry ruled the government's position is the equivalent of saying that if someone subscribes to a drug legalization newsletter, "there is probable cause to believe that person possesses drugs."
While the judges' statements cast light into a shadowy area of law enforcement, they may not help the scores of defendants - like Adam Vaughn - who pled guilty and signed away their right to appeal for a promise of a lighter sentence.
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