Covert Internet investigations : first cases
2009/04/17
Instant messengers: where many predators lure their victims
There has been many reports in the news today about the first successful attempts to use the new cyberpatrolling powers which were authorized last week by the French legislation. The Bobigny prosecutor chose to communicate around a specific case that was brought forward by the specially trained gendarmes of the cybercrime division of the STRJD in Rosny sous Bois.
French readers can visit this article on 01Net: La gendarmerie arrête un pédophile en s’infiltrant sur un forum.
As I was explaining a few days ago, this is not about undercover operations but more properly covert Internet investigations.
Some might wonder about the necessity to communicate this much around this specific case. Actually, it is not about exposing police methods, but about sending a clear message to online predators of children in chatrooms, forums, etc. that they can no longer wander around unpunished, to reinstate what we call in French: the peur du gendarme (fear of the gendarme).
