<http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-05-14-cp-program_x.htm> USA Today Wyoming agent develops touted porn tracking software By Sarah Cooke, Associated Press CHEYENNE, Wyo. - A Wyoming law enforcement agent was credited Friday with developing software that weeds out child pornography in file-sharing networks, resulting in at least 1,000 investigations and 65 arrests nationwide. The software, written last year by Division of Criminal Investigation special agent Flint Waters, cracks down on the growing use of "peer-to-peer" or P2P networks. The networks allow users to connect computers directly with one another to exchange files. Officials say they provide greater anonymity than traditional Internet servers that are easier to track. They can also be much quicker and easier to access. "This problem was so widespread that it was clearly easier for a child to obtain these images than it would be for them to buy a magazine depicting adult pornography," Attorney General Pat Crank said Friday. After testing the software last fall, Waters and other DCI officials offered it free of charge to local, state, national and even international law enforcement agencies. The results surprised even the most veteran officers. Images of children as young as 7 years old were being trafficked worldwide through file-sharing networks easily accessible to children, such as Kazaa. Some images took as little as 14 seconds to load. "We hit everyone from 13-year-olds to 55-year-olds with active molests on children," Waters said. Charges against the 65 people arrested so far have included possession and distribution of child pornography and sexual abuse of children. The 1,000 investigations have involved more than 350 searches of computers and other property, officials said. Specific cases include Jimmy Richard Morrison, a California man who faces federal pornography distribution charges in Wyoming alleging he was a P2P client named "Pedokiller." Morrison, of Modesto, Calif., told authorities he used the P2P networks because police were known to be examining Internet chat rooms for child pornography activity, Waters said. "This guy had pictures of two of his victims on an ID card around his neck," Waters said. To date, more than 3,100 computers have been identified exchanging child pornography. Of these, nearly 2,000 were discovered by Wyoming DCI special agents. "Law enforcement has a new tool to combat the targeting of our children for sexual exploitation," Gov. Dave Freudenthal said. "As a governor, and even more so as a parent, I am extraordinarily grateful for the work Special Agent Waters and the Wyoming DCI have done. Their dedication means that purveyors and users of child pornography might have fewer places to hide." -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'