http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2017/01/feds-may-let-playpen-child-porn-s... https://www.reddit.com/r/news/comments/5n5cyi/feds_may_let_playpen_child_por... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13362555 https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/09/playpen-story-fbis-unprecedented-and-i... Rather than disclose the source code that the FBI used to target a child porn suspect, federal prosecutors in Tacoma, Washington recently dropped their appeal in United States v. Michaud. The case is just one of 135 federal prosecutions nationwide involving the Tor-hidden child porn website Playpen. The vast effort to bust Playpen has raised significant questions about the ethics, oversight, capabilities, and limitations of the government’s ability to hack criminal suspects. ........ Last year, a federal judge in a related case prosecuted out of Oklahoma, United States v. Arterbury, also ruled against the prosecution. The government eventually dropped the appeal and then dismissed the indictment at the district court in October 2016. Yet another Playpen case, United States v. Levin, where the defense prevailed initially, is currently on appeal at the 1st US Circuit Court of Appeals. Beau Croghan, a man in Iowa, was another alleged user hit by this NIT—his case was just one of three in which a judge ruled to suppress the evidence due to a defective warrant. Croghan's case is now pending before the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals. ...... Beyond Michaud, Fieman is representing another Playpen defendant in the same judicial district (the Western District of Washington) before the very same judge. In the second case, the evidence and legal questions are nearly identical. That case, United States v. Tippens, is set to go to trial on February 27, 2017 in Tacoma. ........