Operation Ore
From Free net encyclopedia
Operation Ore was a large-scale international police operation that commenced in 1999 intending to indict thousands of users of websites featuring child pornography.
Origins
The operation followed the liquidation of Landslide Inc., a credit clearance intermediary based in Fort Worth, Texas. In April 1999, United States Postal Inspection Service Texas had received an internal complaint via postal inspector Robert Adams. Adams had received a tip from an acquaintance in St Paul, Minnesota. The man, who has never been named, provided information on a website advertising child pornography. Adams contacted nearby Dallas police department and Steve Nelson, a Dallas police officer, accessed various child pornography sites using his credit card.
Landslide
Landslide provided payment systems for adult webmasters. These systems were automated, webmasters could sign up to the system online and people accessing the websites would go through the payment or login system before being granted access. The principle systems were AVS for Adult Verification System and Keyz because it operated via the keyz.com domain name owned by Landslide.
An adult classified section of a Landslide website allegedly included postings offering to trade Keyz passwords. USPIS and Dallas Police brought their investigation to the attention of Terri Moore, an assistant district attorney with a tough reputation.
The operation led to the seizure of user information of thousands of persons who were alleged to have accessed child pornography using credit cards. It also resulted in the arrests of several prominent individuals. The Who's guitarist Pete Townshend was linked to the operation and was arrested; while he fully cooperated with the police and no child pornography was found on his computers, he accepted a caution and thereby admitted guilt.