US and European police have shut down the largest global pedophile ring after hacking its website and arresting nearly 900 of its members following a two-year investigation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Europol made the announcement Friday after a court sentenced Florida-based Steven Chase, founder of the so-called Playpen pedophilia network, to 30 years in prison.

The police are said to have arrested 870 people during the investigation into the group’s members around the globe that began after Chase’s arrest back in 2014. Officials said 368 of those arrested were from Europe. The investigation also identified at least 259 sexually abused children. As part of its investigation, called “Operation Pacifier,” the FBI used a malware to seize the Playpen website and server, which allowed authorities to track and identify Playpen users.

The result of that investigation was the harvesting of IP addresses and other identifiable information of more than 1,300 people who either logged in or registered on the site during that period, FBI and Europol said. Chase was sentenced this week in a federal courtroom in North Carolina on multiple child-pornography and child-exploitation charges.

Two of the founder’s aides, Michael Fluckiger and David Browning, both US citizens – who served as administrators of the site – were each jailed for 20 years. “Those individuals involved in the sexual abuse of children are becoming increasingly forensically aware and are actively using the most advanced forms of anonymisation and encryption to avoid detection,” said Steven Wilson, head of Europol’s Cybercrime Center.

“The internet has no boundaries and does not recognize borders. We need to balance the rights of victims versus the right to privacy. If we operate 19th century legal principles then we are unable to effectively tackle crime at the highest level,” he added.

A recent world classification on press freedom has ranked Cameroon 130th among 180 countries. By this position, the country dominated by French speaking political elites took a downward trend from the 2016 classification. In 2016, Cameroon held the 126th position.

This revelation has rubbished statements made by the so-called government spokesman and Minister of Communication, Issa Tchiroma Bakary that journalists in Cameroon were free and independent. The findings noted that Cameroon is considered a “Not Free Zone”, meaning it is one of the countries with a massive media crackdown.

The International Organization for the Defense of Journalists says media professionals in Cameroon are constantly under police harassment and arbitrary arrest. The Yaounde regime operates a vicious media regulatory board known as the National Communication Council that shuts down independent news organizations. Journalists were arrested during demonstrations in the English-speaking regions where Internet connection was cut off in January 2017 for three months.

Source: Cameroon Intelligence Report

Soldiers representing U.S. Army Africa are currently in Cameroon for exercise Unified Focus 17, the second accord event of the year. The accord series is composed of four major events scheduled to take place intermittently on the African continent through the beginning of August. Exercise Justified Accord 17 was held in Ethiopia last month, and the following exercises, United Accord 17 and Shared Accord 17, will take place in Ghana and South Africa, respectively.

The accord series is a U.S. Africa Command program composed of four annual, combined and joint military exercises that take place in African countries and encourage partnerships between participants from United States, African Union, European and other coalition partner forces and agencies. Although each event addresses a specific peacekeeping or security issue, they all share common objectives: communication and interaction between partners, and mutual readiness training, said Col. Anthony J. Healey, the U.S. Army Africa training, readiness and exercises director.

“The exercises facilitate enhancing information sharing and cooperation on regional security issues, strengthening regional access and freedom of movement, and increasing the participating forces’ abilities to collaborate on common missions and increase their readiness for real-world scenarios,” he said.

Until recently, each exercise was named for its targeted region. The current iterations, however, reflect the specific focus of the event instead, according to Healey. “The exercises were regionally aligned: Southern Accord, Eastern Accord, Central Accord … but when AFRICOM changed (from region-based operations) to lines of effort-based operations, they changed the names to match,” he said.

The accord exercises generally can fall into one of three categories: tabletop, command post and field training. Tabletop exercises often include senior personnel working through the decision-making process they would use in a crisis scenario. These exercises can take place in a classroom environment and include instruction from subject matter experts, Healey said.

Command post exercises are expanded tabletop exercises for commanders and staff. They require increased tactical operations and communications and may be simulation driven. These exercises can be conducted on a garrison or in the field.

Field training exercises simulate realistic combat conditions and integrate the total force, involving combat units, drills and situational training exercises, as well as the personnel required for tabletop and command post exercises. A year or more of planning and smaller events with other U.S., partner and host nation organizations go into each exercise, Healey said, which helps coordinators overcome some of the challenges that arise when multiple agencies and cultures work toward one vision and grapple with logistics.

“You’re bringing multiple agencies together and trying to come up with a singular plan to execute,” he said. “Does everyone agree with it? Can you support this? Where is the money coming from? You have to plan transportation well in advance, contracts have to be letted out … those are some of the challenges we have to work through to get from initiation to execution.”

Despite any difficulties that might accompany USARAF’s participation, there is inherent value in building and strengthening partnerships through the accord exercises, Healey said. “Whenever we go anywhere on the globe these days, it’s going to be with another partner. (Through these exercises), we get that cultural understanding from working with partners, not just American forces. … Ensuring that everyone has a shared understanding of how to solve the issue in the scenario builds confidence between the partner nations and interagencies.”

Culled from Defenseweb