Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
in a chat room between January and March of 2002 varied from 16 percent in the
United Kingdom to 41 percent in Brazil. Conservatively estimating average use of instant
messaging or chat rooms at 25 percent, the number of people worldwide who use this
technology at least occasionally is about 150 million.
In 1995 Katie Tarbox, a 13-year-old swimmer from New Canaan, Connecticut, met
a man in an AOL chat room [81]. He said his name was Mark and his age was 23. His
grammar and vocabulary were good, and he made her feel special. Katie agreed to meet
Mark at a hotel in Texas, where her swim team was competing. Soon after she entered
his hotel room, he molested her. “Mark” turned out to be 41-year-old Francis Kufrovich
from Calabasas, California, a man with a history of preying on children. In March
1998, Kufrovich was the first person in the United States to be sentenced for Internet
pedophilia. After pleading guilty, he served 18 months in prison.
In 1999 the FBI investigated 1,500 crimes in which an alleged pedophile crossed a
state line to meet and molest a child met through an Internet chat room [81]. Many say
the problem is growing. Parry Aftab, executive director of Cyber Angels, says, “I know
that I can go into a chat room as a 12-year-old and not say anything, and be hit on and
asked if I'm a virgin within two minutes” [81].
Police have begun entering chat rooms posing as young girls to lure pedophiles [82].
During a three-week-long sting operation in Spokane, Washington, a police detective
posed as a 13-year-old girl in a chat room. In early March 2003, police arrested a 22-
year-old man on charges of attempted second-degree rape of a child. Inside his car the
officers found handcuffs, a large folding knife, and a condom. The suspect was still on
parole for an earlier conviction for fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation. Police
sergeant Joe Petersen asked, “What happens had it been a real girl?” [83]. Chat-room
sting operations are leading to many arrests all over the United States [84, 85, 86, 87,
88, 89].
Is it morally right for police detectives to entrap pedophiles by posing as children in chat
rooms and agreeing to meet with them?
UTILITARIAN ANALYSIS
Let's consider the various consequences of such a sting operation. A person allegedly
interested in having sex with an underage minor is arrested and charged with attempted
child rape. Suppose the person is found guilty and must serve time in prison. The direct
effects of the sting operation are the denial of one person's freedom (a harm) and an
increase in public safety (a benefit). Since the entire public is safer and only a single
person is harmed, this is a net good.
The sting operation also has indirect effects. Publicity about the sting operation may
deter other chat-room pedophiles. This, too, is a beneficial result. It is harder to gauge
how knowledge of sting operations influences innocent citizens. First, it may reduce cit-
izens' trust in the police. Many people believe that if they are doing nothing wrong, they
have nothing to fear. Others may become less inclined to provide information to the
