US federal prosecutors have dropped child pornography charges against a Washington state teacher after the US Department of Justice refused to disclose information about a software weakness it exploited during an investigation last year.
Charges against Vancouver teacher Jay Michaud in US District Court in Seattle were dismissed on Monday.
In 2015, Michaud was arrested and accused of downloading child pornography.
During the investigation, the FBI allowed a child porn Web site on the largely anonymous Tor network to run for two weeks while it tried to identify users by hacking into their computers.
Tor provides users anonymity by routing their communications through numerous computers around the globe. The site had more than 150,000 members.
The Tor browser is based on Firefox.
While the network is used for various reasons — including circumventing free-speech restrictions in some parts of the world — it has also provided sanctuary for child pornography, drug trafficking and other criminal behavior.
After arresting Playpen’s operator in Florida in early 2015, the FBI let the Web site continue running for two weeks while trying to identify users, a move the agency said was necessary to apprehend those posting and downloading images of children being sexually abused.
Defense attorneys said that the tactic was unethical.
A magistrate in Virginia issued a search warrant allowing the agency to deploy what it called a “network investigative technique”: code that prompted the computers that signed into Playpen to pass on information, including IP addresses, despite the anonymity normally afforded by Tor.
The FBI then obtained further warrants to search suspects’ homes. At least 137 people were charged.
Defendants have challenged the FBI’s hacking on numerous grounds.
A federal judge in Washington state threw out the government’s evidence against Michaud last year, saying that unless the FBI detailed the vulnerability it exploited, the man could not mount an effective defense.
The Justice Department said previously that the information is not relevant.
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