to ensnare criminals? Whether its a gathering of lottery winners or a phony pawn shop, this is a tried and true tactic.

The underlying issue is that the use, possession and distribution of child pornography is illegal on an almost global scale. Unlike marijuana, the other favorite target of law enforcement, child pornography can never be considered "victimless" even if the actual definition of what constitutes such can be debated or argued in court.

We, all of us computer literate types, know that no foolproof security provisions exist. Even TOR itself originated with the government and in some cases just using it can be enough to raise a red flag for the authorities.

Someone who misuses the net to support and/or engage in criminal activities has no one but themselves to blame if the authorities drop the hammer on them.

The question of whether the Feds are using the same techniques to target political opposition is another issue. In this case using a spurious illegal website to capture the IP's of people who are in violation of the law will likely be allowed by the courts IMHO.