Did you check your e-mail today? The FBI may have been reading over your shoulder. As part of a 14-month nationwide crackdown on child pornography, the government has implemented an investigation (witch hunt) called “Operation Candyman.”

Undercover agents are perusing websites, Yahoo! message boards, and yes, even private e-mails in order to root out kiddie-porn traffickers.

It’s difficult to determine which is more frightening: the amount of offenders the FBI has uncovered, or the means they use to do it.

According to Bureau records, over 90 people in 20 states have been charged after being discovered on three electronic message groups maintained by Yahoo!. One of the e-groups, called “thecandyman,” had an estimated 7,000 members.

There is no question that child pornography is a vile and intolerable practice. No one in their right mind will argue against the apprehension of those distributing and obtaining it.

A number of people implicated by the investigation held positions professionally that involved interaction with children. Several Catholic priests, a guidance counselor, a foster care parent, and medical and military personnel were among those discovered to be involved.

The results of this operation sound all well and good, but don’t be too quick to congratulate the FBI on their accomplishment. Unless you are a naíve subscriber to “the end justifies the means” ideology, it is dangerous to blindly accept this investigation as reasonable.

The violation of civil liberties such as privacy and freedom of speech is not acceptable under any circumstance. Although the pursuit of perverts involved in kiddie porn seems an almost reasonable cause to sacrifice these basic freedoms, it is a risky road to travel.

If citizens apathetically accept this invasion of privacy, what is stopping the government from continuing this behavior in the name of crime prevention?

Yahoo! was aware of the investigations and willingly complied with the FBI’s more than 230 searches.

Bruce Gebhardt, the executive assistant director for criminal investigations and cyber crime, commented on the tactics, saying, “I’d like to see one sweep a day. We want to keep the pressure up on all these people.”

When Internet users registered on the electronic message boards, the FBI used their e-mail addresses to obtain their private addresses and names from Yahoo!. If undercover agents on the site felt they had due cause, they seized private computers and made arrests.

Of course the government can enter your home, read your mail and listen to your telephone calls if they can provide a case of reasonable suspicion. But in this new, undefined period of Internet law, it appears that everyone is a suspect until proven innocent.

The government must be expected to adhere to the same due process in cyberspace as in any aspect of human interaction. Civil liberties must be upheld on both sides of the computer screen.

Kate MacDonald ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in film and Italian.