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[John Young <jya@pipeline.com>]

   9-16-95. NYPaper Page Oner:


   "Computer Stings Gain Favor As Arrests for Smut Increase."

      The F.B.I. has plans for its own web to fight computer
      crimes. As arrests continued in a high-tech drive
      against the peddling of child pornography on the
      nation's largest computer network, the Federal
      authorities said today that they expected to apply the
      same surveillance techniques to fight many other
      computer-related crimes, from consumer and securities
      fraud to money laundering. One way of combating these
      crimes, they said, will be for Federal agents to go
      undercover and appear as prey for unwitting criminals.
      Timothy McNally of the F.B.I.said that while the
      traditional form of surveillance included activities
      like waiting in cars and watching suspects for hours,
      "the playing field has now changed" and now requires
      agents to become more proficient in using computers to
      thwart crimes.

      But some civil liberties experts expressed alarm at the
      latest surveillance technique, saying it would have a
      chilling effect on what is now a freewheeling medium.


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