United States v. Anzalone

208 F. Supp. 3d 358, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 129735, 2016 WL 5339723
CourtDistrict Court, D. Massachusetts
DecidedSeptember 22, 2016
DocketCriminal Action No. 15-10347-PBS
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 208 F. Supp. 3d 358 (United States v. Anzalone) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Massachusetts primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Anzalone, 208 F. Supp. 3d 358, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 129735, 2016 WL 5339723 (D. Mass. 2016).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

Saris, Chief Judge.

INTRODUCTION

Defendant Vincent Anzalone is charged with one count of possession of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(5)(B) and one count of receipt of child pornography in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2252A(a)(2)(A). The government also seeks forfeiture of any child pornography images in the defendant’s possession.

This case arises from an FBI investigation into users of Playpen, a child pornography website. Playpen operates on the Tor network, which enables anonymous internet browsing. In February 2015, the government acquired control of Playpen’s server. For two weeks, the government operated the website. To obtain the IP addresses of the site’s users, the government applied for and received a search warrant from a magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Virginia. The search warrant allowed the FBI to deploy a Network Investigative Technique (NIT) on users’ computers. The NIT caused users’ computers to transmit identifying information, including IP addresses, to the government. The defendant asserts the government unreasonably searched his computer by using the NIT in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Specifically, the defendant contends that the warrant lacked probable cause, that the magistrate judge in the Eastern District of Virginia did not have the authority to authorize a search in the District of Massachusetts, and that suppression is required. The defendant moves to suppress all evidence gathered by the NIT as well as all fruits of the allegedly unconstitutional search.

For the reasons set forth below, the defendant’s motion to suppress (Docket No. 47) is DENIED.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

The following facts are undisputed unless otherwise noted. The Court has not held an evidentiary hearing. The facts are primarily drawn from FBI Special Agent Douglas Macfarlane’s affidavit in support of the February 20, 2015 search warrant application. The defendant initially requested a Franks hearing, but later withdrew that request. See Docket No. 65 at 5 n.4. The Court requested the parties to supplement the record with more information about the NIT, which the Court considered.

I. The Tor Network

Special Agent Macfarlane has worked as an FBI Special Agent for two decades. At [361]*361the time of the investigation at issue, he was assigned to the FBI’s Violent Crimes Against Children Section. On February 20, 2015, Macfarlane submitted a search warrant application to Magistrate Judge Theresa Carroll Buchanan of the Eastern District of Virginia. Macfarlane appended his affidavit to that application. The statements contained in the affidavit were based on information provided by other federal and foreign law enforcement agents, information obtained from subpoenas, the results of physical and electronic surveillance, forensic computer analysis, and Macfarlane’s own experience and training as a special agent.

In his affidavit, Agent Macfarlane described the mechanics of the Tor network. The Tor network, also known as The Onion Router, is an anonymity network that masks a user’s IP address. Designed by the U.S. Naval Laboratory to protect government communications, Tor is now available to the public. To access the Tor network, a user must download, an add-on to the user’s existing browser or download the Tor browser bundle. To ensure anonymity for its users, the Tor network bounces communications through various relay computers. When a user accesses a website, the IP address of the last computer in that chain is displayed, rather than the user’s IP address. The network therefore “prevents someone attempting to monitor an Internet connection from learning what sites a user visits, prevents the sites the user visits from learning the user’s physical location, and it lets the user access sites which could otherwise be blocked.” Macfarlane Aff. ¶ 8, Docket No. 48, Ex. 2.

Within the Tor network, sites can be designed as “hidden services.” Hidden services are only accessible if the user is using the Tor network. Hidden services allow websites and other servers to hide their location. Like traditional websites, these sites “are hosted on computer servers that communicate through IP addresses.” Id. ¶ 9. Unlike such websites, however, the “IP address for the web server is hidden and instead is replaced with a Tor-based web address, which is a series of algorithm-generated characters” followed by the suffix “.onion.” Id.

II. The Playpen Website

Playpen operated as a hidden service on the Tor network. The site was only accessible via the Tor network. According to Agent Macfarlane, even then, a user was required to know the site’s address: “Tor hidden services are not indexed like websites on the traditional internet. Accordingly, unlike on the traditional internet, a user may not simply perform a Google search for the name of one of the websites on Tor to obtain and click on a link to the site.” Id. ¶ 10. To learn Playpen’s unique .onion address, a user might communicate directly with others on Tor or he might consult another site that lists links to child pornography hidden service sites. Agent Macfarlane concluded that accessing Playpen “therefore requires numerous affirmative steps by the user, making it extremely unlikely that any user could simply stumble upon [Playpen] without understanding its purpose and content.” Id.1

[362]*362Agent Macfarlane described Playpen’s homepage as it appeared on February 18, 2015, two days before he signed the affidavit. At the top left corner of the page, the name Playpen was prominently displayed. On either side of the site name were images depicting partially clothed prepubescent girls with their legs spread apart. Below these images, the site stated: “No cross-board reports, .7z preferred, encrypt filenames, include preview.” Id. ¶ 12. Agent Macfarlane explained that “no-crossboard reports” was an instruction to users not to post material appearing on other sites. Id. The “.7z preferred” statement referred to a method of compressing large files for distribution. Id. At the top right corner, to the right of the site name, users could enter a username and password, and select a session length. A login button appeared to the right of those login fields.

Below the site name, the image of the two partially clothed girls, and the login fields was a textbox that read: ‘Warning! Only registered members are allowed to access this section. Please login below or ‘register an account’ with Playpen.” Id. The “register an account” text was hyper-linked to the site’s registration page. Another set of login fields appeared below this warning, asking users to enter their username, password, minutes to stay logged in, and whether they wanted to permanently remain logged in.

When a prospective user clicked the “register an account” hyperlink, the user saw a message from the forum operators. The message explained that the forum required new users to enter an email address and that the software “checks that what you enter looks approximately valid.” Id. ¶ 13. However, the forum operators encouraged users to enter fake email addresses: we “do NOT want you to enter a real address, just something that matches the xxx@yyy.zzz pattern. No confirmation will be sent.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
208 F. Supp. 3d 358, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 129735, 2016 WL 5339723, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-anzalone-mad-2016.