text:
The week of September 28, 2014
The darkest net
By Patrick Howell O'Neill
The police came for William Weber at his office.
Early on the morning of Nov. 28, 2012, 10 Austrian state police officers grabbed Weber from work, drove him home, and demanded that he let them into the house—or they'd bust the door down.
Weber, an IT administrator, ran seven exit nodes for Tor, the anonymity network made famous for its use by a diverse population including international activists, journalists, militaries, cybercriminals, and perhaps most infamously, child pornographers.
While almost everyone else on the Tor network is meant to be anonymous and protected, exit node operators are not. They can shoulder massive legal risks when handling 30 terabytes of data—which is what Weber said his nodes handled every day—from thousands of anonymous users and dozens of countries. They often shoulder that risk because they believe in Tor and the power it grants oppressed groups around the world. In Weber's case, one of those thousands of users had used his node to look at or distribute child pornography. And the investigator's trail went cold at Weber's computer.
That left him in the crosshairs of the Austrian state police.
The police officers read private documents in his home and tore power cords out of walls and hardware, Weber said. They confiscated as evidence his guns (all owned legally), computers, consoles, and an arsenal of electronics.
In July 2014, Weber was sentenced to three years probation for abetting the spread of child pornography. He faced as many as 10 years in prison. The raid was one battle in a diffuse and complex worldwide war that has raged around online child pornography for over three decades, ever since the illicit material started to find its way online.
The Justice Department reported that 21 million unique IP addresses—the unique number that identifies which network your computer uses to connect to the Internet—traded child pornography in 2009 alone, 9 million of which were inside the United States. In 2011, police turned over 22 million images and videos to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to identify victims. Over 4,100 specific victims have been identified, but the majority go unknown.
In the department's report, investigators and prosecutors around the country reported "dramatic increases in the number, and violent character, of the sexually abusive images of children being trafficked through the Internet."
The children in front of the camera are getting younger, too. There are more toddlers. More infants. And much of the underground business that forms from their abuse, from the illicit media to the consumers and the pornographers themselves, bubbles towards the surface on the Deep Web's child porn sites.
If you could somehow filter out all the explicit content and language relating to child sex, however, online pedophile pornography communities might seem astonishingly familiar. Members form friendships, rivalries, cliques, and all the layers of social complexities you would find in any other online community. For many pedophiles, these websites are the only places in the world where they feel they can be themselves without fear of reprisal.
I wanted to learn about these shunned societies: how they worked, who lived within them, and how they formed in the first place.
Targeting popular pedophile forums focusing on discussion—not image or video sharing—I met some of the most highly visible pedophiles online. Despite initial paranoia, the community was surprisingly trustworthy. Pedophiles gained significant confidence over recent years thanks to Tor's perceived ability to stymie law enforcement.
A few said they were "disgusted" that anyone would talk to me, telling their peers that reporters "can't be trusted." They cursed anyone who cooperated with me and told me in no uncertain terms to get out.
In exchange for my honesty, however, the pedophile forums let me stay and talk on the condition that I not reveal their names or the forums' location. Many said they just wanted an article that didn't call for their heads. They asked to see an end to what they saw as media sensationalism and the start of something closer to what they saw as the truth. I made them no promises except that I would listen to what they had to say. So they began to talk about their secret lives. Their online lives.
This is what they told me.
Pushed underground
Almost every child pornography website has, at its center, ongoing discussions about the moral, legal, and emotional defense of what they call "child love."
Pedophiles will point to famous celebrities from bygone eras: Charlie Chaplin (who impregnated and married multiple teenagers), Edgar Allan Poe (who married his 13-year-old cousin and lied about her age), or Jerry Lee Lewis (who married his 13-year-old cousin). The names are passed along as proof that great men can love young children—and that, in turn, the modern persecution of pedophiles is a function of bad laws and puritanical society more than it is a legitimate effort to end a moral abhorrence.
Many of these laws are in fact very young. In the 1970s, you could walk into a local red-light shop and find child pornography in the pages of glossy magazines sitting right next to adult pornography. In fact, one of the Western world's greatest taboos has only been banned in the U.S. for 31 years.
New York passed the nation's first law against child porn in 1977, followed a year later by a similar measure at the federal level. British Parliament passed the Protection of Children Act in the same year. Taken together, these laws began to push child pornography underground. By 1982, the New York Times called the world of child pornography "closed, clandestine," small, and most significantly, shrinking.
The children in front of the camera are getting younger, too. There are more toddlers. More infants.
Child porn advocates didn't disappear without a fight, though. Shortly after the law was implemented, Paul Ferber, the owner of an adult bookstore in Manhattan, was charged for selling to an undercover police officer two films of young boys masturbating. Far from proclaiming his innocence, Ferber claimed the sale was protected by the First Amendment and took the state to court.
Ferber's lawsuit marched up the rungs of the federal court system until it landed at the feet of the Supreme Court in 1982. The court's decision was unanimous: Banning child pornography did not violate the First Amendment right to free speech. The court then expanded the breadth of the law, banning the selling and possession of the material, in addition to its production.
"In recent years, the exploitive use of children in the production of pornography has become a serious national problem," Justice Byron White argued. Such things possess so little value that "any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality."
Pushed out of easy brick-and-mortar businesses, child porn quickly moved to the nascent technology and communities of cyberspace.
Cybergenesis
"Pedophiles have been online as long as there was something called 'online,'" RedGerbil, a member of one popular anonymous Deep Web pedophile forum, told me. "Pedophiles are part of every community. Even before the Internet there were pedophiles contacting each other through bulletin board systems. Digital images were exchanged as soon as it was possible to exchange them."
That meant using technology so rudimentary it has largely been forgotten in the era of ubiquitous high-speed Internet, with HD streaming movies and split-second downloads.
Back then, a user would use a phone line and a modem to dial into what was known as a Bulletin Board System. This was the primitive 'net, a single-celled organism compared to the modern Internet's highly evolved and complicated structure. Instead of phoning into a network of computers, you called into a single server that provided you no access to any other others. Downloading text was relatively slow and images came at what today would feel today like a crawl. But this was the beginning of a tech revolution that would change the world—and make spreading child porn easier than ever before.
CBBS (computerized bulletin board system), the first of its kind. Photo via Mac Life
It may be difficult to imagine in the heavily policed cyberspace of today, but law enforcement had a relatively infinitesimal presence on the Web in the '80s and '90s. Many digital pioneers had decades to forge their own way on the early 'net, out in the open and with little mind for laws. Child pornography found a beachhead.
Bulletin Board Systems were so important to the birth of the online child pornography community that the term remains in heavy use today, even if the technology itself is long gone. The term BBS is so "strongly associated with child pornography," according to one study, that nine out of the top 10 BBS-related Web searches are directly related to child pornography including terms such as "preteen BBS."
Eventually, however, the BBS gave way to a more powerful technology. Whereas a BBS was generally run off of a single server for relative geographic locals, a technology called Usenet was open to the entire world. It operated with a decentralized global network, through which anyone with a connection, anywhere in the world, could post a message. There was no limit to its use. Pedophiles adapted to the new tech quickly.
"Usenet was the place to be," wrote KnightShoe, another pedophile who spoke with me on the condition of anonymity. Usenet was, in a few key ways, similar to today's Reddit in that it was divided into different areas of interest, called "newsgroups" (which are comparable to subreddits), and accessed by millions of readers.
Also like Reddit, Usenet had moderators to keep forums in check, and these volunteers occasionally stirred up controversy for what users saw as prudish policies that verged on censorship. So in 1987, as part of a strike against these policies, civil libertarian activist John Gilmore and computer scientist Brian Reid created the alt.sex discussion group. By 1993, it had 3.3 million readers. Other alt groups, most notably alt.binaries, traded images and videos, including child pornography.
"The one that I remember best was alt.binaries.pictures.erotica.pre-teen," RedGerbil wrote. "At that time the majority of the stuff being posted was nudism or other outdoor nude photography, but there was also a mix of scanned copies of '70s glossy magazine material featuring underage girls."
There was little need to hide what they were doing. Even when hanging out in a public community indelicately titled "erotica.pre-teen," online pedophiles felt safe and secure.
But Usenet wasn't the only cutting-edge technology that would prove a boon to the pedophile community. Launched in 1988, a simple chat platform called IRC (Internet Relay Chat) made instantly communicating over the Internet easier than ever before, and it would eventually become one of the most important communication tools in the history of the Web. From the mid- to late '90s, popular chat channels dedicated to trading child pornography were hosted on servers across North America and Europe.
"I recall days of old when Usenet and IRC was rife with child pornography, private trading and all manner of other things," KnightShoe wrote, "the days of 56 Kbps modems waiting an age for material to download."
For two decades, the online child pornography trade flourished with little thought of the laws that forbade it. The relatively young and lawless Internet age introduced countless pedophiles to a new, easy way of finding forbidden text, images, and video.
Operation Avalanche
In 1997, Texas-based programmer named Thomas Reedy launched a porn site called "Landslide Productions." It might have blended into the thousands of other sites like it back then, if not for a small banner near the bottom of the home page. "Click here for child porn," it read. A click took users directly into the site's online child porn warehouse. A directory included sections like "children forced to porn," "child rape," "children of God," and more.
Landslide, a CBC documentary on Thomas Reedy
Charging a $29.95 monthly rate, Landslide grew quickly to 300,000 subscribers across 60 countries. At its peak, it was a multimillion-dollar company.
It lasted only two years.
The bottom fell out in 1999, when massive credit card fraud by would-be customers caused the company to lose almost all payment options and collapse. The police, however, did not forget about Reedy. Two years later, he was investigated by three federal agencies simultaneously, then shortly arrested, convicted, and sentenced to 1,335 years in prison, though it was later reduced to 180 years (as if it matters at that point).
The raid was part of a broader offensive. Around 100 of Reedy's alleged customers around the world were arrested as part of what the FBI dubbed "Operation Avalanche."
In Avalanche's wake, a network of 30 federally funded task forces were created to fight Internet crimes against children. This was the moment online child pornography finally emerged as a top law enforcement priority. And the effect was immediate.
In 1994, only 61 defendants were sentenced in federal court for child-pornography offenses, according to the New York Times. Compare that to 2006, when 2,526 suspects were referred to U.S. attorneys for child pornography offenses. Between 1996 and 2007, there was a 2,062 percent increase in child exploitation investigations throughout the FBI.
Those thousands of defendants rarely chose to risk trial.
"You can watch the [jury's] expressions change. I saw one gentleman in the front row of the jury, I think it was No. 3, and I saw him lurch forward toward the defendant," Jeff Fischbach, a forensic analyst who works with child pornography, told NPR. "It is handled like it's radioactive."
A new digital underground
While the heat turned up in one part of the world, the gravitational center of the online child pornography trade moved to Kiev, Ukraine. There, in the early aughts, a company named LS Studios—also known as Ukrainian Angel Studio—produced child pornography with a production value that led consumers to compare it to top-tier, legitimate pornography companies.
LS Studios was a credit-card-subscription-based service that produced hundreds of thousands of images and videos of over 1,500 individual young girls, attracting thousands of paying customers from around the world. From 2001 to August 2004, the studio operated like many above-board porno operations do today, producing about 80 collections.
The parents often profited from their children's abuse, reportedly getting paid $10 to $40 per hour of shooting.
Ukrainian cops shut down LS Studios in 2004, but the material remains highly valued to this day. Many pedophiles still consider its pictures to be the gold standard of "child erotic modeling." And LS Studio's successful three-year run gave rise to a number of spin-off child-modeling agencies in Eastern Europe and Russia that continue to produce material that is traded to this day, largely beyond the reach of law enforcement anywhere.
That's because simple possession of child pornography remains legal in countries such as Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. Those relatively lax laws have made the region a constant, global center of child pornography production and trade. In addition to LS Studios, pedophiles began to use image-hosting websites to first trade non-nude pictures of minors and then exchange emails to swap outright child pornography.
"Child pornography was being swapped and collected online with the vigor and obsession usually found among baseball card enthusiasts," Kurt Eichenwald wrote in the New York Times in 2005. Some of the most desired images, he wrote, depicted "girls from what experts believe was a European kindergarten in sexual encounters with adult men."
One of the Western world's greatest taboos has only been banned in the U.S. for 31 years.
As cybercrime became a higher global priority, police around the world cooperated more than ever. In 2001, American and Russian police shut down one of the era's most infamous child pornography rings: Russia's Blue Orchid, which openly sold videos of pre-adolescent Russian boys being raped. The operation against the studio resulted in investigations and arrests across the United States and Europe.
Back in the West, the Internet became increasingly dangerous for pedophiles. Police inundated popular services as undercover agents, instilling a profound sense of paranoia that still lingers. As a response, pedophiles moved back to older, decentralized technology. A key tenet of anti-censorship technology of all stripes, decentralization allowed child pornography to further spread out across the globe.
IRC, the chat system first created in the late '80s, had become globally popular by the 2000s. Among child pornographers and their patrons, it was "the primary place for pedophiles to socialize and trade material," according to RedGerbil. Decentralized peer to peer (P2P) file-sharing services like Napster or LimeWire—services most people were using to download things like pirated music and movie files—also became popular hubs for the trade. As average Internet connection speeds began to rise, high-quality videos became much more common.
IRC trading still exists today, but many pedophiles think police and vigilantes have saturated the old P2P networks, waiting to catch and identify any trader. "P2P still contains much child pornography today," wrote KnightShoe, "but it's nothing much more than a death trap for pedophiles now."
If pedophiles had learned one thing over the past two decades, it was that they could always stay one step ahead of the cops—as long as they stayed one step ahead on new technologies.
The power of Tor
In October 2011, a small army of Anonymous hacktivists launched a cyberattack against the largest child pornography website that had ever existed: Lolita City, an infamous hidden website hosted on the Tor network. The goal of the offensive, which hinged on simple denial-of-service attacks, was to bring down the website, expose its users to the public and police, and put a dead scare into every pedophile on the planet.
It made sense that the largest site ever would have grown on Tor. The tool's anonymizing technology, funded for the most part by the U.S. government, is used by activists to fight oppressive regimes, whistleblowers to communicate with journalists, militaries to conduct intelligence operations, and law-abiding individuals to avoid corporate and government surveillance. Take that technology and hand it over to child pornographers, and you suddenly have an almost revolutionary freedom.
"We were driven underground," one pedophile told The Kernel. And underground is where they flourished.
There's little to prepare a person for the first time they encounter a pedophile community like the one that existed on Lolita City. One June 2013 post was from an anonymous user who wished he could take medication "to cure this condition" of pedophilia. "I would pay any price to take that medication. Anybody here share same feelings?" A few minutes later, another poster lashed out, calling him a troll and urging him to leave the City and never come back.
Here are the titles of a few particularly popular threads as relayed to me by an anonymous source who frequented the website:
Points to make in debate when arguing pro adult/child sex
Moral Panic: Changing Concepts of the Child Molester in Modern America. By Philip Jenkins
Manufacturing Victims: What the Psychology Industry Is Doing to People, by Dr. Tana Dineen
What Should the Age of Consent Be? How About 7?
In response to the last query, several users said the age of 7 was too high. Others said that all age of consent laws are wrong.
"I am sexually attracted to children younger than 7 so I would still want to interact sexually with such, but 7 seems like a realistic age for consensual sex. Children aren't stupid, so why do governments, legislators, and 'laws' belittle them and call them stupid?!"
That's the type of conversation that ran day in and day out at the forums. By 2011, Lolita City was the biggest child pornography website online. Operation DarkNet, the October 2011 operation by Anonymous, was a reaction not just to the pornography they were trading but to the community they were fostering.
The operation involved some of Anonymous's most notable members. Hector Xavier Monsegur, a hacker media icon better known as Sabu, was one of #OpDarkNet's commanding generals. Monsegur became an active FBI informant in August 2011, after pleading guilty to a dozen criminal counts, two months before #OpDarkNet launched. No one knows exactly who directed the cyberattacks against Lolita City, but the FBI was, at the very least, fully aware of them.
The operation began with an attack on the the Hidden Wiki, a launching point to many hidden websites on Tor. Anonymous, furious that the Hidden Wiki refused to remove the links to Lolita City, launched denial-of-service attacks that rendered the website unusable. From there, the hacktivists expanded their offensive to Freedom Hosting, the preeminent hosting service on Tor at the time, for refusing to cede its place as "host of the largest collection of child pornography on the Internet," according to Anonymous.
The story was a big PR win for Anonymous, usually an extremely polarizing entity, with write-ups from media outlets as diverse as the Daily Mail and Ars Technica. The hackers aimed to disable all the sites involved or replace them by using phishing attacks targeting Deep Web pedophiles. IP logs yielded by the phishing were released and put on a map, ostensibly giving away the identity of 190 child porn traders.
Anonymous took a victory lap for all the world to see.
The extreme of the extreme
Acts of violence—even digital violence—often end in ways no one can predict. Maybe it shouldn't be a surprise, then, that #OpDarkNet is a textbook example of the law of unintended consequences. To say the operation merely failed in accomplishing its goal would grossly underestimate the results. In many ways, Anonymous accomplished precisely the opposite of what it set out to do.
About a day after #OpDarkNet, the sites had returned. Rather than kill them, Anonymous had publicized them.
"It is our GOD given right that we can choose to have our sexual preferences for youth," one pedophile wrote in a letter to Anonymous. "It is the same for any other porn community. It is not what we choose to become, it is who we are. You Anonymous aka #OpDarkNet do not have the right to censor us."
By 2013, Lolita City boasted 15,000 members, 10 times the number registered in 2011, when the site hosted 100 gigabytes of media. By the early summer of 2013, it hosted nearly 10 times that amount, with 1.3 million images and videos. More pornography was being uploaded every minute.
Not only did the operation advertise Lolita City, it brought the power of Tor to a whole new audience of entrepreneurial pedophiles.
For two decades, the online child pornography trade flourished with little thought of the laws that forbade it.
Before it launched, #OpDarkNet was promoted heavily on 4chan, the famously anarchic forum where Anonymous has its roots. The call-for-action posts were designed to get people from around the globe to lend their computers in the attack. A 4chan user and pedophile who calls himself Lux spotted those posts. He had never heard of Tor or websites like Lolita City before, but he was offered an introduction by the impassioned hacktivists who had briefly dedicated themselves to bringing it all down. Lux began to post in various pedophile forums around the Deep Web. Before long, he was "hooked," he told me.
Within a few years, Lux would go on to become one of the most infamous men in the world of Deep Web peodphiles. Lolita City was the biggest child porn hub on the Web, but it was hardly the only player. In fact, there are some child pornography websites and communities that even most pedophiles shun. And Lux created several of them.
Within the online culture of pedophiles is an even more extreme subculture known as HurtCore. HurtCore aficionados exalt in violent and realistic depictions of rape and sexual assault of underage subjects. Likely the biggest HurtCore site of all time, Lux's "Hurt 2 the Core" lived on Tor.
Using hosting initially provided by Freedom Hosting but then spread out across multiple anonymous hosts, Lux created an empire of child pornography image-sharing services, forums, video streaming, and chatrooms simply called PedoEmpire. In just four months in early 2013, Lux's suite of free services sites attracting thousands of users.
Here's a picture of what your average Hurt2TheCore threads might look like. These titles were taken from the forum's June 2013 index:
Producing kiddie porn for dummies
Toddler childporn star
Crying rape
Need ideas for blackmailed girl
The early days of H2TC
Although Lux said his pedophilia began in his teenage years, he's been a member of the child pornography community only for the last three years.
"At first I felt ashamed in myself for being attracted to such a thing, but as time went on I slowly grew more accepting of myself," he told me. "It wasn't until I came across the Tor pedo community that I was able to truly feel comfortable with attractions."
After chafing under the rules of another popular pedophile forum that forbade HurtCore, Lux launched his own website that allowed "complete freedom." Incredibly, Lux claims he isn't even a fan of hurtcore, rape, beastiality, and most of the other kinks often seen on H2TC.
"If anyone had ever done such a thing to any of the kids I know, I would put a bullet in their head," he told me. "Given that, I still think that people who have interest in such things should have a place where they're able to voice their opinions and desires." Lux describes himself as a "strong believer in free speech." He says most members are only describing fantasies and would "never dream of doing such acts in real life."
In many ways, Anonymous accomplished precisely the opposite of what it set out to do.
For all his popularity among his own users, Lux inspires a singular kind of hate even from many other fellow pedophiles. The very fact that I exchanged emails with him brought hate mail to my inbox.
"'Hurt 2 the Core' is the only site that is advertised for hurtcore [on the Hidden Wiki]," an anonymous pedophile told me. "A few other sites may tolerate it to a limited extent, but most of the community hates anyone who hurts kids, and shuns those who have fantasies about doing so."
At the start of June 2013, Lux's PedoEmpire received up to 20,000 unique hits per day on weekends, Lux said. Hurt 2 the Core reported an average of 326 accounts registered and 160 posts made every day. His video site boasted 15,000 daily downloads. There's no way to verify those numbers—though the site's active forums proved it was a very busy hub of activity.
"Oh," Lux said, adding one more stat to the list, "and about a dozen death threats every week. They're always fun!"
"Child love"
In 2010, the founder of Lolita City wanted to host a question-and-answer session on Reddit. A victim of sexual abuse spoke up first.
"I'm one of those children who was used to give someone older than me an orgasm," wrote the anonymous poster.
"I was given no choice. It wasn't fun. It wasn't a dirty thrill. All I received was a tiny seed, buried deep inside. At first I didn't understand what it was. Now I carry with me a tree. It is a tree that is made out of fear, and it's branches touch all that I see. My life was destroyed, all for someone else's orgasm. One day, if the tree keeps growing, it will tear me apart. No matter what you tell yourself, no matter what you think makes it all okay. I want you to know what you really are. You destroy lives."
While pedophiles see a distinction between "child love" and HurtCore victims, the public often doesn't. Anonymizing technology isn't just a way to trade illegal files for pedophiles. It's also a way to find acceptance and validation that the rest of the world won't grant.
Anonymity is a powerful but far from impenetrable wall that pedophiles use against cops. But for those who have discarded their identity, the wall is indiscriminate. Anonymity can push away family and friends as well as authorities. It puts a barrier between those who can barely stand to think about a website like Lolita City, nevermind try to understand those who occupy it. The resulting loneliness leaves the Deep Web feeling utterly vital to many of its pedophile inhabitants.
"The issue we mainly have is being tarred with the same brush as everyone who would wish harm upon a child, something anathema to our ethos here," wrote user Better253 at a text-only forum with thousands of members. The forum, which hosts no pornography of any kind, is dedicated to providing support and community to pedophiles who might otherwise feel alone.
At this particular forum, most users believe that "relationships between adults and minors can work in the long-term if the child consents to the activity, and leads the way in what to do given the occasional nudge in the right direction (and sometimes not)," one anonymous user explained.
In a community that is anti-censorship as a matter of existential necessity, outright violence toward children, like the kind that HurtCore fetishizes, is censored and condemned.
"We 'pedophile communities' don't exist to simply trade child porn or sexy stories," wrote user Avalanched. "When you have an orientation so reviled by society that you can't come out to your most trusted friends and family, the value of being able to communicate with other people experiencing the same types of struggles cannot be understated. It literally keeps you sane."
These discussions are part of the everyday discourse on this forum. Spend any amount of time amongst pedophiles and you'll hear this question asked again and again: "How many of us are actually hurting children?"
Prosecutors and victims stress that viewing and sharing an image of rape or molestation is equivalent to abusing the child again.
When, for instance, a user brags in great detail about raping children, many commenters often wonder if the author is fantasizing, mocking or even a law enforcement agent trolling to discredit pedophiles or catch one who would share too many personal details.
"Importantly, a substantial proportion of child-porn users (perhaps the majority) do NOT engage in contact sexual offending with children," wrote Dr. Bill Glaser, a psychiatrist interviewed at length for All Things Vice.
But even "just" looking at child pornography is not a victimless crime. Many of the victims are left with lifelong psychiatric scars that far outlast the rape itself. American law offers restitution to victims to cover psychiatric care, legal costs, and lost income. And there are other continued costs that the victims have to pay long after the camera has stopped filming. I spoke with several pedophiles who say it's not rare for men to become obsessed with a particular child involved in pornography and then find their real identities on social networks. They told stories of Russians, for instance, stalking social networks like Vkontakte until they found and befriended the "models"—in reality, the unwilling sex abuse victims—they like most.
Victims of child pornography unwittingly become celebrities in an opaque subculture. Videos and pictures are traded like hot commodities: The rarer, the crazier, the more a trader can get in return.
Prosecutors and victims stress that viewing and sharing an image of rape or molestation is equivalent to abusing the child again. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Marci Ellsworth asserts that viewing the material is "not, as the child pornography consumers sometimes argue, 'victimless.'"
"The heinous nature of this offense should never be diminished by referring to it as 'just pictures,'" Ellsworth said during the 2012 trial of child molester and child pornography producer. "The children portrayed suffer real and permanent damage for the rest of their lives, each and every time their exploitation is shared over the Internet."
A study by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reveals that 79 percent of all victims are abused by adults they know and trust. Other numbers paint a stark, cold picture of just how the children are hurt: 76 percent of the images and videos involve prepubescent children with no signs of sexual maturation; 75 percent involve sexual penetration; 44 percent involve bondange or sadomasochism, while 20 percent involve urination and/or defecation; 10 percent star infants or toddlers. And 4 percent of the images contain bestiality.
Many viewers, especially those who preach child love, will search closely for signs of enjoyment and hints of a smile for the kids being raped on screen. For child hurt fetishists, those details either don't matter or they'll search for the exact opposite. But for the kids, there's little they can do once the images hit the Web.
"I will never be able to have control over who sees me raped as a child," one victim whose photos spread rapidly through cyberspace wrote in a letter to the court during the trial of her convicted abuser. "It's all out there for the world to see and it can never be removed from the internet."
The ongoing war
Late one August night in 2013, Timothy DeFoggi—the acting cybersecurity chief at the federal Department of Health and Human Services—began downloading child porn, something he'd apparently done many times in the past. He thought he was safe. He wasn't.
Police swarmed his home as the data hit his network. Press reports said DeFoggi, who had been surfing the anonymous Web all night, had to be pried from his laptop. Until that moment, DeFoggi was a highly valued technology expert in the U.S. government. He nevertheless apparently believed that the Tor browser alone would be enough to protect him—but as Tor developers and the police who busted him that night will tell you, there's no such thing as 100 percent security.
DeFoggi, who was found guilty in 2014 on three child-porn charges, was a regular at Deep Web pedophilia forums like PedoBoard, a hidden site that boasted 5,600 users and shared over 10,000 images of child pornography. Like many of its other users in the summer of 2013, DeFoggi had erroneously believed everything was normal.
In forums like Babies, Prepubescent Boys, Prepubescent Girls, Teenage Boys, and Teenage Girls, users were launching into their usual discussions: "How to lure a child in my car," "Meeting other pedos in real life," and "Do kids LIKE anal sex?"
But someone was watching.
Two weeks prior, the FBI had seized the board, which was operated from Omaha, Neb. Instead of shutting it down, they silently watched and managed it. The operation resulted in the arrest of 25 alleged pedophiles, including administrator Aaron McGrath, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the crime of engaging in a child exploitation enterprise. McGrath ran PedoBoard and other websites like PedoBook, a social network for pedophiles, from his home and the server farm he worked at.
The massive sting was a big red alarm to tech-savvy pedophiles. Despite the immense obstacles presented by Tor, law enforcement was continuing to work against their most popular websites. And occasionally the bureau was hitting hard.
According to legal documents, the FBI gained access to PedoBoard because McGrath left administrative accounts unprotected, leaving them open to takeover. From those accounts, they found the servers' IP addresses. Combined with their admin access, they were able to use something called a Network Investigative Technique (NIT)—cop-speak for hacking using powerful malware that ranges from a remote access tool to a small beacon that lets authorities know exactly who and where you are.
At Lux's popular Hurt 2 The Core forum, users discussed the PedoBoard sting and speculated about the machinations that made it work.
The fall of Freedom Hosting shook the world of child pornography, making it one of the most important law enforcement offensives ever.
"If you run a board for 2 weeks this can get you very interesting insights," a user named angryExtremelgor wrote. "Not all Tor-users know to use it properly. With a bit of Javascript or other tricks you can get the ips and localisations."
He was referencing powerful but little known ways that Tor could be compromised, allowing cops to grab the identity of Tor users as long as those users hadn't updated their software quickly enough. The police wouldn't have to hack the Tor network. Instead, they'd just need to take advantage of out-of-date versions of the Mozilla Firefox browser and its publicly available vulnerabilities.
The user's comment proved prophetic.
On the morning of Aug. 3, 2013, every Freedom Hosting website went down. When several of the sites returned—including some of the most popular child pornography forums and trading posts—they were infected with Javascript exploits aimed at identifying visitors. The FBI has since taken credit for the attack.
The fall of Freedom Hosting shook the world of child pornography, making it one of the most important law enforcement offensives since 2001's Operation Avalanche. The FBI has accused Irishman Eric Eoin Marques of running the service and clearing $1.5 million from over 100 hosted websites in the process. Marques is currently crawling his way through the Irish justice system where he is facing possible extradition to the U.S.
While the arrest of Marques and the compromise of Freedom Hosting may prove to be a major triumph for law enforcement, it's merely one victory in a wider war. In March, a dozen American men running a Deep Web child pornography site with 27,000 members were arrested and charged as part of one of the largest child exploitation investigations in the history of the Department of Homeland Security.
Then in July, a whopping 660 alleged online child porn suspects—including, police say, "doctors, teachers, scout leaders, care workers, and former police officers"—were arrested in the United Kingdom by the National Crime Agency (NCA). The NCA's director general refused to reveal the investigative methods that caught the suspects. Instead, he issued a warning.
"We want those offenders to know that the Internet is not a safe anonymous space for accessing indecent images, that they leave a digital footprint, and that law enforcement will find it".
But for each child porn community law enforcement takes out, it seems another sprouts up. After a short period laying low following the fall of Freedom Hosting, its former customers started looking for—and finding—new hosts. Deep Web pedophiles who had been pushed underground time and again simply moved further away from sunlight. Several major forums have shut down while others have become invite-only. And with each new social network, from Vine to Snapchat, there's an inevitable period where child porn circulates in some capacity.
The biggest child pornography website on the Deep Web is no longer Lolita City. In fact, with well over 50,000 active users, the Love Zone may be the biggest pedophile site of all time. It requires new members to provide hardcore child pornography as a rite of initiation before joining.
The Deep Web's pedophiles possess, above all else, an unrelenting drive to continue. Many see pedophilia as a need, a genetic predisposition they cannot escape. When I asked why they continue despite the risks, a cacophony of replies came back with one common denominator: The anonymous Internet, they said, gives us our sanity.
For victims, however, it's where their abuse never dies.
Photo by Jason Reed
The promise and pitfalls of the Deep Web
The unstoppable rise of the Deep Web
Inside the black markets for your stolen credit cards
Fear and loathing in the Tor network
The new search engines shining a light on the Deep Web
How Tor protects and serves transgender service members
Me IRL: Alex Winter
Why we need Tor now more than ever
Silk Road and the gentrification of cybercrime
QOTW
Technically Fair


text:
Buhari in closed-door meeting with APC caretaker chairman, Governor Yahaya Bello
10 days ago read comments by Oluwatobi Bolashodun
- President Buhari met with Governor Yahaya Bello and APC caretaker chairman, Governor Mai Mala Buni
- This development was confirmed in a tweet by Bashir Ahmad, the president's personal assistant on new media
- Talk between the governors and the Nigerian leader is expected to be centred on issues concerning the ruling party
President Muhammadu Buhari held a closed door meeting with Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State at the State House, Abuja.
This was disclosed in a tweet by Bashir Ahmad, a personal assistant on new media to the president, via his verified Twitter handle, @BashirAhmaad on Wednesday, January 6.
It was gathered that the Nigerian leader held the meeting with Bello in company of Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe state and Chairman of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee.
Bandits funded by disgruntled Nigerian politicians, says Gov Umahi
President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday, January 6, received APC caretaker chairman and governor of Kogi state. Photo credit: @BayoOmoboriowo
Although the purpose of the meeting is yet unknown, Legit.ng notes that it may be connected with President Buhari advising Bello and Buni on issues concerning Nigeria and the ruling party.
The meeting is coming on the heels of campaign posters of Bello flooding some major roads in Kano state.
The posters carrying inscriptions suggesting the governor's 2023 presidential ambitions, were spotted in some areas of the foremost northern commercial city.
The posters do not bear any party's logo but there was a big inscription which reads: 'For generational change 2023, vote Yahaya Bello for President, Federal Republic of Nigeria.' Read more:
Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that members of the Kogi state House of Assembly called on Governor Bello to put his hat in the ring for the presidency in 2023.
FG sends strong message to Nigerians on security, reveals when it will improve
According to the lawmakers, the governor ticked all the right boxes for the presidential seat and should be backed by all Nigerians to take over from President Buhari.
However, Bello declared that he is focused on delivering his mandate of rebuilding Kogi state now, amid calls from his associates to contest the 2023 presidential election.
He made the comment on Monday, December 21, 2020, at the security and economic summit of the Northcentral Governors Forum in Benue state.
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APCMuhammadu Buhari
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Mariners are not contenders, and adding Fielder in 2012 would make them better, but not enough to leap-frog three teams in the American League West. From the Northwest, Seattle flies more miles than any team in baseball and is often handed brutal trips. Next year, for example, one trip has them play New York, Baltimore and Los Angeles, meaning the Mariners cross the country not once but twice on the same trip.
Another trip has them going to New York, Boston, Cleveland and Colorado. Go ahead, dangle that in front of a player pondering where to play.
So, when it comes down to money, the Mariners must offer more than anyone else. They can't promise contention like the Philadelphia or Texas, New York or Boston. A beautiful ball park - usually about half full - isn't much of an incentive if the option includes the chance to play in a World Series.
Thome signed with a National League team, meaning he went from a DH to a PH - essentially a pinch-hitter. Why not stay in the AL, where he could have played all but fulltime with someone? He wanted the chance at a ring, and knows his career is near its end. The Phillies are contenders.
That doesn't mean the Seattle Mariners can't sign free agents. They can and have. They've just overpaid for the right, and if they set their sights on a high-end player like Fielder, it's going to cost them more than they've ever spent before.


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Tonal printing, a recent popular print style, which we'd like to think is a phrase that we've coined in the screen printing industry, uses water based ink to achieve a hue somewhat lighter (Tonal Light) or somewhat darker (Tonal Dark) than the color of the garment.
From the retailers' standpoint, size stickers let your customers easily find the size they're looking for without unfolding a stack of shirts and making a mess. From the picking/packing/shipping department's standpoint, stickers can speed the picking and size verification prior to shipping.
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With over 2 million active advertisers on Facebook, you've probably read dozens of stories by now of how people are running profitable Facebook Ads.
Though what if you're not experiencing success when it comes to Facebook Ads?
Does it mean that the whole notion of profitable Facebook Ads is a lie?
Your campaigns are most likely failing due some fundamental errors that you're making. Don't worry, we've all been there.
In this article, I'm going to cover some of the most common reasons your Facebook Ad campaigns might be failing and what you can do to 'resuscitate' them.
Facebook is a powerful advertising platform because you can target your ads in ways that just aren't possible on other platforms. But there's a flipside to this.
If your Facebook Ads are failing, there's a big chance that it's down to you not targeting your ads properly.
Why is improper targeting a problem?
If you're putting your ads in front of people who don't care about your offering, it doesn't matter how good your ad is — people just won't click on it.
When it comes to targeting errors, there are two camps that advertisers generally fall into.
The first camp, includes people who make their targeting too narrow. This tends to happen when you go over the top with Facebook's targeting features.
The second camp, includes people who make their targeting too broad.
How do you know if poor targeting is your problem?
CTR is calculated by dividing the number clicks by the number of times your ad was shown.
Poor targeting leads to a poor CTR because your ads are irrelevant to the people you're showing them to. Because of this, they don't feel like clicking on your ads.
And remember — if no one's clicking on your ads, your ads aren't going to be making you any money.
If you want to dial in your targeting, there are a couple of things that you can do.
What demographics do they occupy? At the most basic level you need to know their age, gender, job title and geographical location.
What does a typical day in their life look like? When you know this, you'll have a better understanding of what interests they have and what products they purchase.
What are their pain points? This will let you know what their main struggles are. You can then use this information when actually writing your ads, by suggesting that you can solve these pain points.
You need to come up with a buyer persona that's so detailed, that you can easily decide on all of the relevant options provided by Facebook.
On the 'More Demographics' drop-down menu, you might want to stop short of Ethnic Affinity Though the 'Life Events' section might be useful, the rest may cause you to target to narrow.
You might think that buyer persona's are a waste of time, but it's one the things that Zappos used to help focus their $10 million (!) ad spend.
Though they called it 'consumer profiles', they essentially followed the same steps needed when creating buyer persona's.
As your ads become more targeted, you'll begin to notice your 'Potential Reach' is getting lower. Reach refers to an estimated number of people who will see an impression of your ad.
When Reach falls, you'll notice that the needle shown on the page where you actually create your ads, will swing to the left.
Audience Insights is a tool created by Facebook. In basic terms, you can use it to convert broad targeting data into narrow targeting data, of which is more likely to convert.
Even if you just provide the Audience Insights tool with a little bit of information, you'll still get a lot more back in the form of data points that give you a sense of who your customer really is.
You can then use this information so that you can use Facebook's targeting features to the fullest extent.
Let's take a look at how you can use Audience Insights to improve your ad targeting.
(Note: The Household and Purchases section is only available to the US at the moment).
Audience insights can become an incredibly powerful tool, even if you just have the basics down of your buyer persona.
Let's say we wanted to create a Facebook Marketing course that taught people how to build an e-mail list.
How could we use Audience Insights to provide us with information on who we should target?
Well, lets assume that we know some basic information about our potential customers.
We'll then put that information into the options provided by the Audience Insights tool.
When it comes to interests, I just entered some keywords that are related to the hypothetical product.
The keywords can be based on what you're looking to sell, but also on people/companies that might be an authority in your space.
That is because they tend to be going after the same audience as you.
Don't know who these people or companies might be?
I searched 'list building Facebook ads' (ignore the bad grammar).
And then I started to see some big name websites like Social Media Explorer, that were relevant in this niche.
I also identified people who are influential in this niche. Amy Porterfield is an example.
I then put these websites and names into the targeting options.
You want to find the right balance here.
I've found that it's between 5-7 interests. Too many and your data might miss some excellent targeting opportunities. Too little and your data will be too unspecific.
Keep in mind that you can only target interests on Facebook, if they have a big enough following.
Some of the names and websites I found on Google, didn't register when I tried to enter them in the interests section. That's why they're not there.
Lets take a look at what we discovered as a result of providing this information.
Right off the bat, we know that the audience size is around 700-800k. We just invented this audience right now, so that doesn't mean much.
It does, however, give us a sense of what's possible if we were to run ads to this audience. A lot of people means that we can advertise a lot without quickly saturating the audience with our presence.
We also know that the audience is also evenly divided between men and women.
Throughout this post you'll notice that there are blue bars and sort of grey bars. The sort of grey bars compare the audience demographics to the rest of Facebook.
The grey bars for 55-64 and 65+ are at 0% because that age range was not included when I was formulating my audience.
According to the insights provided, we can also infer that a statistically significant number of people in this audience are college graduates and are married or outright single.
I can also tell that most of the people in this audience, hold job titles related to management, sales and administration.
Above is an image of the Top Categories page. The 'Top Categories' page lets us know the top pages liked by people in this audience, for each of the categories out on offer.
This is where you really begin to learn a lot. That's because Facebook interest targeting is extremely powerful and this page lets us know what interests our audience has.
The image below shows a few more 'Top Category' pages liked by people in this audience.
Here is some more information, based on the top pages liked in each category for this audience.
The 'Page Likes' section shows us some of the pages that are most relevant to our target audience.
The affinity column tells us how likely someone is to 'like' a certain page, compared to everyone else on Facebook. This lets us know about overlaps, in terms of what your target market might find interesting.
If you target the pages with high affinity, you increase the odds of targeting people who might be interested in your offering.
By looking at location, we can see where most of the target audience is located. A lot of them are located in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco.
The percentages in the compare column just put into numbers, what the two bar colours show. If you don't remember, that's how our 'Selected Audience' compares to the rest of Facebook.
As you can see, a disproportionate number of people in San Francisco, are in this audience.
This makes sense as a lot of start-ups are present in San Francisco. They're probably running a lot of Facebook Ads to get users.
Here we can see that our target audience is accustomed to using Facebook on their desktop and mobile device. Very few of them, however, use mobile only. 76% less when compared to the rest of Facebook.
We can also see that a majority of the people in the audience own a home and earn $50-75 thousand dollars a year.
Interestingly, however, is that 31% more people in this audience rent, rather than own a home. If you wanted to really narrow down your targeting, you could focus on users that rent a home and ignore those who own one.
What's more, is that this audience has a disproportionate number of people who earn 100K plus, alluding to the fact that they might be business owners.
And finally we can see that the audience we have targeted, spends 117% more on business purchases than the rest of Facebook.
So, as a result of the information provided by Facebook Audience insights, we now know how to target our ads. We have also inadvertently created the basics of a buyer persona.
If we were looking to create a Facebook Ads course that taught people how to build a list, here is an example of how we might target our ad.
You could save this audience, so that you can use it when creating your Facebook Ads.
However, if you do it like that, you might accidentally include some interests that aren't worth targeting.
After all, it might turn out that people who like Rebelmouse really don't like courses on Facebook Ads.
Using the raw data, therefore, provides you with a chance to be more selective in your targeting.
ii) How to use Audience Insights when have absolutely no idea who your ideal customer is.
The Audience Insights tool can still help you realize who your ideal customer is, even if you're struggling to come up with a buyer persona.
Provided that you have a Facebook page Fan Page with a minimum of 1,000 fans, theAudience Insights tool can help you learn more about the people who are attracted to your business.
Audience insights differs from the well known Page Insights.
To explain it in simple terms – Page Insights tells you how people are interacting with your page. Audience Insights tells you who is interacting with your page.
To gather data for a Fan Page, go to the Audience Insights page and click on Create New.
Once done, click on the 'People Connected to your Page' option when the pop-up appears.
Then under the pages tab on the left, put in the name of your page.
You'll then be supplied with a data set that will tell you who is actually interacting with your page.
As was done earlier, you can then use that information to create a highly targeted ad.
iii) Combining Audience Insights with a mailing list.
If you currently have an email list, you can also use that to work out who your target market is. Thanks to the Custom Audiences feature, you can upload your email list into Facebook.
If you want to upload your email list and use it to create an audience on Facebook,go the power editor on Facebook.
Note that you can use phone numbers and Facebook users IDs too.
I only mentioned e-mail addresses as this is often the easiest thing to obtain, and for Facebook to cross reference. Nearly everyone puts in their email address, but less people put in their phone number when signing up for Facebook.
In order to Facebook to do this effectively, the e-mail list you upload needs to haveat least 1000 monthly active people on it that use Facebook.
It might take Facebook a few days to analyze your audience.
Once done, you'll be able to gather data on who your customer actually is.
Of course, you don't have to go through this step. As you could just target you're mailing list directly when creating an ad, and choosing your audience.
However, there's no need to limit yourself.
If you can create a buyers persona using your email list, you can then target many more people on Facebook using that buyer's persona.
Competition is rising on Facebook. A recent study found that in 2015, businesses spent 122% more on ad units than they did in 2014.
If you're not willing to spend the right amount of money, your ads won't be seen and your campaign will fail — no matter how good your targeting is.
Those who are new to Facebook Ads should use the CPC model of buying ads, as it's easier to work out how much each conversion is costing you and how your ads are actually performing. You'll also stop yourself from burning through your budget, should your ads be poor in performance.
Facebook is a bidding platform and so that means when buying ads, you're competing against other advertisers who are targeting the same audience.
The advertiser who is willing to pay the most gets the most exposure.
If you spend too little, you get minimal exposure and hence your ads won't lead to sales.
How do you know if your Facebook campaign is struggling with this problem?
If you're still not getting clicks, despite accurate targeting and impressive ads, low bids could be the root of the problem. This is because of the reasons mentioned above. Lows bids = Low exposure.
When it comes to deciding how much you want to pay per click, you have two options. You pick how much you want to pay, or you let Facebook decide for you.
If your campaign is failing because your ads aren't getting enough clicks, try setting your own bids. So in the example above you might set a bid of $0.66.
Because of how Facebook's bidding platform works, you won't necessarily be paying $0.66 cents for every click that you receive.
The $0.66 just represents a maximum you're willing to pay for one click. What will happen is that you'll just end up bidding marginally higher than the previously highest bidder.
So before, the highest bid might have been $0.50. Thanks to your new maximum bid, you'll potentially end up bidding in the region of $0.51-$0.53, provided that no one is willing to go higher.
There's one thing you need to remember, however, or else this will all come crashing down, leaving you with no results and a feeling of dejection.
Raising your bid is only worth it, if your ad is good. If you raise your bid, but your ad is no good, Facebook will penalize you.
They can tell how good your ad is by looking at its CTR.
On the CPC model, ads with a low CTR make Facebook less money. That's because fewer people are clicking on it, and Facebook is relying on people to click on it so that they can make money.
Facebook will then charge you more to recoup their losses, or they might even stop serving your ad altogether.
That is why proper targeting is so essential.
Don't get too complacent though, as even targeting can't save you if you ignore the next point I'm about to make.
If you've taken care of your targeting and your bidding strategy, the next reason your ads might be failing is because they're just not click-worthy.
Remember on Facebook, you're competing with a lot of visually appealing content. People are looking at pictures of their family, girlfriends and things of the sort.
Attention is a scarce commodity on Facebook and it's up to you to create ads that draw in users like nothing else.
After all, the last thing that people want to see is irrelevant ads.
You need to make sure your ads don't fall into this camp.
If they do, nobody will want to engage with your ads, and in fact they may just do the opposite and click the 'I don't want to see this' option shown below.
How do you know if your ads are the problem?
When you are still not getting clicks, even though your targeting is brilliant and your bid is set high, your ads tend to be the main issue.
Let's take a look at how we can make click-worthy ads, that will encourage people to click on them.
To keep things simple, we'll breakdown Facebook Ads into three main components.
Be it Newsfeed ads or Sidebar ads, these three components need to be optimized if you want your ads to work.
The headline has to capture the attention of the people you're targeting.
Brilliant ad headlines will do one of two things.
For instance, a headline could be designed so that it can 'enter the conversation that's taking place in your customers mind'– a term coined by the influential ad man Robert Collier.
A headline might do this by asking a relevant question based on something that is important to the person who is viewing the ad.
Is no one visiting your website?
Need someone to help you lose weight?
Wondering where you should invest your money?
On the other hand, a headline could also be positioned as a statement which clearly defines the value on offer.
See the example below where the value proposition is clear. The word 'free,' and the fact that it has been entirely capitalized makes it even more enticing.
Ask a question. Questions make people stop, think, and assess their situation in the context of what was asked.
Use power words. You'll see the word 'free' used in a lot of ads — that's because it works.
Use numbers. Numbers grab attention. '30-day trial' is an example of using numbers.
Be direct. State the result that you can provide in the simplest way possible.
Just by looking at the two ads shown earlier, you can tell that one thing is common. There are pictures of people in both of them. Those ads were chosen by random by the way.
Though not always the case, when you begin to notice a trend like this, it could be because it works.
Facebook is a visual platform. Posts that have images generate 53% more likes than those that do not. People are on the lookout for images.
If you want high-performing images in your ads, consider using people who are looking at the camera. The ads below should provide a sense of how this works.
You can only have 20% of the image taken up by text. So you can't use it to game the character limits.
However, if you're struggling to stick to this rule, consider moving the text around a bit. Jon Loomer found that he could sometimes get around Facebook's limitations by doing this.
See how the text in the image almost emulates the headline and includes a call to action that looks like a button?
This is the kind of stuff that captures attention and encourages people to click on ads.
Use images in which people are looking at the camera and try and include some text that amplifies your message. This is a starting point of course, as you're free to experiment later on.
After you've taken care of the headline and the image, your next focus is the copy.
Copy is the large chunk of text in an ad. It will do a lot of the heavy lifting for you, and will sell your offer.
There are several things that you can do in order to create compelling copy.
Your CTA needs to tell people what they should to do next. It must be encouraging and to the point.
'Sign up' or 'Learn more' – these are both examples of a CTA.
As with the headline of your ad, your copy should include some power words too.
You'll need to split test your CTA's (more on that later), but for now, just make sure your ad has one.
Study other ads so that you can eventually craft a perfect CTA of your own.
Rare is it that features prevail over benefits when trying to convince someone.
Your copy is there to sell. So you need make sure potential customers are clear on the benefits that will result from having clicked on your ad.
The copy is filled with benefits. It's clear and concise and it explains everything in a clear fashion.
Let people know what's in it for them, and how their life will get better as a result of having clicked on the ad.
Don't make the mistake of trying to be overly inventive. This isn't the place to be clever – it's the place to be clear.
A call to action is a brilliant way of getting people to click on your ad.
You know what can supercharge this effect though?
Let people know how long your offer is going to be open. Let them know the benefits of signing up now.
Of course, don't lie when utilizing this tactic.
Just take a look at some of the image examples above if you're looking for some inspiration on how you should implement this tactic.
Social proof is another way to put your ad copy on steroids.
If you don't know what social proof is, it is essentially a way to influence people by letting them know what other people did in a given situation.
You can implement this in your copy by describing how many people already use your product/service.
The image above does this to some extent. It explains how 30,000 marketers are involved with this event.
Subconsciously, you may assume that this event is worth investing in because so many other people are engaged with it.
As a result you may feel more inclined to click on the ad.
After having followed the tips you've read so far your ads might start to work again.
However, your success might not last long, and you could still have a Facebook Ad campaign on your hands that is teetering on the edge.
Keep reading to see why.
What normally happens after having driven or walked past a billboard two or three times?
That's right, you begin to ignore it. It's like the billboard doesn't even exist.
And it makes sense, given that 25-34-year olds (the target market for many) see 2,094 banner ads per month.
Remember that with Facebook, you're picking a set group of people who will see you ad. Eventually, that set group of people will grow tired of what you're showing them.
Because of ad fatigue, you need to therefore change your ads on a regular basis.
'So how do we know when we need to change our ads?' — I hear you ask.
Thankfully, Facebook has provided us a with a few metrics so that we can tell when this is happening.
One such metric is 'Frequency.' This tells us how many times each person in our 'Reach', has seen our ad.
It is calculated by dividing Impressions by Reach. In simple terms, it is how many times your ad is shown divided by the number of people it was shown to.
Spiralytics found that ad fatigue set in once a campaign had reached a frequency of 4.
However, Frequency analyzed in isolation can be a hard way to work out whether or not an ad is suffering from ad fatigue, as it only tells you how many times a given person has seen your ads.
Therefore, you need to interpret frequency in the context of CTR. If you notice that your CTR is beginning to fall as your frequency rises, you know that ad fatigue is setting in.
This is because as people get used to seeing your ad, they're less likely to click on it.
You need to be wary of this because of the reasons discussed earlier. Facebook will charge you more and more if your CTR begins to fall.
If you don't fix this, you'll be paying more for ads that don't even bring a return on investment. You need initiate damage control as soon as possible. Checking your campaigns twice a day is a good way to stay on top of things.
The next step will teach why you might still be failing, even though you've done everything right up until now.
The truth of the matter is this — no matter how good you are at paid advertising, you won't always get it right on your first go. This rule applies to every campaign that you will ever create.
If you thought that you could just create one ad, and then watch the money roll in, you're mistaken.
More often than not, you'll need to create multiple variations of a single ad. This is also known as split testing.
The team that managed Obama's online marketing used split testing to improve conversion rates.
They also found out that a picture of Obama with his family performed 13.1% better than the default turquoise image used previously.
There is a post on Adespresso that talks about this. In that post they show the two images that were tested against each other.
As you can see, nothing else was changed except for the image. By just changing this one element they found an increase in conversions.
Of course if you want to look at things with an 'eagle eye', you could argue that they also changed the headline from 'Get involved' to ' Change we can believe in'.
Though this relates to a landing page, the lessons still apply to Facebook Ads.
When running your own split tests, It is important that you don't change the image and the headline simultaneously.
When you change one element at a time, you make it easier to identify what change contributed to a rise in results. You can then use this lesson in your future ad campaigns.
Facebook will organize your ads in the following manner – Campaign – Ad Set – Ads.
Quick tip — when split testing ads, place each of the ads in separate Ad Sets. Ads in the same Ad Set influence the results of each other and can therefore muddy the data you're collecting.
That's because Facebook decides on a winning ad within your Ad Set and then displays that one over all other ads.
Try other countries. If you offer isn't geographically limited, you may be able to extend your offer to other countries. This is a good idea, if you have a great ad that is currently suffering from ad fatigue. Target English speaking countries such as the UK,Australia and Canada.
Test different images. If you test images and nothing else, there's a big chance that you'll make some major improvements. Create the same ad, but apply 8-10 different image variations.
Use different headlines. Follow the same instructions provided for images. Same ad, 8-10 headline variations. You could try experimenting with statement vs. question, for instance.
Experiment with copy. Continue the approach used for images and headlines. Consider using social proof.
Target different devices. Ignore the hype surrounding mobile. Your offer might work better if you focus only on desktop devices. Test and see what happens.
Ad Type. Are you only using Sidebar ads? Your campaign might be more successful if you use Newsfeed ads. Already using Newsfeed and Sidebar ads? Try video Newsfeed ads instead.
If your offer is limited to one country and the audience is small, you may want to focus on split testing targeting first.
By targeting different audiences you make it so that you don't end up bidding against yourself for the same ad spot.
When you find a winning ad that brings a great return on investment, you need to immediately spend more money on it.
Remember you only have a certain amount of time to make the most out of a winning ad, before ad fatigue chokes your results.
If your ad campaigns are dying on you, the knowledge you picked up in this article should help bring them back to life.
Don't forget that you can't just take an ad-centric approach, as the page you're sending people to needs to convert well also. But if you abandon the principles discussed earlier, people won't even reach the page you want to promote.
Do you want to know the one principle that rises above all the ones mentioned?
The targeting, bid price, 'click-worthiness' of the ad and your ability to split test – they all need to come together if you want your campaign to succeed.
Combine them all and I'm sure you'll nail it.
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text:
We want to wish all of our fans, family, and friends a happy and prosperous New Year for 2019!
What exactly does a Happy New Year mean? We all know that nobody lives a perfect life or has complete control of events yet to unfold. Some may have checkered pasts. Some may have issues, turmoil, or strife.
Our wish to you is vision, creativity, fulfillment, and calmness.
There have been rumblings that National Security Band is working on their follow up album and has plans for a 2019 release. Today, we are confirming those rumors. Our plan is to reunite with our friends at Catalyst Recording to record the album with a tentative target launch date in September.
Conceptually, this album prophesies events yet to come in our not to distant futures. The foundation is complete, now is the time to work on the finishing touches. Further details on the album and tour dates will be released in the weeks ahead.
We will be in touch. Our plan is to leave a cryptic trail of bread crumbs along the way in order to include our fans with an understanding of the driver behind this album.
***NSB***


Did you ever wonder what Florida would look like in the future? Curious as to the conditions in the U.S. after years of world-wide war, plague, and terrorist attacks? Can one cop make a difference? James O'Neal's fascinating futuristic cop novel, The Human Disguise, is a riveting speculative novel, a story set "More than twenty years from now."
Let's set the scene. There was a ban on immigration in the U.S. eleven years earlier. An amnesty bill gave citizenship to everyone who was inside the borders. Since the country was fighting two wars, there were 27 million citizens taken in on one day, and then most were conscripted into the military. Every September 11th, terrorists attack somewhere in the U.S. The plague and famine have wiped out enormous numbers of people, and there are quarantine zones in the U.S. Homeland Security is the only federal agency left. There are emissaries from Jupiter on the way to Earth. Germany is threatening war again. And, in South Florida, there is a Unified Police Force because cities can't afford their own police departments. It's even too expensive to send out crime scene investigators unless a victim's family paid.
Tom Wilner has been a cop in this devastated section of Florida for six years. And, if he hadn't been sitting in a bar watching the wife who left him, and her boyfriend, Tiget Nadovich, he wouldn't have witnessed the unusual fight in which men who were fatally wounded actually survived. That one bar fight triggers suspicions in Wilner's mind, and that of another cop and friend, Steve Besslia. But, while Wilner, a down-to-earth cop, focuses on the investigation, and the unusual involvement of two men who don't seem to get along, Nadovich and Johann Halleck, Besslia has a wild idea that they're dealing with aliens. As the case gets murkier, with missing circuit boards, unusual suspects who seem to heal themselves, and his suspicions that his wife may be involved, Wilner is initially reluctant to trust a Homeland Security agent, Shelby Hahn. It isn't long, though, before Wilner realizes he, Besslia and Shelby may be the only ones knowledgeable enough to stop the complete destruction of what's left of South Florida.
Fan of science fiction? O'Neal's speculation as to the future of Florida and the world is scary because of the real possibilities. If you think humans aren't the only race here, you'll appreciate The Human Disguise. If you're a fan of crime fiction, you'll enjoy the crime investigation twenty-some years from now. O'Neal has successfully combined crime and science fiction, but his true success is Tom Wilner. He's a family man who lost his wife, but is doing his best to take care of his children. And, it's hard not to feel sorry for Wilner, a man determined to protect people, and do his job, despite his own confusion and uncertainty as to what is actually happening. Tom Wilner is a hero, a cop forced to look beyond The Human Disguise.
The Human Disguise by James O'Neal. Tor, ©2010. ISBN 9780765359773 (paperback), 381p.
This is a crime novel set in the near future. Don't worry about the science fiction aspect. You can read it as a straight crime fiction novel with a different setting. Doesn't hurt to try it!
This sounds like some interesting genre blending--I like the idea of the SF with the crime fiction. Sounds like a fun read.
It was fascinating, Elizabeth. I could just imagine the U.S. in the conditions described in this book.


Do you know where does your energy consumption go? Have you ever thought of saving energy and lowering of your electric bills? If not then do think about it and try to find out the solutions to these issues.
The major portion of your electricity is utilized by space heating, which is exactly about 47%. It is approximately half of the cost of your monthly electricity bill. The remaining one is shared lighting and appliance (24%), water heating (17%), air conditioning (6%) and refrigeration (5%). Now, you can easily decide when you are going to start saving energy by lowering its consumption. You can take a start from space heating because it consumes the major part of electricity.
Walls and ceiling insulation in your homes will surely help you to save electricity up to 30% on heating cost which equates to 15% of reduction in total cost of electric bill. Although, you need to spend money on insulating materials for different parts of home, yet it will be quite significant in coming days. You can save approximately $150 every year just by the insulation of your home.
If you are living in cold environment then it is recommended to go for super insulation of your home. You can also lower your electric bills by bringing few alterations around your house. If living in warm climate then shade of a deciduous tree will be helpful in cooling down the surrounding area of your house. This results in decreased utilization of air conditioner, which ultimately reduces the cost of your electric bill.
Proper painting of walls and roofs will further help you in extra savings on electric bills. You can also cover your windows with synthetic/plastic coatings to provide additional insulation. Seal the leaks all around your house and make it sure that the heat will not go outside. Leaks may come from doors, joints, windows and sills etc.
The habitual maintenance examination on furnace will make it operating proficiently. In this way the space heat equates the electricity consumed. Use of clean air-filter will again ensure that you are getting good air recycling and clean air as well. Leaking ducts can cause more power consumption because your heating system has to work 30% more than normal. This will result in more energy loss and hence, increase in your electric bill.
Approximately quarter of the bills goes to the lighting and other electric appliances. So, you should also try to control the useless consumption of lights and electronic appliances. Always, turn off all the extra lights, stereo and television when not in use. Also, turn the lights off before leaving the room even for few minutes.
save about 90% of power consumption by washing the clothes with cold water instead of hot water. Germs on the clothes are eradicated through detergents rather than hot water. Also, try to make less use of washing machines as much as possible.
Temperature reduction of the water heater also helps in cutting down the cost of your electric bill. Try to employ water heater jacket, which is economical and will surely yield to larger electric bill savings.
Always seek for energy efficient appliances. For instance, compact energy bulbs are more power efficient than ordinary incandescent bulbs.


My daughter, Rachel, is an old soul. My hippie child at the ripe age of 27. I was introduced to Nag Champa a few years ago by Rachel. She wears it as a perfume and it reminds me of incense and tie dye. I've really come to love it. Our Nag Champa is sourced from Egypt and is a beautiful combination of the Champa flower, Sandalwood and numerous floral and citrus fragrance oils. A little bit goes a long way with this beautiful warm and spicy aroma. It took a delicate hand and we are excited to share it with you!
Directions: Shake well before use. Wet palms, add soap and work into a lather. Rinse well and pat dry. Avoid contact with your eyes.


But he's still way off target.
Vietnam or not-- not everybody is a hero. But we know that everyone who served IS. Plenty of drafted men didn't even show up, placing those who did in a different category. And enduring scorn after homecoming, as our many Vietnam Vet commenters will happily tell you, is no joke either.
McClellan doesn't think he's a hero. But isn't humility one of the marks of heroism?
And in today's wars, again, certainly not everybody is a hero. Less than one percent of Americans volunteer to serve. That makes more than 99 percent of Americans (with the obvious exclusion of our firefights and cops who are heroes in their own right) excluded from this category.
Ninety-nine percent of Americans are not heroes. One percent are heroes just by virtue of volunteering for the risk of war.
Not everybody is a hero. Just the one percent.
McClellan says that the real heroes are the ones who have given up actual life. And there's no question about it – that is the highest sacrifice.
But we know from personal experience that plenty who have served have given all but their life. Some have given some or all their limbs. Some have given their ability to think, to remember, to function. Some have given their mental health. Our heroes have given their hearing, they're skeletal integrity, their ability to walk without a limp, going a week without combat dreams and many more things the 99 percent takes for granted.
We know that the military's citation and awards programs are imperfect at best. Plenty of acts of heroism go unrecognized or unreported. So even saying "only give honors to those who have been recognized as earning it" would miss the mark.
Yes, we have to cut costs. And yes, the way you do it is by cutting things you don't need.
Do veterans NEED full honors at their funeral? Probably not. But America NEEDS military veterans. And there's no price you can put on that.


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Q: Particular $L^p$ space I am confusing some definitions. Suppose we have a Cauchy sequence $(f_n) \subset L^2(\Omega,C^0([0,1],\mathbb{R}))$, where $\Omega$ is a measurable space with measure $\mu$ and $C^0([0,1],\mathbb{R})$ is equipped with the uniform norm (that is a Banach space..). What can we conclude and how ?
1) $(f_n)\,\,$converges to a function $f \in L^2(\Omega,C^0([0,1],\mathbb{R}))$ because it is a complete space ? (But I do not know why is it.. I know for $L^p([a,b], \mathbb{R})$).
2) For each $\omega \in \Omega$, $f(\omega)$ is a continuous function on $[0,1]$, because $C^0([0,1],\mathbb{R})$ is a complete space (with the uniform norm) ?
If these two conclusions are true, could someone write explicitly what we need to prove to get these two conclusions ?
I think it is $\int_{\Omega} \sup\limits_{t\in[0,1]} \{(f_n(\omega)(t) - f_m(\omega)(t))^2\} d\mu(\omega) \stackrel{n,m\rightarrow\infty}{\longrightarrow}0$, but I am not sure and even if it is true, I do not understand why..
Could someone help me to clarify these few points, I am really confused for a few days ? Thank you so much. Marcus

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The most dramatic thing about a Harrier—its ability to hover and to make vertical take-offs and landings—isn't something ever seen by radar controllers. To us, it's just another airplane. They had only recently been introduced to the fleet and we didn't know much about them, except the designator for it was AV-8 (they're built by Avro, hence the AV).
Our recent ZID refugee, Big Al, came in one day and dropped this question on us: "do you know what they call Harrier pilots?" And of course none of us did, although we had a vague notion of being led down some sort of path.
Hilarious then, hilarious now, if you haven't heard it before.


Looking to sell an 8 man Plastimo liferaft in a hard plastic case. Never been used, but will need to be recertified. First $ 900 takes it.I am in Tortola, but can deliver anywhare in the US Virgins or BVI.
Hi, what year is it? Can you ship to the mainland?


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June Performances & Annual Fundraising Gala
Tuesday, June 4, 2013 - 7:15am
Presented by Manhattan Youth Ballet and Manhattan Movement & Arts Center
Manhattan Youth Ballet and Manhattan Movement & Arts Center present
June Performances and Annual Fundraising Gala
PLEASE JOIN US:
Friday, June 7, 2013 at 7pm
Saturday, June 8, 2013 at 3pm and 7pm
Sunday, June 9, 2013 at 5:30pm
RSVP for complimentary press tickets to Michelle Tabnick, 646-765-4773
michelle@michelletabnickcommunications.com
Manhattan Youth Ballet and Manhattan Movement & Arts Center present June Shows: Made in America, a tribute to choreography crafted in the USA on Friday, June 7 at 7pm; and Saturday, June 8 at 3pm & 7pm, at the Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, 248 West 60th Street, NYC (between Amsterdam and West End Avenues) in the Lincoln Center area. Advance tickets are 0 for adults and 5 for students. (5/0 for students at the door). Tickets can be purchased online at www.manhattanyouthballet.org.
The evening will include performances of George Balanchine's Masterpiece SERENADE; Larry Keigwin's GIRLS, and World Premiere's by Brian Reeder, Choreographer-in-Residence; Marina Stavitskaya, Head of Classical Repertoire; and Charlotte Stickles, MYB Graduating Senior. In addition, a bright new excerpt of Vivaldi's Four Seasons choreographed by Natalia Boesch and Karen Lacy will be presented by our younger performers.
The MYB Annual Fundraising Gala performance will be held on Sunday, June 9th at 5:30pm and will be followed by a catered reception at 7pm. Tickets are 00 and 0 for students. The MYB Gala Benefit will feature guest appearances by Artistic Advisor, Daniel Ulbricht, MYB alum and current ABT dancers, Nicole Graniero and Roman Zhurbin as well as other guests to be announced. The evening will benefit MYB's Scholarship & Performance Fund and will feature guest performances by New York City Ballet's Ashley Bouder, Lauren Lovette and Daniel Ulbricht, American Ballet Theatre's Nicole Graniero and Roman Zhurbin (Studio Maestro/MYB Alumni) and KEIGWIN + COMPANY's Ashley Browne.
June Performances will highlight the progress of each student in works choreographed based upon each level's curriculum for the year. Students will perform selections from classical masterpieces as well as new works specifically choreographed for Manhattan Youth Ballet. Repertoire includes excerpts from George Balanchine's Serenade, a World Premiere by Choreographer-in-Residence Brian Reeder, Larry Keigwin's Girls, and new works by faculty members Marina Stavitskaya, Natalia Boesch, and Karen Lacy, as well as a premiere by Manhattan Youth Ballet Student, Charlotte Stickles.
About Manhattan Youth Ballet
Modeled with an emphasis on European classical ballet, Manhattan Youth Ballet (MYB) offers world-class training in a nurturing environment focused on discipline, precision and artistry. MYB is the culmination of Ms. Rose Caiola's effort for the past seventeen years to create a viable, curriculum-based ballet academy in Manhattan in order to serve the needs of the multifaceted community. Principal members of the faculty have received their training in schools such as the The Kirov Ballet, School of American Ballet, and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. The faculty strives to bring out the individual potential of each student with an emphasis on artistry as well as technique to create truly versatile dancers for the current dance world. Manhattan Youth Ballet has acquired a reputation for excellent teaching in an intimate and individually supportive environment. The school's graduates have danced professionally with American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballet de España, San Francisco Ballet and Complexions.
Education is a top priority at Manhattan Youth Ballet and the school has numerous community outreach programs to promote dance education. Since moving to its new home at Manhattan Movement & Arts Center in September 2008, over 2,500 New York City school children have participated in lecture demonstrations and/or been MYB's invited guests at full-length performances. For more information, visit www.manhattanyouthballet.org.
About Manhattan Movement & Arts Center
Manhattan Movement & Arts Center was developed by Rose Caiola as the home of the Manhattan Youth Ballet. Ms. Caiola, a former dancer and actress, founded the academy in the fall of 1994 as Studio Maestro at 48 W. 68th Street, and today serves as the youth ballet's executive artistic director. As the ballet academy grew, the search for a larger space inspired in Ms. Caiola a highly personal vision of a studio and theater complex that would encompass all aspects of dance education and performance.
mmac opened its doors in June 2008, occupying a dramatic bi-level space within The Element, a luxury high-rise condominium. mmac's theater, has become a popular off-broadway venue for both sit down and limited run productions. mmac's studios host a variety of classes including open ballet and fitness, a full mmac kids curriculum, as well as a number of Broadway Workshops and rehearsals with stars such as Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Natalie Portman, and Alec Baldwin.
For more information about mmac, visit www.manhattanmovement.com.


text:
Q: Ошибка "java.lang.ClassCastException: java.nio.DirectByteBuffer cannot be cast to..." Пытаюсь запустить программу в Eclipse выдает ошибку. Помогите разобраться.
Ошибка:

Exception in thread "Timer-0" javax.media.opengl.GLException: java.lang.ClassCastException: java.nio.DirectByteBuffer cannot be cast to com.sun.opengl.impl.windows.JAWT_Win32DrawingSurfaceInfo

Программа написана на OpenGL + Java.
A: Причина ошибки - cannot be cast to :
java.nio.DirectByteBuffer cannot be cast to com.sun.opengl.impl.windows.JAWT_Win32DrawingSurfaceInfo