Project Habitance aka Operation Habitance was the United Kingdom's (UK) National Crime Agency's (NCA) project tackling child sexual exploitation offending on the dark web. The project and its operations are not fully declassified, but there are documents that show it was running at least from 2018 to 2021.
| Project Habitance | |
|---|---|
| Operation Name | Project Habitance |
| Type | Child Pornography sting operations |
| Roster | |
| Executed by | United Kingdom National Crime Agency |
| Mission | |
| Target | Dark web child pornography websites |
| Timeline | |
| Date begin | Before 2018 |
| Date end | after 2021 |
| Results | |
| Accounting | |
The NCA through its operation said in 2020 that it was monitoring some 70 dark web sites that were accessible, and by working with partners, the NCA had identified a significant number of unique global IP addresses visiting the dark web sites. With 5 percent of the IP addresses originating from users in the UK.[1]
In 2019 the NCA, working in partnership with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),[2][3] availed their resources via Operation Habitance to the Brazilian Federal Police as part of their Operation Lobos 1, and to the German Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) in a Tor deanonymization project as a dragnet of the administrators and users of the websites: Baby-Heart, Hurt-meh, Boyvids 4.0, Anjos Prohibidos (BR)/Forbidden-Angels, and Loli Lust,[4][5] Girland[6] and other websites. During the time the Tor Onion services were active, starting in early March 2019, the NCA and their partners conducted traffic analysis under the Targeted Equipment Interference (TEI) warrants 91-TEI-0147-2019 and 91-TEI-0146-2019[7]
Results
editThe NCA says that through its programmes, it had been making on average 520 arrests each month as of 2020, and that it had "safeguarded" 700 children each month.[1]
Secrecy
editIn 2020, the U.K. HMICFRS's confirmed the existence of Operation Habitance in a report, but the next year, a U.K FOIA commissioner in Wales affirmed the Gwent Police department's refusal under FOIA section 25(3) (see report)
to even confirm the existence of the operation or their involvement. The U.S. FBI FOIA has not been much better, as of 2022 the U.S. has acknowledged receipt of information from the NCA regarding allegations generated by Project Habitance, but has redacted all relevant information on the few records they have released.
References
edit- ^ a b "National Crime Agency inspection An inspection of the National Crime Agency's criminal intelligence function" (PDF). Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services. July 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 14 November 2023. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
- ^ Iseman, Esq., Scott W. (16 May 2022). "Letter to Judge McAvoy to Unseal documents" (PDF). Courtlistener.com. Free Law Project. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 March 2024. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
- ^ Belliss, Rick; Freedman, Carla B. (2 May 2022). "Letter to Judge McAvoy" (PDF). Courtlistener.com. Free Law Project. p. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 March 2024. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
- ^ "Resumo Lobos" (PDF). aNPR. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-01-18. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
- ^ "Resumo Lobos Court Translation" (PDF). aNPR. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 February 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
- ^ O'Neil, William J. (30 March 2024). "Defendant's Redacted Reply To Government's Response To Motion To Compel Discovery" (PDF). Courtlistener.com. Free Law Project. p. 6. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 March 2024. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
- ^ "Exhibit B – TEI Warrant Notification" (PDF). Courtlistener. Free Law Project. 16 September 2019. p. 6. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 February 2024. Retrieved 19 February 2024.