Believe none of what you hear...
Thank goodness for the Reg. How refreshing to read some of these comments.
I was a member of boylover.net for many years. I can confirm that it was a very public website, operating so as to give those who had difficulty coping with their sexuality an outlet and was for that purpose *deliberately* exposed. I would probably be dead right now were it not for the companionship I found there. The website in no way, shape or form condoned child abuse, regardless of the perhaps inevitable actions of a few members. In fact, many members actively encouraged others to stay legal. I have seen articles portraying the strict rules as a "cover" for illegal activity. Er, not really. It was so that members who wanted to remain legal could use the site safely.
Of course, I don't think anybody fully realised that there truly is no such thing as a "legal" image of a child in the UK. (As it is entirely up to the jury to decide the meaning of "indecent"). Images below level 1, btw, can still be illegal. They are counted as level 1 for sentencing purposes. Cue the excuse to go down the list of IPs, arresting "on suspicion of making (i.e. downloading) indecent images". That is how they are justifying arrests, and, I am sure, how they have made a number of convictions.
As far as I am aware, several convictions in this operation have been severe miscarriages of justice. One conviction I know of was for a sub-level 1 image, found as a deleted temporary internet file. It could not be proven that the defendant ever intended to download the image, or even ever known it had been downloaded, but the jury could convict on the basis of recklessness.
I must acknowledge that of course there is an inherent problem with paedophilia as an insatiable sexual orientation. (At least, morally, and certainly when they like 'em REALLY young, which a small proportion do). And if we as a society demand certain behaviours of paedophiles, we should at least treat them in a way that helps them achieve it. Somehow I don't think this "stfu or gtfo" attitude is really achieving that. If anything, the opposite. I fully support for the ability of paedophiles to feel safe in making their sexual orientation public, which, IMHO, would solve many problems.
I literally cannot believe the blatent disregard for the plight of people trying to do their best in a difficult world has been so utterly ignored by the likes of CEOP. It is one thing to enforce law. It is another thing entirely to stamp faces into the gutter, then call on the rest of the public to come and join in. Dear god, for the sake of many of those caught up in this, do not take what you read at face value. Especially if it is the article by the Sun, which truly did have me scratching my head in disbelief. ("boil of the day"? what on earth?)