"Law enforcement officials say the case is a cautionary tale."

I think it's also a cautionary tale for law enforcement officers. It seems when it comes to pornography, all their rational thought processes drop down (they do have those, don't they) and they go into a "let's go get that bastard" mode. Sadly, although such stories are quite common, i.e. there's nothing bizarre about them in that sense, there's little you can do if it happens to you: They just say "OK, you weren't it" and go away.

I think the war against child pornography is being fought as mindlessly as the one on drugs, with quite similar results.