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>Keeping children safe and prosecuting are too different concepts, only vaguely related.

See also: That time the FBI took over a CSAM site and kept it running so they could nab a bunch of users.

Not necessarily saying what they did was right, but I think there's a strong utilitarian argument to be made that what they did in that case was, in fact, the best way to keep children safe.

What's more dangerous? CSAM on the internet? Or actual child predators running loose?

That stuff spreads and re-spreads just like anything else people download off the internet. There's a pretty strong argument for shutting it down right away. IIRC most users were outside jurisdiction.

Even if one more person was prosecuted it was worth it. If you shut down an illegal website a new one will show up a month later, with the same people involved, and you achieved nothing.

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