Hunt for the twirly-faced pedophile
The hunt is on for the suspected pedophile who took photos of himself molesting children, thinking he could hide his identity by "twirling" his face in Photoshop. (See previous BB story here).
Authorities in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam are searching for the man [Christopher Paul Neil, a 32-year-old Canadian], who allegedly appears in 200 internet images abusing young boys.The photo on the right above, was taken by a security camera in Bangkok airport last week. Link (Thanks, Tyler!)Interpol said the suspect had flown from South Korea to Thailand last week.
Interpol appealed for public help after experts unscrambled digitally-swirled internet photos of the suspect.
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In related news the police are still looking for the notorious lensflare-man.
his crime. adding lensflare to everygoddamn thing he photoshops.
Is that supposed to be the same guy or something? Because that looks like two different guys...
I saw Lens-flare Man working on those dreadful No Limit album covers! Is there any sort of reward for his capture?
I am tempted to remind everyone of Blink Tag Bandit, whose reign of terror took place in the mid-1990s. But that would be in very bad taste, because, of course, this is a real story with real victims and not a joke.
oh come on Xeni, no offense, but if you couldn't make make light of the horrible reality of the human condition, then we'd have to say goodbye to things like the daily show that makes jokes regarding the iraq war, a war thats killed countless innocent civilians, childen included.
its not like by referencing this blink tag bandit (i'm unfamiliar) you'd be condoning pedophilia or making light of what happened to the victims of this bastard.
Shit happens, as do jokes. I don't think we've crossed any good taste lines here. No ones saying "haha, kids got raped"
...which is why i made the joke.
He's not merely a pedophile, but an actual child-molester
Apparently Christopher Neil has posted for over a year on an ESL forum under the pseudonym "Peter Jackson". The forum regulars have spent the last day reviewing his old posts for creepiness:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=102024
All 321 Peter Jackson posts, http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/search.php?search_author=Peter+Jackson
Apparently, the mods have taken down his avatar, but someone mentions it being a photo of a person.
gbv23, no one said he wasn't, but everyones a suspect till proven guilty. For now "suspected pedophile who took photos of himself molesting children" is apt enough.
Shouldn't that be "suspected child molester who appears to have taken pictures of himself molesting children"?
The distinction is that pedophelia is a condition, child molestation is a crime. Not all pedophiles commit crimes. If pedophelia were a crime it would be a thought-crime, which is scary ground to be treading on.
"pedophelia is a condition" a condition which the person in the photo is suspected of having?
In no shape or form is anyone going after this guy for a thought crime. Suggesting this is the case is semantic sillyness.
its amazing how they feel compelled to photograph and share their "conquests" with the world.
"In no shape or form is anyone going after this guy for a thought crime. Suggesting this is the case is semantic sillyness."
Which is cool because nobody is suggesting this is the case. There are two seperate things that have been suggested:
1. This guy right now is only suspected of being the guy in the photographs. He hasn't been proven guilty.
2. If he is guilty, he isn't merely a pedophile (which shouldn't be a crime per se because it would be a thoughtcrime). If guilty, he is a child molester which I think we can all agree should be a crime.
Okay. Hopefully that clears things up.
I think Merc clarified what I was trying to say.
Not defending this guy at all, just pointing-out a distinction that is frequently ignored.
For every molester there's a whole lotta pedophiles
"Which is cool because nobody is suggesting this is the case."
well, except for Merc, which is who i was repsonding to.
Charlie@2: I was thinking along similar lines. If given those two images and asked if I thought they were the same person, I'd say "probably not".
They *might* be the same person; the security camera was much closer than the other camera, so the perspective is different, which changes the relative size of parts of the face (near and far parts). I believe they can actually train people to be better at matching faces in photos, but I've never had such training (and my skills are typical of SF fandom in that area, quite poor).
Remember, the two photos may be up to 4 years apart (2003 and 2007). Also, the guy obviously doesn't WANT to look the same, as police search for him, hence the baldness and glasses.
I can't wait till the authorities catch this sicko. And how great is it that they caught the other reprobate in Las Vegas yesterday?!
I heard the story this morning, but on the radio, and they didn't explain it was a Photoshop twirl. I was *really* impressed, thinking they'd unscrambled mezzination. Twirliness looks far easier to reverse.
Fortunately child molestor school doesn't have a photoshop class.
I think twirly-faced pedophile is going into my insult repertoire.
*jots it down*
Mr. Twirly-face has been arrested in north-eastern Thailand, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
Also on the beeb now as well: BBC