A former member of the community, not extremely active on GBAtemp but known for contributions to several projects on the 3DS hacking scene, Thomas Edvalson aka 'Cruel', has recently received a 20 year jail sentence for supposedly hosting a child porn site (although he firmly denied it).

Thomas Scot Edvalson, 28, appeared to be providing a website where other users could download images of child porn, according to a press release form the District Attorney’s Office. The site came complete with an online guide detailing how to use the dark web to set up a website for trading pictures of child sexual abuse.

Source: Gwinnett Daily Post
A thread was started on GBAtemp to discuss the issue a couple of months ago, before the final judgement was rendered. At the time our decision was to lock the thread up as it began to heavily derail. Some members and visitors took this as a 'cover up' and wondered why we didn't ban this guy's user account on GBAtemp.

We had long discussions in the staff forum and decided to wait for the final verdict (the appeal that is) before doing anything, thereby letting justice do its work. We banned this person from our forums immediately after we heard the final judgement and by the looks of it he won't be around again for a while. Since then, there hasn't been any new threads about the story but if there had been one, we would have allowed it for sure.

At this point we are wondering why anyone would think we are 'covering' this up? Why would we even need to? It's not like people don't know what happened already. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in this thread.

Furthermore, there is an ongoing story concerning another person, it's been posted on a Reddit thread (edit: now removed, but you can see screenshots here) and, again, we certainly won't prevent you from discussing it wherever you want just as long as you stay civil.

We at GBAtemp value freedom of speech above all, but within the boundaries of the law. If you think someone is guilty of a crime it is your duty to report it to the relevant authorities (not the GBAtemp admins, I mean the police). But otherwise let justice do its job. We do not believe that witch hunts have their place on GBAtemp.


The staff

 

[plasma]

Nope! Gotta let the 15 year old philosophers have their say.

forgot this was the internet for a moment, where 15 year olds think they are qualified philosophers.

 

[TheDarkGreninja]

Nope! Gotta let the 15 year old philosophers have their say.

What is up with these 15-year-olds and pedophilia, though?

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

Frankly I believe that waiting until the verdict was the wrong choice. Even when the thread first came up, his defenders admitted that he was the person named in the charges. The documents also revealed that there was a court order against him having any form of internet access. Regardless of whether he was guilty or not (and the charges included more documented crimes than if someone had simply uploaded CP to his server and then reported him), the administration enabled him to continue violating that order, and allowed a suspected pedophile direct access to a community that largely consists of minors.

The smartest move from any perspective would've been to suspend his account as soon as the charges were verified, then remove the ban if he were found innocent or the charges were dropped. Anything less might not have been a cover-up, but it's certainly not in the best interests of anyone. A good lawyer could probably even bring up charges as an accessory or accomplice, if anyone uncovered proof of him soliciting anything from any site members.

 

[Ev1l0rd]

forgot this was the internet for a moment, where 15 year olds think they are qualified philosophers.

Yeah, I was like a Socrates when I was 15. Thinking about the deep things of life. /s

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

What is up with these 15-year-olds and pedophilia, though?

Hormones and puberty are always the answer when it's about 15 year olds.

 

[TheDarkGreninja]

You have a point there. Of course it should be discussed what can happen. But as Clydefrosch wrote, there are more things to understand then "Hey, there was a pedophile as a user here".






I see. Didn't know the drama was this intense. Under these circumstances, I understand now why it's on the front page. We should just not let the thread escalate in the wrong way.

My 2 cents for this topic: Never forget that these are real people with needs and desires. They are just "unlucky" to have a problem like that.
Not saying it's okay what these people are eventually doing - but swap places for a second and you'll know how cruel this shit really is.

And this is why Im thankful that I dont have any of those desires, I get what you mean though. Very true.

 

[Abu_Senpai]

Frankly I believe that waiting until the verdict was the wrong choice. Even when the thread first came up, his defenders admitted that he was the person named in the charges. The documents also revealed that there was a court order against him having any form of internet access. Regardless of whether he was guilty or not (and the charges included more documented crimes than if someone had simply uploaded CP to his server and then reported him), the administration enabled him to continue violating that order, and allowed a suspected pedophile direct access to a community that largely consists of minors.

The smartest move from any perspective would've been to suspend his account as soon as the charges were verified, then remove the ban if he were found innocent or the charges were dropped. Anything less might not have been a cover-up, but it's certainly not in the best interests of anyone. A good lawyer could probably even bring up charges as an accessory or accomplice, if anyone uncovered proof of him soliciting anything from any site members.

I agree with your statement but....wait...hold on a minute. "A community that mainly consists of minors" your not talking about GBATEMP are you? if so, are you serious? To me its more 50/50 with Minors and Adults

 

[TheDarkGreninja]

I agree with your statement but....wait...hold on a minute. "A community that mainly consists of minors" your not talking about GBATEMP are you? if so, are you serious? To me its more 50/50 with Minors and Adults

Nah, most people here are minors posing as adults.

 

[dimmidice]

What the fuck is up with the pedo apologizers here? If he was just a pedo who jerked it to loli hentai then sure i don't really give a shit and it's his business. But he actively ran a child porn website. With pictures of real kids. And advice on how others could do the same. That's way beyond harmless. Anyone who thinks it isn't a big deal and he isn't a bad guy needs to grow the fuck up. This isn't the same as a harmless furry fetish.

 

[FireEmblemGuy]

I agree with your statement but....wait...hold on a minute. "A community that mainly consists of minors" your not talking about GBATEMP are you? if so, are you serious? To me its more 50/50 with Minors and Adults

There's certainly a mix, but the point is that a large portion of the active members are underage. Coming up with an exact ratio would be a pain in the ass, but all the blog posts about kids with their school troubles and first crushes should be more than enough to paint my point.

 

[dimmidice]

There's certainly a mix, but the point is that a large portion of the active members are underage. Coming up with an exact ratio would be a pain in the ass, but all the blog posts about kids with their school troubles and first crushes should be more than enough to paint my point.

Definitely, tons and tons of minors on this forum. Exact ratios are impossible to get since a lot of people either don't mention their age on the profile or lie about it.

 

[DeadlyFoez]

I know this because I'm his brother. He didn't have a second site. He only had that one programming site.

Yes, because we all share every detail of our lives with our siblings, especially our dark sick twisted illegal secrets. Honestly, I would sure as hell hope that you had no clue about this other site because that would have made you an accessory to his crimes.
I can tell you for sure, there are many secrets that I have (that are not anywhere near as sick and twisted) that not a single other person knows, not even jebus. Most of the time when people do this type of fucked up shit, they don't go touting it around everywhere because they dont want to get in trouble. But just because you didn't know about it does not mean it did not exist.

 

[SG854]

There's certainly a mix, but the point is that a large portion of the active members are underage. Coming up with an exact ratio would be a pain in the ass, but all the blog posts about kids with their school troubles and first crushes should be more than enough to paint my point.

lol, I just helped a little kid with his crush, I was like a some kind of guru or something. SG854 here to hear your love problems.

 

[The Catboy]

Frankly I believe that waiting until the verdict was the wrong choice. Even when the thread first came up, his defenders admitted that he was the person named in the charges. The documents also revealed that there was a court order against him having any form of internet access. Regardless of whether he was guilty or not (and the charges included more documented crimes than if someone had simply uploaded CP to his server and then reported him), the administration enabled him to continue violating that order, and allowed a suspected pedophile direct access to a community that largely consists of minors.

The smartest move from any perspective would've been to suspend his account as soon as the charges were verified, then remove the ban if he were found innocent or the charges were dropped. Anything less might not have been a cover-up, but it's certainly not in the best interests of anyone. A good lawyer could probably even bring up charges as an accessory or accomplice, if anyone uncovered proof of him soliciting anything from any site members.

Two things I want to mention that are publicly mentioned by the staff. They didn't suspend him because they needed to know 100% that this was the same person. Due note, that thread was made by a random person with a rather crude username and one post. So it's rather hard to take their word for it that this is the same person. So the staff really couldn't only see if he committed any crimes with the site, something he actually did not do. He stored nothing on the GBATemp servers and didn't solicit any minors on the site. Thus there wasn't much to go with.
The staff are not the police and thus went with the only options they had. First waiting for the verdict to be placed on him, then waiting a bit to see if he becomes active afterwards, finally they ended up banning him to ensure his account didn't get spammed (can't post on his account if it's banned,) and finally waiting more weeks to see if someone comes forward and complains about their account being banned.
Once everything was settled and confirmed by the Staff, they made this thread. This thread was a request by the community for the Staff to make.

 

[Issac]

Frankly I believe that waiting until the verdict was the wrong choice. Even when the thread first came up, his defenders admitted that he was the person named in the charges. The documents also revealed that there was a court order against him having any form of internet access. Regardless of whether he was guilty or not (and the charges included more documented crimes than if someone had simply uploaded CP to his server and then reported him), the administration enabled him to continue violating that order, and allowed a suspected pedophile direct access to a community that largely consists of minors.

The smartest move from any perspective would've been to suspend his account as soon as the charges were verified, then remove the ban if he were found innocent or the charges were dropped. Anything less might not have been a cover-up, but it's certainly not in the best interests of anyone. A good lawyer could probably even bring up charges as an accessory or accomplice, if anyone uncovered proof of him soliciting anything from any site members.

This was debated a lot. Think of it this way:
If he was banned and planned on going here doing something shady, he'd be smart enough to circumvent the ban by using a proxy or something, creating a dupe account that we'd have no chance to spot.
Not banning him but keeping a close eye on what he does allows us to have some control over the situation, even though that's not to say he wouldn't create a dupe anyway - but we're not FORCING him to create a dupe.

About him using the internet while not allowed, banning him wouldn't do anything for that. Contacting the authorities would be more helpful.

 

[Abu_Senpai]

Nah, most people here are minors posing as adults.

You Speaking from Experience?

There's certainly a mix, but the point is that a large portion of the active members are underage. Coming up with an exact ratio would be a pain in the ass, but all the blog posts about kids with their school troubles and first crushes should be more than enough to paint my point.

Well yeah the recent blog posts have been somewhat....childish i guess(no offense guys)

 

[FAST6191]

forgot this was the internet for a moment, where 15 year olds think they are qualified philosophers.

While philosophy does certainly have some options for serious training* it would seem to be something that anybody, regardless of age and training can happily engage in and try their hand in. See also art for it is pretty similar.

Now I would definitely stop short of the odd position I heard the other week where some hold that any opinion is an opinion and thus valid to have, mainly as that leads to calls for things to not be challenged. The takeaway for me though is anybody, of any age and training can put something out there.

*video because why not

 

[zoogie]

Two things I want to mention that are publicly mentioned by the staff. They didn't suspend him because they needed to know 100% that this was the same person. Due note, that thread was made by a random person with a rather crude username and one post, who then didn't reply to the thread. So it's rather hard to take their word for it that this is the same person. So the staff really couldn't only see if he committed any crimes with the site, something he actually did not do. He stored nothing on the GBATemp servers and didn't solicit any minors on the site. Thus there wasn't much to go with.
The staff are not the police and thus went with the only options they had. First waiting for the verdict to be placed on him, then waiting a bit to see if he becomes active afterwards, finally they ended up banning him to ensure his account didn't get spammed (can't post on his account if it's banned,) and finally waiting more weeks to see if someone comes forward and complains about their account being banned.
Once everything was settled and confirmed by the Staff, they made this thread. This thread was a request by the community for the Staff to make.

Just want to say he did reply, several times; and he was defending/clarifying his OP in each one.

Look at his post count.
https://gbatemp.net/members/cruel_is_a_predator.415674/

 

[Ev1l0rd]

You Speaking from Experience?

I think most of those from around 1998-now can say that from experience. COPPA is kinda dumb with it's 13 year is the minimum regulation. Combine that with somehow the enitre fuckin web applying it, and we can safely state that COPPA might just be the dumbest law ever invented.

 

[The Catboy]

Just want to say he did reply, several times; and he was defending/clarifying his OP in each one.

Look at his post count.
https://gbatemp.net/members/cruel_is_a_predator.415674/

Oh hey~ he actually did reply, my bad. I am going off memory here with that thread, so some details are going to get muddy.

 

[SG854]

While philosophy does certainly have some options for serious training* it would seem to be something that anybody, regardless of age and training can happily engage in and try their hand in. See also art for it is pretty similar.

Now I would definitely stop short of the odd position I heard the other week where some hold that any opinion is an opinion and thus valid to have, mainly as that leads to calls for things to not be challenged. The takeaway for me though is anybody, of any age and training can put something out there.

*video because why not

I agree I have no problems in kids having a dabble in philosophy, the sooner they start young, the sooner they get to practice and learn. Interest and understanding the world is something we start at a young age (as kids always ask the question why?), and it helps us understand our environments better, challenges our beliefs, and helps us to better handle things and problems that come our way.