full image - Repost: How Josh Duggar was caught and why that matters (from Reddit.com, How Josh Duggar was caught and why that matters)
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I decided to write this after reading the comments in a few recent posts regarding how Josh Duggar was caught by the FBI, or at least how those Redditors believed it happened. I have a decent amount of firsthand knowledge regarding Josh's case and arrest details/process and I wanted to share for the wee few who might be interested so enjoy, or don't because it's not like this is a happy topic but whatever, free country. So for anyone interested and for clarification purposes, Josh was caught when a federally monitored ISP substation (those little hubs that connect the WWW together) server detected a PTP communication. In simple terms, a PTP connection is when two internet capable devices establish a direct connection with one another over a wide area network. This type of connection protocol also operates differently than the two standard connection types we use today for basically every type of data transaction we do over the internet and PTP communications also require a router specifically capable of such connections (more on why that's important later). Which means that these types of direct communications can be monitored and tracked relatively easily as "we" are able to pick them out from the grand majority of regular internet traffic. So when the monitored server detected a PTP connection it copied the data being sent to the receiving device (Josh's Linux partition on his work desktop, we'll also come back to why that matters so much). Then the original data was left to continue on its way while the copy was sent to the regional FBI HQ in Little Rock, as most of us will probably already know. Leading them to track the destination IP address of the original CSAM to an address for a home in Springdale that had somewhat recently divided the original property with a certain dealership and now had a different address, leading the FBI to obtain a second warrant for the dealership address and the house's local ISP updating their address map for that location. As we all know the FBI then "raided" the dealership and seized all of the internet capable devices belonging to the employee whose computer was the one that had been caught downloading CSAM, obviously that being Josh.Now I did lie just a little then as the FBI "tech specialists" ,that were the ones who identified which computer matched the source address for the CSAM, did forget to grab one fairly important piece of computer hardware during the raid, the internet router the dealership was using at the time. The reason that matters at all is because, as I said before, PTP connections can only be done using a specific type of router, set up in a very specific way, to be able to connect to other devices using PTP capable routers. Obviously I'm not going to go into detail as to what type of router it was or in depth about how it has to be set up, though I will touch on one important aspect momentarily, because they are predominantly used to do bad things by bad people, and are also the source of most of the PCP drug trade in the US funny enough, if you're into that sort of thing. But what I will touch on is the fact that whoever (wink,wink) installed that router had to special order it from a random person on the internet, know that it existed at all to be able to order it, and know what to do with it to be able to set it up to be used for PTP communications and regular internet/WiFi routing, since they don't exactly come from a reputable company with included instructions, or from a company at all as far as I'm aware. But since the FBI didn't seize it, I imagine it was eventually removed when the dealership was shut down and who knows what happened to it now, and since Josh was successfully convicted and sentenced it really doesn't matter that much but it does give you something interesting to consider when regarding how much effort had to go into Josh obtaining the CSAM to begin with.So one interesting aspect down and one to go, we're almost to the end, I (kinda) promise. The next intriguing bit of information is the fact that the interface that was used to communicate with the PTP router, once it had been set up, on Josh's computer only works on Linux based operating systems. Which is a curious note considering Josh's workstation at the dealership was running MAC operating software since it was a MAC computer. Meaning that, in order for Josh to communicate with the router and thus input the routing information needed to make the PTP connection possible with his, currently unknown, provider of CSAM possible, he had to use MAC's built in Virtual environment creation process to install some version of a Linux operating system in order to attempt a PTP communication at all.Now I don't know about you, but that sounds like a lot of work to do to somehow not be the one responsible for the downloading of CSAM, especially when you're like me and know how much work it actually takes to make that whole process happen when it only took you 3 seconds to read about it (or more, not trying to be critical of your reading speed, it's just for emphasis). So to keep it brief, let's just say that even using a built in process to do it, it is still a double digit step process to do correctly, and it takes an above average amount of know how, or at least a lot of different YouTube videos to figure out how. Meaning that Josh undoubtedly knew exactly what he was doing the entire time and what the end goal would be from the moment he purchased a router dedicated to nefarious activities. Especially when you consider the FBI was able to pull the log of Josh's computer to see when the download started for the CSAM on the Linux side of his computer and coincide that with Josh using the MAC side to respond to his wife about why he was at work a lot later than usual during the exact same time span, I know, this sh*t's crazy, wouldn't believe it even if I saw it on TV.Add all that evidence up and you have one of the top most disgusting child predators being vehemently defended by his religious nut job family, I'm afraid the world is a sad sad place my friends. But I do hope this lengthy description of his arrest and court case details at least gives you something to think about.For those curious how I know all this. One, I work with computer networks and devices daily while finishing my networking degree. Two, I have a few friends who themselves are more nefariously aligned than your average bear who answer my illegal networking questions in return for friendship and occasional LOL matches. Three, I happened to be selected for Jury Duty for Josh's case and while I was not selected, more than likely after the defense attorney learned of my internet knowledge, it did give me a really good reason to follow the rest of the case where I learned most of the details I explained, through reading the process and details of his court trial.Thank you for you time and curiosity, I hope it was well worth it. I'm open to more questions, if so motivated, but I do occasionally have a life outside of this little LED screen so be patient for any responses.TLDR: This isn't some click baity word dump for worthless internet points, if you want the info you WILL have to actually read the damn thing, thx.
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