[Almaviva]

If the site mentioned in the article had 150,000 members as they say, that's a lot of people to lock up for years for pointing a browser at a url.

[johncolanduoni]

Considering it was a Tor site, it's not like a user who didn't know what they were doing could end up there on accident. Also I'm not sure users means "only browsed the website" (could mean they had a profile, etc.).

EDIT: It appears that they did do more than just visit the site: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13799213

[BearGoesChirp]

I don't quite get why it is illegal.

Banning production I understand fully. But viewing, under the argument it promotes it? The TOR developers have done far more to promote it than any single viewer, especially if we consider those who never paid any money and use ad blockers. Would we say the TOR developers should face some sort of punishment for not working with governments to develop a version that works to stop this (such as integrating something which causes it to drop off the TOR network as soon as it detects an illegal file, probably biases the algorithm against false positives)?

At the very least, I think they should be using all the resources to go after producers and those paying for it.

[camus2]

> If the site mentioned in the article had 150,000 members as they say, that's a lot of people to lock up for years for pointing a browser at a url.

You don't stumble on "kiddy stuff" on TOR accidentally. You actively seek it. 150.000 is a lot of pedos in the wild.

[Almaviva]

Lots of people visit links on the clear web showing illegal and horrific acts. If the full extent of a crime is filling out an http form with a fake email to see some pictures and video, it's still not clear that this is so far beyond the pale that years of prison for hundreds of thousands of people is the best solution.