# HA HA! - Stupid paedo! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 9, 2007, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085 "2007-10-09T14:09:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/41 "2007-10-15T18:08:19Z")
[QUOTE=KGS] Fuck you, jackass. Pete Townshend is not a pedophile. Think of it this way…if he was so fucking STUPID (and yes, he was stupid) to use his real credit card number to access an illegal kiddy porn site…how come there was NO kiddy porn on his computer, a la Gary Glitter?? [/QUOTE] Streaming video? I got no horse in this race - I’m just surprised by the level of outrage heaped on **JohnBckWLD** for a mostly innocuous aside. But hey, to each his/her own. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/42 "2007-10-16T08:47:28Z")
[QUOTE=Ponder Stibbons] Update: We have an [identification](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21307230/). [/QUOTE] He’s been named as Christopher Paul Neil, 32, an English teacher from Canada. ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/43 "2007-10-16T08:52:52Z")
Crap, you beat me to it! ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/44 "2007-10-16T13:14:23Z")
The only person who knows for sure if Pete Townshend is a paedophile is of course Pete Townshend. Didn’t he write “Rough Boys” 😉 The recent article about the guy in the OP mentions that before they released his photo, they weighed whether they should, becasue of the possible harm that could come to the paedophile if people see him in person and take action. Unreal that that would be a concern- it’s not like there’s any possbility of his innocence. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/45 "2007-10-16T13:36:42Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] The only person who knows for sure if Pete Townshend is a paedophile is of course Pete Townshend. Didn’t he write “Rough Boys” 😉 [/QUOTE] Ironic, considering his preference for smooth boys. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/46 "2007-10-16T13:52:41Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] The recent article about the guy in the OP mentions that before they released his photo, they weighed whether they should, becasue of the possible harm that could come to the paedophile if people see him in person and take action. Unreal that that would be a concern- it’s not like there’s any possbility of his innocence. [/QUOTE] I don’t think he’ll turn up alive now. He’ll either be killed by vigilantes, kill himself, or simply never be found (possibly because of one of the previous possibilities happened), I reckon. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/47 "2007-10-16T14:08:58Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] I don’t think he’ll turn up alive now. He’ll either be killed by vigilantes, kill himself, or simply never be found, I reckon. [/QUOTE] I think the concern was more that the offenders will now realise (as noted in this thread) that they need to choose a more secure way of masking their identities. I would guess a lot of them just use a basic photoshop filter - blur, spin, pixellate etc - now they know it can be undone they will amend their actions. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2007, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/48 "2007-10-16T14:31:37Z")
[QUOTE=e-logic] I think the concern was more that the offenders will now realise (as noted in this thread) that they need to choose a more secure way of masking their identities. I would guess a lot of them just use a basic photoshop filter - blur, spin, pixellate etc - now they know it can be undone they will amend their actions. [/QUOTE] I guess that was inevitable anyway though - if it means this one guy got caught, that’s probably better than nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/49 "2007-10-18T18:38:57Z")
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn] The recent article about the guy in the OP mentions that before they released his photo, they weighed whether they should, becasue of the possible harm that could come to the paedophile if people see him in person and take action. Unreal that that would be a concern- it’s not like there’s any possbility of his innocence. [/QUOTE] Or that somebody else out there might look like his twin brother… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Waverly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/57b2e6/32.png) [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/50 "2007-10-18T19:56:50Z")
I don’t go around hiding identities, but I know my way around photoshop. Many photoshop filters use a translation algorithm. If the algorithm has a one to one correspondence, or close to it, you can make some educated guesses along with trial and error to reverse the effect. The swirl I saw on CNN is this way. The police were clever, but they aren’t magical. The more basic blur method is not one to one. Depending upon how coarse you go, it will take a certain percentage of pixels (say 1 in 4) and overwrite the complementary percentage of nearest neighbors (3 in our example) with exact copies of itself. In a flattened image (no layer data), such as a jpg, the other 75% of the pixels, which _I believe_ is 50% of the resolution, is lost forever. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/51 "2007-10-18T21:25:46Z")
[QUOTE=Mangetout] If they’re blurred, they’re probably safe - this guy did a spiral distortion that is easily reversed by just doing a spiral distortion the other direction. [/QUOTE] Yes. To prove how easy it was, I just took the photo into Photoshop, made a selection that centered around the middle of the spiral, and did Filter \> Twirl \> -999 and got the same picture as Interpol did. Now, why the hell somebody covering his identity would do that instead of pasting a black square on top of their face and flattening the layer, I will never understand. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/52 "2007-10-18T21:35:08Z")
[QUOTE=pulykamell] Now, why the hell somebody covering his identity would do that instead of pasting a black square on top of their face and flattening the layer, I will never understand. [/QUOTE] Because he didn’t realize it could be unswirled. ---
**Author:** ![Wee\_Bairn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/90db22/32.png) [@Wee\_Bairn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wee_Bairn)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/53 "2007-10-18T21:45:44Z")
[QUOTE=Steve MB] Or that somebody else out there might look like his twin brother… :dubious: [/QUOTE] Touche 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/54 "2007-10-18T21:48:01Z")
[QUOTE=Steve MB] Or that somebody else out there might look like his twin brother… :dubious: [/QUOTE] Oh, dude. Can you imagine if you looked a lot like that guy, and it _wasn’t_ you? :eek: :eek: :eek: I mean, he’s a pretty average looking (skinny, brown haired) guy, and the unswirled picture is slightly distorted…there are probably thousands of people who could be mistaken for him. That would be _awful_. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/55 "2007-10-18T22:42:44Z")
[QUOTE=PunditLisa] Because he didn’t realize it could be unswirled. [/QUOTE] Obviously. But maybe it’s because I’m a visual person that it looks pretty obvious that there’s at least a chance of it being unswirled. I mean, just why the hell choose a swirl filter in the first place? It seems like such an odd, random choice for blocking one’s identity. Why get all cute and Photoshoppy about it? I mean, heck, obviously this guy has no brains at all, but you could look at the photo and see that there’s a hell of a lot of original data left in the swirl. All the guy has to do to see if his swirl filter is reversible is just run another swirl in the opposite direction on it, while he’s manipulating it in Photohsop. And, guess what, it is. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/56 "2007-10-18T23:11:26Z")
I guess if this was CSI, it would be because he subconsciously wanted to get himself caught, but since it’s not, maybe we don’t need to jump to that particular trite conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/57 "2007-10-19T05:12:48Z")
[Arrested](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7052065.stm). I am shocked (_shocked!_) that he was found in Thailand of all places. Go Interpol. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/58 "2007-10-19T05:25:12Z")
That guy is so generic looking it’s ridiculous. I’m glad they caught him before someone who looked like him got killed by a vigilante or something. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/59 "2007-10-19T08:30:49Z")
I had an English teacher who looked just like Carlos the Jackal. You can imagine how I feel. Every time they arrest a pervert he is an overseas English teacher. Wonderful. I tell people I am a prostitute, just avoid the stigma of being an English teacher. ---
**Author:** ![Martiju](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@Martiju](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martiju)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085/60 "2007-10-19T10:07:54Z")
[QUOTE=Steve MB] Or that somebody else out there might look like his twin brother… :dubious: [/QUOTE] Or that someone has a similar name, or looks similar, or is a paediatrician…don’t underestimate the stupidity of mob rule. And even that’s ignoring the moral issue of whether justice should be seen to be done by the state (any state) rather than by any random group of thugs, regardless of their good intentions. [ETA: hadn’t noticed the page 2 - but I guess now I’m just reinforcing the point!) 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ha-ha-stupid-paedo/422085.md?page=4)