I'm of two minds here. On one hand, I'm a father and think that "exposing" a pedophile is a good thing. the creeps frequenting chatrooms to predate on young girls (and boys) deserve to be in jail. On the other, I can see the danger--you are, in fact, provoking a crime, not exposing one already committed, which does make you an accomplish, according to the laws of more than one country. I'm also concerned that the "innocent until proven guilty" concept is thrown out of the window. It's entirely possible to frame an innocent person like this, and while his innocence could probably be proven later, his name would already be out there and he would more than likely be convicted in the minds of the public,
I understand your concern, but, these creeps are initiating contact in a chat room, plus the actor playing the "kid' does mention several times that they are underage and asks the creeps if they really want to do this. The creeps are given ample opportunity to back out. Plus, no one forces them to show up at the designated house, once there, no one forces them to stay, they are free to leave any time even after confronted with the chat logs. It's when they leave that they are arrested the cars and the creeps computers are seized and searched. In the cars are condoms, alchohol, porn, etc. On the computers is found kiddie porn! 9 times out of 10 they bring booze into the house, which is another crime under US law, furnishing alcohol to underage kids.
But, what gives this show an even more edge of absurdity, is that most of those caught have watched the show, know how it works and even know whats going to happen next. THEY KNOW, yet they still do this thing.
Also under US law, it is illegal to engage in any kind of lewd act with a minor, that includes computer chat rooms. These actors are pretending to be minors, but, they are NOT initiating the lewd conduct. That is made perfectly clear from the start.
