Kickstarter: Hansen Vs. Predator (To Catch a Predator reboot)

[6souls]

The Kickstarter page for "Hansen Vs. Predator" went live this morning at 11:00am CDT. The crowdfunding campaign is seeking a minimum $75,000 to revive the "To Catch a Predator" formula as a Web series, although the Kickstarter page has stretch goals laid out all the way up to $1,000,000. Going by the stretch goal labels, $500,000 is the actual amount necessary to complete one full "investigation," while $1,000,000 would enable the team to do two "investigations."

Rewards for backers range from the usual thank-you cards and coffee mugs for $10-30 to having Chris Hansen record a voice-mail greeting for you for $150, all the way up to the top pledge tier at $2,000, which gets you a "Producer" credit and an invitation to the series wrap party.

The biggest question we had over how the planned revival would work is whether or not local law enforcement will be involved; the Kickstarter page does not address this question.

http://arstechnica.com/the-multivers...-crowdfunding/
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...en-vs-predator

[Koul]

something about this just seems really freaking weird to me. Not totally sure why

[Byrthnoth]

Obviously a big setup to catch fame-hungry pedos.

[Kaslo]

I was hoping for a parody film about Chris Hansen fighting a Predator (the creature)

[Melena]

I was hoping for a parody film about Chris Hansen fighting a Predator (the creature)

Same

[Mojo]

something about this just seems really freaking weird to me. Not totally sure why

I certainly question whether making a spectacle of sexual predators is helpful or not (even aside from the ethics of doing it in the first place.)

[kareface]

There was a guy who got caught twice who clearly had some mental issues, and they aired the footage. I don't feel like shaming someone with mental issues is a great idea. If anything, instead of sending him right to jail they need to send his ass to a mental health professional.

[Kalmado]

The entire premise of the show always felt unethical to me. I also was expecting something or someone about facing The Predator.

[Melena]

Honestly, to catch a predator was just a televised thing that law enforcement agencies would do to break up prostitution rings. For larger agencies, it's fairly common to have a younger looking woman pose as a 13-17 year old (age of consent in california is 18) to nail people.

[archibaldcrane]

The entire premise of the show always felt unethical to me. I also was expecting something or someone about facing The Predator.

Honestly, to catch a predator was just a televised thing that law enforcement agencies would do to break up prostitution rings. For larger agencies, it's fairly common to have a younger looking woman pose as a 13-17 year old (age of consent in california is 18) to nail people.

Yeah, jailing people for endangering...no minors is kinda messed up thought-police shit.

[Tyrath]

I don't think you can call it thought police if they are willing to act on it.. Bait and switch, yeah.

[Kaslo]

Kind of wonder if entrapment too, since really it would be hard for a guy to resist a hot teenage girl wanting to get with them, pedo or not.

dropping this here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Are_All_Men_Pedophiles%3F

[Pringles]

Most of the perps in the show never even got charged officially for what they did. I also recall a suicide by one of the perps, a DA or something helped lead to the cancellation of the series amongst many other reasons.

[6souls]

Most of the perps in the show never even got charged officially for what they did. I also recall a suicide by one of the perps, a DA or something helped lead to the cancellation of the series amongst many other reasons.

Almost all of the charges were dropped because of the entrapment. If anything, it just publicly shames everyone involved.

[archibaldcrane]

I don't think you can call it thought police if they are willing to act on it.. Bait and switch, yeah.

The thing is they were baited with people of-age, so they weren't "acting" on anything regarding underage people.

[Niiro]

Eh? I can't say I ever watched the show but I was always under the impression that they were baited specifically with underage teenagers.

[Koul]

How it worked was some 35 yr old cop or whatever would be on chat sites or whatever flirting it up with potential pedos. Then they would agree to meet at some bait house, have some actor/actress play as the teen and then the teen would disappear for a second and Hansen would pop out with cops and have a chat with em.

From what I gathered, the baiter cop online would REALLY let them know they are a 16 yr old or something looking to fuck faces and all. Then the actor would be all "Are you excited to be my first? blahblah I gotta slip into something more comfortable"

Honestly, I wouldn't really consider the dudes to be predators... idiot sleazebags but not predators. I remember one dude was a doctor with a wife and a bunch of kids. Ended up traveling like 3 hours to the bait house. Another one I remember brought some Wendy's for the actress. These aren't excuses just parts I found hilariously terrible on the dudes part. South Park had a great episode on this thing.

[Tyrath]

If they came there under the impression that they were getting someone underage, how is that not a predator? It's like a cop pretending to sell someone drugs without actually having any drugs.

[Stilzkin]

How it worked was some 35 yr old cop or whatever would be on chat sites or whatever flirting it up with potential pedos. Then they would agree to meet at some bait house, have some actor/actress play as the teen and then the teen would disappear for a second and Hansen would pop out with cops and have a chat with em.

From what I gathered, the baiter cop online would REALLY let them know they are a 16 yr old or something looking to fuck faces and all. Then the actor would be all "Are you excited to be my first? blahblah I gotta slip into something more comfortable"

I watched some of the episodes recently. They were never said to be 16, they were usually like 13/14.

It seemed fairly common for the guys to start sending naked pictures of themselves to the girls.

According to the show it was also some sort of offense in those states to be having sexual conversations and sending sexual material to underage girls. So they had already broken the law before they went to the house.

[Blubbartron]

I watched some of the episodes recently. They were never said to be 16, they were usually like 13/14.

It seemed fairly common for the guys to start sending naked pictures of themselves to the girls.

According to the show it was also some sort of offense in those states to be having sexual conversations and sending sexual material to underage girls. So they had already broken the law before they went to the house.

If it's still illegal even though they were actually talking to a 35 year old, then that law needs to be changed. Dangerously close to thought crimes