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They provide forums for felons, offer platforms for partners in crime, and even introduce clients to assassins.

But operator of these "underground Web sites" have for the most part escaped arrest for crimes that they have helped to arrange. The Web sites, which offer to undertake illegal activities, are buried in a legal gray zone where police face difficulties establishing the culpability of the operators.

One high-profile example involved a Web site called Kakekomidera (temple where abused women seek refuge) that carried words like "murder," "revenge" and "violence."

quote:

Norio Shiratori, professor of information and communication system at Tohoku University said: "There are innumerable Web sites on the Internet. It can be said to be an area where laws do not exist."