Broadband Tech > Security > Security > Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus

Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus

Its good they found this out!! (Its sad it took so long)

reply to antdude
He's apparently sad to the tune of $250,000, attempting to clear himself when facing 5 years jail time. What's sad is that hot buttons like "pedophile" make you guilty until proven innocent, and once the wheels begin to turn, it's impossible to stop them.

Remember Julie Amero, the substitute teacher arrested for showing porn to her students because the school didn't have the PC locked down? Know the upshot of that one?

"In June of 2007, Judge Hillary B. Strackbein tossed out Amero's conviction on charges that she intentionally caused a stream of "pop-up" pornography on the computer in her classroom and allowed students to view it. Confronted with evidence compiled by forensic computer experts, Strackbein ordered a new trial, saying the conviction was based on "erroneous" and "false information."

But since that dramatic reversal, local officials, police and state prosecutors were unwilling to admit that a mistake may have been made -- even after computer experts from around the country demonstrated that Amero's computer had been infected by "spyware."

New London County State's Attorney Michael Regan told me late Friday the state remained convinced Amero was guilty and was prepared to again go to trial.

"I have no regrets. Things took a course that was unplanned. Unfortunately the computer wasn't examined properly by the Norwich police," Regan said.

"For some reason this case caught the media's attention,'' Regan said." »blogs.courant.com/rick_green/200···arg.html

Gee, I wonder why? "Unplanned"? "Wasn't examined properly"? These officials should all be forced to stay after school and take remedial computer education classes before going back to work.

Amero agreed to plead guilty to a single charge of disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor (so the state wouldn't lose face) and lost her teaching license. And that's a winning case.

What's sad is that the state wastes all this time and manpower on these cases (a computer forensics expert should be able to verify if PC's are infected pretty quickly). Yet they have lots of trouble keeping tabs on a know sex offender like Phillip Garrido...

reply to antdude
If you've ever dealt with the legal system, people somehow forget that it's INNOCENT until proven guilty.

reply to hroo772

Agree the media is quick to convict. They often try to emphasize "alleged" but the story line has guilt written all over it.

This also emphasizes the importance of knowing your computer and what is on it.

--
Chris
Living in Paradise!!

PC Virus are one way you can get into trouble, had a case here where it was an open Wifi connection and a drive-by kiddie porn addict, and again I will say training is critical for investigators. To make a good case you need to do more then show possession as yes files can be there for a number of different reasons. You need to be mindful of means, motive, and opportunity (see »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Means,_mot···ortunity )

quote:

---

In US Criminal law, means, motive, and opportunity is a popular cultural summation of the three aspects of a crime needed to convince a jury of guilt in a criminal proceeding. Respectively, they refer to: the ability of the defendant to commit the crime (means), the reason the defendant had to commit the crime (motive), and whether or not the defendant had the opportunity to commit the crime (opportunity). Ironically, motive is not an element of many crimes, but proving motive can often make it easier to convince a jury of the elements that must be proved for a conviction.

---

reply to antdude

Here is yet another case where "wannabe security experts" screwed up........an in so doing messed over a person's life.
Hey its just not that difficult to know when a computer is infected or has been infected. For anyone who knows anything at all about computers its even actually easy. An yet case after case happens where incorrect information is presented to the courts because some Wannabe Security Expert had no idea what they were doing......its downright shameful !
Sadly these same type of Wannabe Security Experts are advising government. An leading government down a Yellow Brick Road of ignorant ideas.

reply to hroo772

reply to antdude

reply to antdude
A few years ago when I was in grade 7-8 we had this problem on our school computers, people would always get pop-ups for porn and adult websites. They had to reinstall windows on 500 computers.

reply to antdude
Can you image being in custody, locked up and then after a few months in jail they finally release you. That is crazy.

reply to antdude
It's unfortunate that this guys name was released even though he was never convicted of anything. The charges alone have tarnished his reputation.

reply to Mele20

reply to antdude
Some things aren't going to change anytime soon, e.g. the media will always report sensationalist news. I don't focus too much on those.

Some things would be easy enough to change and should. One relates directly to the expertise on this forum.

If a cop fires a weapon needlessly or mistakenly, you can bet he'll be investigated by Internal Affairs to figure out what the circumstances were and to prevent it from happening again. What I'd suggest is that every time a D.A. accuses someone without the right evidence being collected first, it's no different that misfiring a weapon. The damage is done, and you need to figure out why it happened to insure that you prevent it from happening again.

That simply isn't happening. Perhaps the community of computer security professionals needs to put out a statement on how these searches ought to be conducted. Those who call themselves computer forensic experts are a public embarrassment. Their sloppy and unprofessional investigative work tarnishes those they accuse as well as the reputations of real security professionals.

Pehaps these criminal units need to have a better source for their forensic experts and there needs to be better screening of what makes them qualified. Send 'em here first so we can test them since those hiring them simply aren't qualified to judge.

reply to RR Conductor
If not mistaken also in Great Britain
--
BlooMe

reply to Blue2
problem is when a "DA" makes a "mistake" nothing happens to them, even when it is willfully done.
--
BlooMe

"problem is when a "DA" makes a "mistake" nothing happens to them"

As someone who's spent time locked up in jail for no damn reason.... damn right, nothing happens to 'the man' when they make a false accusation and drop all their charges.

You still lost those days out of your life and still have a bigass lawyer bill to pay and the prosecutor goes on to the next case without a care that they fucked up.

Oh well, yay freedom!

reply to antdude
I'd like to know WHERE they found the porn. Was it in "My Documents", where he could easily see the problem, or hidden - like in c:\windows\system32\abc123

Not that a legit user could try to hide the stuff there too, but just wondering.....