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 antdude A Ninja Ant Premium,VIP join:2001-03-25
| Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus
»tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20091108/···e/us_tec from »it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=0···/2135245 ...
"The Associated Press tells the story of Michael Fiola, a former Massachusetts government employee who was arrested in 2007 after child porn was found on his state-issued laptop computer. He was eventually cleared of all charges after some digging by the defense found that the laptop was infected with malware that was 'programmed to visit as many as 40 child porn sites per minute an inhuman feat. While Fiola and his wife were out to dinner one night, someone logged on to the computer and porn flowed in for an hour and a half. Prosecutors performed another test and confirmed the defense findings. The charge was dropped 11 months after it was filed.' The article also discusses the technical aspects of how it could happen and about similar cases in the United Kingdom in 2003." -- Ant @ »antfarm.ma.cx and »aqfl.net. Please do not IM/e-mail me for technical support. Use the forum! Disclaimer: The views expressed in this posting are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer | |
|   Dude111 An Awesome Dude Premium join:2003-08-04 USA | Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus Its good they found this out!! (Its sad it took so long) | |
|   Blue2 Premium join:2004-04-14 France
| 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... | |
|  |   pog Premium join:2004-06-03 Kihei, HI
·Hawaiian Telcom
| Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus said by Blue2 :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. Given what I remember of the story, I think that was fair. The woman was so scattered she couldn't think of throwing a coat or something over the monitor... never mind unplugging it. I don't think we need that kind of dumb-ass teacher.
Apologies if I'm completely out to lunch on the details.  -- My Site | |
|  |  |   Blue2 Premium join:2004-04-14 France
1 edit | Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus said by pog :Apologies if I'm completely out to lunch on the details. Apology accepted 
As I remember, she was a substitute teacher, not a computer expert. She was told NOT to turn off the computer as I believe she was not given credentials to log back on. She panicked and went for help. I don't know how long the images were "exposed" but I don't see anything in her behavior that I question, take exception with or find out of line.
The only person the dumb-ass label might apply to is the detective who collected the evidence and called himself a computer "expert" but clearly has little "expertise", so that a forensic analysis of the computer and hard drive were never done. That's like forgetting the murder weapon at the crime scene. It doesn't get much dumber than that.
So you just have to ask yourself, how likely would it be for a 40+ year plus pregnant substitute female teacher to walk into a classroom with the sole objective of exposing students to pornography? I don't know about you, but even without evidence, that strains credibility. | |
|  hroo772 Darkness Fears Me Premium join:2002-04-05 Mclean, VA clubs: | If you've ever dealt with the legal system, people somehow forget that it's INNOCENT until proven guilty. | |
|  |  Mele20 Premium join:2001-06-05 Hilo, HI
| Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus said by hroo772 :If you've ever dealt with the legal system, people somehow forget that it's INNOCENT until proven guilty. Umm....usually though ONLY when it concerns child porn. -- When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. Thomas Jefferson | |
|  |  |   CylonRed Premium,MVM join:2000-07-06 Bloom County
| Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus said by Mele20 :said by hroo772 :If you've ever dealt with the legal system, people somehow forget that it's INNOCENT until proven guilty. Umm....usually though ONLY when it concerns child porn. Nope - as a male there are several others that are immediate branding, no matter the outcome. Not just child porn. -- Brian
"It drops into your stomach like a Abrams's tank.... driven by Rosanne Barr..." A. Bourdain | |
|  |  |  |   SLD Premium join:2002-04-17 | Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus I've heard that some people have been branded as sex offenders for pissing in public, or for walking nude in their home when a window shade wasn't drawn. Scary to be branded like that for a non-sexual offense. | |
|  |   VikingBob
join:2004-06-05 Ste Anne, MB
·MTS
| said by hroo772 :If you've ever dealt with the legal system, people somehow forget that it's INNOCENT until proven guilty. The media seem to have forgotten this, as do many people who hungrily gobble up what the media are spoon-feeding them. The news isn't about news anymore, it's about sensationalism and ratings.
As for these computer-related incidents, it shows just how ill-equipped many law-enforcement agencies are. They don't have the funding, resources, or people with proper technical skills to investigate these things. It also highlights how not properly securing your system can really ruin your day... | |
|  |  |  chrisretusn Retired Premium join:2007-08-13 Philippines
1 edit | Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus 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!! | |
|  |  |  |   Link Logger Premium,MVM join:2001-03-29 Calgary, AB
·Shaw
| Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus 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.
Means is important here as it implies two things on a computer, first someone willfully acquired the material in question (ie a pop up isn't willful) and secondly the identity of that person is known (ie not someone using the computer as a zombie under someone else's account). Now our local ICE group is trained and considers different ways in which files can end up on a system, as these are serious accusations which can have a huge impact on someone so accused, so you better be right (I suspect there is a law suit in the making here given its in the US). The local ICE group has an extremely high conviction rate as they do their work and know their stuff and if they tagged you, its only after they have bucket loads of evidence.
Blake -- Vendor: Author of Link Logger which is a traffic analysis and firewall logging tool | |
|  |  |  |   tmh
@qwest.net
| said by chrisretusn :This also emphasizes the importance of knowing your computer and what is on it. Easier said than done. We get tons of spam, of which 99.5% is filtered out to a spam folder. With some email clients (Eudora is one), embedded images can get left behind after the image gets deleted.
Bottom line, you'll never see the picture (who wades through their spam folder?), and never realize it's left behind until somebody happens on it. | |
|  |  |   Cheese Premium join:2003-10-26 Naples, FL clubs:
| said by VikingBob :said by hroo772 :If you've ever dealt with the legal system, people somehow forget that it's INNOCENT until proven guilty. The media seem to have forgotten this, as do many people who hungrily gobble up what the media are spoon-feeding them. The news isn't about news anymore, it's about sensationalism and ratings. As for these computer-related incidents, it shows just how ill-equipped many law-enforcement agencies are. They don't have the funding, resources, or people with proper technical skills to investigate these things. It also highlights how not properly securing your system can really ruin your day... But also, IMO, the school doesn't appear to be doing a very good job of securing their own computers if she is getting infected on a school/business computer. | |
|  |   RR Conductor RailRoadDude Premium join:2002-04-02 Redwood Valley, CA
·Comcast
| said by hroo772 :If you've ever dealt with the legal system, people somehow forget that it's INNOCENT until proven guilty. Well, in Russia it's guilty until proven innocent. -- You've got to stand for something, or you'll fall for anything. | |
|  |  |   woody7 Premium join:2000-10-13 Torrance, CA | Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus If not mistaken also in Great Britain -- BlooMe | |
|  |  Kornflake
join:2006-12-21 4
| said by hroo772 :If you've ever dealt with the legal system, people somehow forget that it's INNOCENT until proven guilty. that is VARY true i have learned it does not take much to get a warrent and pc's takein | |
|  The Snowman Premium join:2007-05-20
| 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. | |
|   atuarre Here come the drums Premium join:2004-02-14 Lake Charles, LA clubs: 
| said by antdude :» tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20091108/···e/us_tec from » it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=0···/2135245 ... "The Associated Press tells the story of Michael Fiola, a former Massachusetts government employee who was arrested in 2007 after child porn was found on his state-issued laptop computer. He was eventually cleared of all charges after some digging by the defense found that the laptop was infected with malware that was 'programmed to visit as many as 40 child porn sites per minute an inhuman feat. While Fiola and his wife were out to dinner one night, someone logged on to the computer and porn flowed in for an hour and a half. Prosecutors performed another test and confirmed the defense findings. The charge was dropped 11 months after it was filed.' The article also discusses the technical aspects of how it could happen and about similar cases in the United Kingdom in 2003." Of course, when you accuse someone of such charges you want to be sure, but you notice when they make a mistake, or wrongfully convict someone that there is no mention of damages being awarded? The persons life is ruined thanks to the state or the federal powers but yet there is no compensation for that. | |
|   evil_gusgus
join:2008-04-14 London, ON | 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. | |
|  brianiscool
join:2000-08-16 Homestead, FL | Can you image being in custody, locked up and then after a few months in jail they finally release you. That is crazy. | |
|   gabeman
join:2001-05-03 Philadelphia, PA clubs: | It's unfortunate that this guys name was released even though he was never convicted of anything. The charges alone have tarnished his reputation. | |
|   Blue2 Premium join:2004-04-14 France
| 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. | |
|  |   woody7 Premium join:2000-10-13 Torrance, CA | Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus problem is when a "DA" makes a "mistake" nothing happens to them, even when it is willfully done. -- BlooMe | |
|  |  |   oxymoron69
join:2004-11-10 Belleville, ON
·TekSavvy Solutions..
| Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus "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! | |
|  |  |  |   woody7 Premium join:2000-10-13 Torrance, CA | Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus My mom watches "Nancy Grace" when that you know what is on I want to puke! -- BlooMe | |
|   meister_sd Premium join:2006-01-29 La Mesa, CA | 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..... | |
|  |   Unknown_P
@verizon.net
| Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus said by meister_sd :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 Perhaps it was in his 'My Kiddie Pr0n' folder? 
If there were something in my 'My Documents' folder, I wouldn't see it. That's a folder I don't use and rarely open. The system32 folder, however, I open on a regular basis. Just because Windows defaults to the 'My Documents' folder doesn't mean everyone uses it or even visits it regularly.
On the other hand, anyone computer-literate enough to not use default folders would probably also fairly quickly catch onto the fact that an outside entity was abusing the machine in some manner.
Just mentioning this as a point of info. | |
|   Blackbird Built for Speed Premium join:2005-01-14 Fort Wayne, IN
·Verizon Online DSL
| Not a lot has changed since the Salem trials... because we're dealing with human nature. Folks want to be "protected", and all too often they don't hold their appointed investigators as accountable for their mis-deeds or omissions as they do the "perps". And in saying that, I'm far less focused on the "cop on the beat" than I am on the desk-jockies, administrators, and prosecutorial staffs who develop the cases and pursue them. If most of us screwed up as spectacularly on our jobs as these folks sometimes do, we'd at least be looking for new jobs - if not being the subject of major civil lawsuits.
To use the jargon of the day, there's a substantial "coverage gap" for costs incurred by people falsely accused, particularly via sloppiness, bias, or laziness on the part of their "official" accusers. And those costs include the wreckage of lives, families, and reputations... -- If God wanted us to work with electrons, He'd make them big enough to see... | |
|  ame101
join:2002-05-02 Southington, CT
| There is no 100% complete security for any computer system, connected to the internet. For the most part we don't release the names of rape victims for fear of the damage it would do to them. It should be the same in this case(s). 100% of the burden of the proof should be on the prosecutor. Once your accused of something like this the damage is done. | |
|  |  jdjbuffalo
join:2004-01-17 Denver, CO
| Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus said by ame101 :There is no 100% complete security for any computer system, connected to the internet. For the most part we don't release the names of rape victims for fear of the damage it would do to them. It should be the same in this case(s). 100% of the burden of the proof should be on the prosecutor. Once your accused of something like this the damage is done. I've been saying this for years. In cases where the person's reputation could be permanently damaged (i.e. rape, CP and others) then we need a law on the books that has a media blackout on reporting their name and other information UNTIL they are found guilty (assuming no appeals). Once that is on the books then you can release their name as they then deserve that reputation.
For the many that they find not guilty, those names are never to be released. | |
|  |  |   Blackbird Built for Speed Premium join:2005-01-14 Fort Wayne, IN
·Verizon Online DSL
| Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus said by sivran :You know what needs to happen before there's any real change in "guilty until proven not-newsworthy" situations, such as child porn (are anything even RESEMBLING child porn) charges? A congresscritter's laptop needs to be infected with such malware. Preferably a member of the majority. That oughta get some laws passed, probably forbidding the release of the suspect/victim's name until convicted. ... Sadly, in this day and age, the most likely result would be a secret, off-record committee investigation of the congress-critter and exoneration, followed by the passage of a resolution exempting congress-critters from the laws the rest of us remain subject to. -- If God wanted us to work with electrons, He'd make them big enough to see... | |
|  |  |   fatness subtle Janitor join:2000-11-17 fishing
·EarthLink
Host: Earthlink DSL Speakeasy TekSavvy Forum Feature Requ.. Need Site Help?
| Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus said by Blackbird :Sadly, in this day and age, the most likely result would be a secret, off-record committee investigation of the congress-critter and exoneration, followed by the passage of a resolution exempting congress-critters from the laws the rest of us remain subject to. That wouldn't be enough. It would also have to be coupled with strict-sounding vague broad powers given to various levels of government to seize property from and preventively detain anyone even accused of child pornography.
To protect the children, you know. -- "I cannot teach him. The boy has no pants." | |
|   TigerLord Resident Pentaxian Premium,Mod join:2002-06-09 Montreal
Host: International Broa.. Videotron
| Accusing someone of sharing or viewing childporn, or involving the word 'child' and 'porn' together in the same sentence always has severe consequences for the person. In jail or prison, they'll get beaten up by inmates, even cops. Their life will be forever ruined, they'll need to move, perhaps change identity, to get away from it. All of this because some fucking moron(s) didn't do their job correctly.
That woman teacher who was a victim of spyware, that government worker who for months was branded as a pedophile and outlawed by everyone...they will never be able to get the life they had back.
In the case of the teacher, every single cop, attorneys or person still convinced she is guilty and pushing for charges in the retrial deserves to be fired immediately, with no severance pay, and lose whatever retirement plan they might have had. I'd also paint their name across the news channels nation wide and brand them idiots and negligent criminals who have ruined the life of a woman doing her job. I would not shed one tear if they lost everything and got thrown out of the streets... they failed miserably at their job, ruined someone's life entirely, theirs should get equally ruined for their idiocy. | |
|  |   NYR 56 Premium join:2000-12-05 Smithtown, NY clubs:
| Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus said by TigerLord :Accusing someone of sharing or viewing childporn, or involving the word 'child' and 'porn' together in the same sentence always has severe consequences for the person. In jail or prison, they'll get beaten up by inmates, even cops. Their life will be forever ruined, they'll need to move, perhaps change identity, to get away from it. All of this because some fucking moron(s) didn't do their job correctly. That woman teacher who was a victim of spyware, that government worker who for months was branded as a pedophile and outlawed by everyone...they will never be able to get the life they had back. In the case of the teacher, every single cop, attorneys or person still convinced she is guilty and pushing for charges in the retrial deserves to be fired immediately, with no severance pay, and lose whatever retirement plan they might have had. I'd also paint their name across the news channels nation wide and brand them idiots and negligent criminals who have ruined the life of a woman doing her job. I would not shed one tear if they lost everything and got thrown out of the streets... they failed miserably at their job, ruined someone's life entirely, theirs should get equally ruined for their idiocy. Quoted for truth. TigerLord said it better than I could have, mostly because I would have had far too emotion shoved into this. It's unfortunate none of this will ever change and totally innocent people will have their entire lives ruined. I don't think these asshole prosecutors and cops realize what they are really doing. | |
|  Vertigo23
join:2009-10-21 | What's sad is even though he's been cleared, in reality he never will be. His life is pretty much ruined just from the allegation. | |
|  |   norwegian Premium join:2005-02-15 Outback
·WestNet Broadband
1 edit | Re: Framed for child porn 151; by a PC virus said by Vertigo23 :What's sad is even though he's been cleared, in reality he never will be. His life is pretty much ruined just from the allegation. That is a concern.
A similar issue had a friend go through this process, simply because the ex was good enough in the story to make it believable. The fear a parent has now of just bringing up their young is nothing short of scary. Let alone something of this nature.
This is also why I'm here today, my fear of what will happen with my computer and me and my family, ultimately because of exploits/malware and then what will happen to the kids and the affect it will have on them. Nothing can fix the heart when it is of this nature, the tarnish becomes rust and your whole world falls apart: you are lucky to be exonerated, let alone given your life back. I still remember some of the comments thrown at me in this forum when I started just because of my curiosity and the force and passion behind my questions.
I can not even begin to fathom what any one in this situation has to deal with even though you could say it was seen virtually first hand to a friend. -- The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing - Edmund Burke | |
|   jmorlan Hmm... That's funny. Premium join:2001-02-05 Pacifica, CA
| said by antdude : the defense found that the laptop was infected with malware that was 'programmed to visit as many as 40 child porn sites per minute an inhuman feat. Inhuman, certainly. Also humanly impossible because there are not 40 child porn sites on all the internet. In fact there are virtually no commercial child porn sites at all except for FBI sting honeypots.
If he had that much child porn, no matter how infected his computer might have been, I don't think it got there accidentally.
True child porn is not something that is distributed lightly or pushed through spam. This story is bogus or, more likely, sensationalized. -- This is not a rehearsal. | |
|  |  See 25 replies to this post | |
 Madtown
join:2008-04-26 Madera, CA
| I sure want to be in charge of ICE, this whole mess would be taken care of in a heart beat and any prosecutors, so called computer experts, and what not falsely accuse an innocent person of child porn will be dealt with serious consequences which may or may not involve the same thing the innocent person was accused of, and will be lucky if the the only thing they have to do is pay millions of dollars to the innocent person, half of it goes to me and the majority of the money will go to the innocent person. | |
|  m0d
join:2005-03-02 ireland
| "Massachusetts government employee"
I think the bar needs to be raised to an acceptable level. These are .gov and impose all sorts of requests/restrictions on the rest of us. Sure the guy was innocent in the end. The larger question is WTF is he doing employed with .gov or what is .gov doing wrong that some random employee is infected?
If he is not responsible for a security breach? His bosses are.. heads should roll in a case like that. | |
|  |  See 16 replies to this post | |
  Oleg Bellsouth Fastaccess Premium join:2003-12-08 Birmingham, AL | He is lucky. | |
|   Blue2 Premium join:2004-04-14 France
| Sorry, I don't agree.
(1) When the DA drops the charges, from what I can tell, that is the same as having not been charged. You have not proceeed to trial nor have the charges been brought before a judge. Only a judge or a jury can exonerate you, NOT the DA. You are not acquited, as you have NOT been tried.
(2) I have stated all along that unless there is evidence that links you to the crime, there is no cause to charge you. I've never changed my opinion on that. Forget the dead body. They find high grade explosives in the rental car that you are driving. You're a terrorist right? Not quite. They go to great pains to discover where the explosives were acquired and who acquired them. How were they transported to the car. Are there any traces of your DNA that links you to the explosives. Did any other people have access to the car? Was it checked by the car rental company before it was given to you? The mere presence of explosives in the car that you happen to be driving might set off a lot of alarm bells, but it still does NOT link you to any crime or criminal activity.
Sorry, if the DA failed to do these checks BEFORE bringing charges, then he failed to do his job which is to determine if there is sufficient evidence to link the person to the crime.
I don't think I've missing anythng that you've suggested. I just don't agree with your analysis. What does "possession" mean to you? If it is a company computer, do I possess it or do they? Did I install the software or did they? Did they verify the contents before giving it to me? Did anyone else have access to it? Sorry, I still don't buy that the "possession" argument was very well substantiated. | |
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