Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
Premium,MVM
join:2001-08-03
Grand Rapids, MI
 ·Site5.com
 ·AT&T Midwest
 ·Comcast
| Good luck....if this is true.
With a vast majority of the US population that is computer illiterate, will the jury understand the meaning of spyware and how it works? All the prosecuting attorney has to do is put it very simply that she was looking at porn. The defense has to be "techie" which is a very steep hill to climb in court.
On a side note, doesn't Norton practically give their corporate edition antivirus away to schools? I know a lot of low income schools that have this software because of the almost free cost. The new version does a decent job at spyware protection. I have heard of other companies offering educational discounts for spyware protection like Spysweeper.
Course, schools can't hire good IT people due to their financial constraints. 
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My Domain
Nightfall's Hockey and Life Journal |
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cork1958
Cork
join:2000-02-26
Fruitport, MI
1 edit | But, like was stated, why didn't she turn the monitor off, pull the plug, or something? Sounds to me likes she's going to be SOL!
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Do the walk
Zenwalk Linux 4.0 |
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footballdude
Premium
join:2002-08-13
Imperial, MO
| reply to Nightfall
said by Nightfall  :Course, schools can't hire good IT people due to their financial constraints. More likely, due to their incompetent and conniving school boards which are training grounds for con men and future politicians (as if there were a difference).
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What's certain about Darwinism is that it would take less time for (1) a single-celled organism to evolve into a human being through mutation and natural selection than for (2) Darwinists to admit they have no proof of (1) - Ann Coulter |
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Titus Pullo
I came, I saw, I slept
join:2004-06-26
·Embarq
| said by footballdude :said by Nightfall :Course, schools can't hire good IT people due to their financial constraints. More likely, due to their incompetent and conniving school boards which are training grounds for con men and future politicians (as if there were a difference). ... and with an Ann Coulter quote. I now fully appreciate cognitive dissonance 
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Gettothetruth
@comcast.net
 from:
guitarzan
| If true it's a lame excuse
If the claims are true this person does deserve prison time IMO. |
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cableties
Premium
join:2005-01-27
 ·Verizon FIOS
| reply to footballdude
Re: Good luck....if this is true.
said by footballdude :said by Nightfall :Course, schools can't hire good IT people due to their financial constraints. More likely, due to their incompetent and conniving school boards which are training grounds for con men and future politicians (as if there were a difference). Don't forget sexual deviants (been plenty in last year)...Female teachers with 15 yr olds, Male teachers with 16 yr olds, VP's wife with student, ...
But honestly, the catty nature of the school administration and it's "mired tenure of dysfunctional teachers" leads one to believe, it could be a setup.
Oh, and that post about Corp Antivirus from Symantec isn't free to schools. And it doesn't do much to protect you "actively" from spyware and malware (you have to be diligent and use another layer, and what about proxy server??).
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viperpa33s
Why Me?
Premium
join:2002-12-20
Bradenton, FL
·Bright House
| Unbelievable
Getting 40 years for having malware on a computer that was clearly not her fault is unbelievable. You have to wonder where are the prosecutors heads in cases like these. This woman's life and career is ruined because of some stupid prosecutor and judge.
I guess we need to prosecute all the parents to 40 years in jail who got porn on there computer by no fault of there own.
Funny the schools are teaching sex education, teaching the kids how to have sex, handing out condoms and birth control but prosecute a teacher cause the kids were exposed to a couple of pictures for maybe about a minute tops.
Whatta Country!!!! |
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Jason Levine
Premium
join:2001-07-13
USA
| I hope the teacher wins on appeal
Based on what the articles say, she was a substitute teacher in one class. She tried to use the computer, got a bunch of popups and couldn't get rid of them. She talked with several teachers and the principal but claims to have not gotten any help. Meanwhile, 10 kids saw the graphic images and likely reported it to their parents.
Now, my wife is a 6th and 8th grade teacher (in an all-girl's Catholic school no less) teaching science and language arts. Parents will complain about much less than accidental viewing of pornographic images. They will also attempt to hold the teacher responsible 100% for whatever happens. (Even if the kid is being punished due to bad behavior. After all, their precious little one can't possibly be bad. The teacher must be out to get them.) So the kids likely told the parents, the parents went to the principal and/or reported it to the police directly. Cue a simple case of spyware infestation turning into a life destroying case.
But where did the spyware come from? It could have been from the teacher, but considering that she was a substitute, it could also have been from the usual teacher, a kid, the school's IT guy or virtually anyone else who had access to that system.
It could have also been an accidental mistyping. Once, years ago, I tried to go to Barnes and Noble's website by typing in barnesnnoble.com. Unfortunately, their website was barnesandnoble.com. Barnesnnoble.com was a porn site at the time. Upon seeing the naked images, I quickly closed the browser window. (I was new to the office and in any event didn't want to be looking at that stuff at work. This was also in the pre-popup blocker era.)
Unfortunately, the site opened a new window when I closed the first one and loaded more graphic images. So I closed that one and another popped up. I started getting more and more nervous that my boss would walk in. Finally, I managed to close a window before it loaded the JavaScript code that it needed to keep popping more windows up.
Had my computer's security been weak enough, that series of pop-ups could have installed spyware onto my computer to keep showing me graphic images.
School's are notorious for not having the best computer setups. They did have content filtering software, but it was expired. The same was probably true for any anti-virus software that the computer had. In additions, the IE settings were probably very weak. Given all that, spyware could slip in without anyone even noticing. (Until the porn popups start, after all.)
Thinking like a novice user, the reaction upon seeing an unwanted pop-up is to close it, not shut the computer down. After doing this a dozen or so times, she might have even tried to turn the computer off via Start->Shut Down but spyware can slow the computer down to the point that shutting down takes too long. Or perhaps her lesson was based around the computer itself and she figured that she would press through it as best she could.
In any event, she shouldn't be sent to prison for 40 years over a spyware infestation. The spyware authors, maybe, but not some substitute teacher who was unfortunate enough to encounter a spyware infestation in class. |
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WirelessMajr
Premium
join:2005-08-03
College Place, WA
| hmnmm
While it is entirely possible for spyware to cause the problem, one would think that the school would have proper measures in place to prevent this sort of thing.
Many schools utilize a content filtering system, and it works. Furthermore, any business that is running computers without any type of malware protection is just stupid. |
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Titus Pullo
I came, I saw, I slept
join:2004-06-26
·Embarq
| reply to cableties
Re: Good luck....if this is true.
School systems don't exist in a vacuum, and they're not some form of solitary ecosystem. At best our primary education system is a reflection of the society it serves, no more or no less. The boards may be corrupt, but that didn't happen overnight: we have a new generation of employees, both administrators and teachers, that now come from a dysfunctional generation. Add gender issues, open sexuality, and a sex sells media, and these stories will soon be commonplace. Our school system began going to hell full-force in the 80s.
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battleop
join:2005-09-28
00000 | reply to Nightfall
They just have to ask the jury how they get the same types of pop ups on their computers at home. They will understand how quick that stuff just "appears" on their computers. |
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EAP
join:2000-01-15
Lafayette Hill, PA
| What is the harm ?
Everyone misses the point. The person was convicted of this:
"risk of injury to a minor, or impairing the morals of a child."
That is such BS. I have yet to see proof of ANY harm (or impairing anything) to anyone, regardless of age, from viewing pictures. The whole thing is laughable.
This is simply a matter of hysterical moralists, conducting a witch hunt. Those who are most upset about their "children" viewing such material, are simply putting their own twisted views into the minds of the children who supposedly looked at the stuff.
There is no assumption that simple accidental viewing of nudity or depictions of sex viewed by children will cause:
1. them to explode
2. deviant behavior now or in the future
3. perverted acts now or in the future
4. "loss of innocence" (whatever that is)
5. paralysis
So to even get hyped up about it is just ridiculous. Oh, the kid saw a porno picture --- Sooooooooooo what!
4. |
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Jason Levine
Premium
join:2001-07-13
USA | reply to WirelessMajr
Re: hmnmm
They had a content filtering system, but it had expired. Given that, is it any wonder that they wouldn't have measures in place to prevent spyware infestations? |
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Jason Levine
Premium
join:2001-07-13
USA
| reply to EAP
Re: What is the harm ?
Exactly. The incident was an innocent accident (even if the images were far from innocent). Still, if you have ever talked with a teacher about parental reactions, you'd know that parents can get vicious. Especially around the age (7th grade) that the teacher was in. I should know. My wife teaches 6th and 8th grade and frequently comes home with stories that can make you understand why so many teachers don't make it past their first year. (Just recently, she got a harassing e-mail from a parent because she followed standard operating procedures in disciplining a child. Luckily, the matter worked itself out but the parents still don't think they did anything wrong.) |
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Agent_haito
join:2002-09-20
Winston Salem, NC | I use to tutor HS kids in Math and Science for a special program, and these kids know more than their parents think. If you would have overheard any conversation, you'd think there was no hope for the future. |
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cdru
Go Colts
Premium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
| reply to EAP
said by EAP :There is no assumption that simple accidental viewing of nudity or depictions of sex viewed by children will cause... The funny thing is that in the 5th grade (at least around here), it's mandatory curriculum as part of health education for students to learn about reproduction. As part of that, everyone pretty much sees graphic pictures of nude men and women. Now they aren't in the middle of the act, but it's not like they haven't ever see it either.
Besides, I bet you 3/4 of the kids in the class could probably tell you very quickly more then a hand full of porn sites.
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Quis custodiet custodes ipsos? |
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hopeflicker
Capitalism breeds greed
Premium
join:2003-04-03
Long Beach, CA
| reply to EAP
said by EAP :This is simply a matter of hysterical moralists, conducting a witch hunt. Those who are most upset about their "children" viewing such material, are simply putting their own twisted views into the minds of the children who supposedly looked at the stuff. exactly
well said
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An Atheist believes that a hospital should be built instead of a church.
An Atheist believes that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said.
An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death.
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asdfdfdfdf
@Level3.net
| Another example of good intentions run amok...
I don't understand why these things are allowed to get out of control or why people aren't able to take context into account.
This speculation about "why didn't she just pull the power plug" is foolish. A woman shouldn't be given years of prison time because she didn't have the presence of mind to instantaneously come up with the ideal solution.
The pertinent question should be does anyone really believe that this woman went into a public classroom, to teach a group full of students, and intentionally exposed them to porn? Predators are secretive about their activities. They don't go into open public places and prey on children before groups of people.
I'm all in favor of protecting children and I'm not much of a fan of liberal attitudes toward rampant porn in the culture, but this sort of thing just makes americans look like a bunch of hysterical nutters. |
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Jason Levine
Premium
join:2001-07-13
USA
| reply to cdru
Re: What is the harm ?
said by cdru :The funny thing is that in the 5th grade (at least around here), it's mandatory curriculum as part of health education for students to learn about reproduction. As part of that, everyone pretty much sees graphic pictures of nude men and women. Now they aren't in the middle of the act, but it's not like they haven't ever see it either. My wife has to teach sex ed later this year.... To middle school students... in an all girl's Catholic school. Now doesn't that sound fun.  The lesson should be easy at least. "Don't do it." As a bonus, since she's expecting our second child, she can say "Don't do it or *this* will happen to you!"
In all seriousness, she doesn't have to do any moralizing. That's left to the religion teacher. Still, teaching sex ed in an all girl's Catholic school is going to be a bit of a minefield as to what to show/discuss, what not to show/discuss, and how to present it all. I don't envy her one bit. |
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Maxo
Your tax dollars at work.
Premium,VIP
join:2002-11-04
Tallahassee, FL
clubs:
1 edit | reply to Gettothetruth
Re: If true it's a lame excuse
Prison time for inadvertently showing kids porn. A teacher here in Tallahassee showed kids "I Spit On Your Grave" and another had some porn at the end of a taped movie when he taped a movie over some taped porn. The first was fired, the second was suspended.
Kids seeing porn isn't the end of the world. Most kids have seen porn before they enter Middle School. Almost every kid has seen porn before they get into High School.
You wouldn't think this dude raped the kids with a "possible 40 years" sentence.
Bullshit is the only way to describe it.
Edit: Spelling |
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