wehooper
join:2004-04-25
Spring City, TN
| Teacher could get 40 years because of spyware porn pop-ups
This is really disgusting. A Connecticut teacher has been convicted of exposing middle school students to pornography because the spyware infested classroom computer she used started spewing porn pop-ups. The prosecutor claimed the teacher "must" have clicked on the porn sites. Obviously, the prosecutor hasn't experienced a browser hijacking before. What happened to the teacher would have happened to anyone who used the infected machine. Now, the 40 year old teacher's reputation is shot and she could face up to 40 years in jail. Let's hope this conviction gets overturned. Maybe the anti-spyware community could lend a hand.
»sunbeltblog.blogspot.com/2007/01···ice.html |
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Elite
join:2002-10-03
Orange, CT | Prosecutor must use a Mac... |
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Dustyn
Premium
join:2003-02-26
Ontario, CAN | Or Linux... |
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justin
Australian
join:1999-05-28
Brooklyn, NY | reply to wehooper
sounds like more than enough grounds for a re-trial/appeal. |
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Dustyn
Premium
join:2003-02-26
Ontario, CAN
1 edit |  said by justin  :sounds like more than enough grounds for a re-trial/appeal. Agreed.
A judge allegedly falling asleep during the proceedings and reports of the jurors discussing the case outside the courts at a local restaurant is compelling enough to call a mistrial.
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hpguru
Curb Your Dogma
Premium
join:2002-04-12 | reply to Dustyn
Or a porn popping spyware infected hardcore jpeg choked Win box.  |
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KyeU
join:2003-12-31
Canada
4 edits | reply to wehooper
Who is liable in this case? I can think that the School Administration is liable for not renewing the content-filtering software, and/or for not spending the necessary resources to secure the school computers (and for not outlining it in guidelines that infected computers are NOT to be used).
quote:
Amero also testified she had told at least four teachers and the assistant principal at the school about the problem, but received no help.
Incompetent administration.
EDIT: And even if she happens to have a "thing" for pornography, the administration can be put to blame for having lax supply teacher entrance evaluations.
EDIT 2:
quote:
But Smith countered Horner's testimony with that of Norwich Police Detective Mark Lounsbury, a computer crimes investigator. On a projected image of the list of Web sites visited while Amero was working, Lounsbury pointed out several highlighted links.
"You have to physically click on it to get to those sites," Smith said. "I think the evidence is overwhelming that she did intend to access those Web sites."
OR you can have spyware load those pages, where IE marks them as visited even if you didn't physically click on them (tested this by making a simple HTML page with a link to Yahoo.com, then in a new window, I went to Yahoo.com. I then refreshed the simple HTML page and it shows up as being visited (purple instead of blue)).
The evidence is in fact overwhelming that she did NOT intend to access those Web sites. It's sad that an 18 year old (myself) can poke holes in a Police Detective's accusation. There's no mention of the Police Detective scanning the computer for malware/crapware/spyware.
By reading the articles and having the prosecutor insisting that she had HAD to click on the links is despicable. It seems like malware/crapware/spyware doesn't exist in Connecticut. |
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Psicop
More human than human
Premium
join:2005-12-21
| reply to wehooper
Don't blame the teacher. It could have been a naughty student(s).
More responsible is the school, more specifically the IT stuff for not doing THEIR JOB, which is blocking the network from accessing pornographic pages.
The public prosecutor must be on drugs. 40 years??? Ridiculous.
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La Luna
Surviving Ashraful
Premium
join:2001-07-12
Warwick, NY
clubs:
 ·Optimum Online
 ·Vonage
| reply to wehooper
Wow...the school doesn't protect their computers and the teacher gets nailed for it? WTF?
Maybe all teachers everywhere should start refusing to use school computers in the classroom....obviously, there's no guarantee the schools even bother with basic security and if it could happen to one teacher, it could happen to any of them. |
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La Luna
Surviving Ashraful
Premium
join:2001-07-12
Warwick, NY
clubs:
·Optimum Online
·Vonage
| reply to Psicop
said by Psicop :Don't blame the teacher. It could have been a naughty student(s).... The article states the teacher opened a webpage about "hairdressing" that started the popups.
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~~Well, I think you're crazy, I think you're crazy, I think you're crazy, just like me...~~
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Psicop
More human than human
Premium
join:2005-12-21
| Yeah, I should have read the link.
Well, I just finished reading it...and buff! The whole case stinks:
1. The school? (I guess the network) did have content filtering but the license was expired.
2. The Trial Judge, Hillary Strackbein, “was seen falling asleep during proceedings...
3. And made comments to the jury that she wanted the case over by the end of the week...
4. Judge Strackbein attempted to pressure the defense into an unwanted plea deal, in place of a trial...
5. Jurors had discussed the case at a local restaurant.
Bloody funny.
Problem is that the teacher's reputation is in tatters after this. 
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Temblor
@uu.net
| reply to justin
said by justin :sounds like more than enough grounds for a re-trial/appeal. More like enough grounds to hang the prosecutor from the nearest street lamp.
Prosecutors are granted immunity from 'the law,' not from extra-judicial executions carried out by the people.  |
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La Luna
Surviving Ashraful
Premium
join:2001-07-12
Warwick, NY
clubs:
·Optimum Online
·Vonage
| reply to Psicop
said by Psicop :Yeah, I should have read the link.... Ya' think?
Really, this isn't funny though, this poor woman could go to jail for this.
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~~Well, I think you're crazy, I think you're crazy, I think you're crazy, just like me...~~
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ff1324
Everybody Goes Home
Premium
join:2002-08-24
On Four Day
| said by La Luna :Really, this isn't funny though, this poor woman could go to jail for this. This should be a wake up call to everyone who works in any place where questionable content could affect your employment status as well as criminal complaints. In any place but your own house (read: your workplace) a string of porn pop-ups could be construed as sexual harassment.
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The funny thing about firemen...night and day they're always firemen |
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EGeezer
Summertime -
Premium
join:2002-08-04
Country!
·Callcentric
·RoadRunner Cable
·AT&T CallVantage
| reply to wehooper
I'd say the defense attorney was incompetent if (s)he failed to file for discovery of all forensic evidence and have that evidence analysed by experts certified in Encase or fo4ensic analysis.
The defense should have called on the prosecution witness to prove that the links could not have been accessed by automated processes, and provided a demonstration of a typical porn popup spyware infested PC.
If what I read in the story is correct and there are no other unreported related facts, there's grounds for a retrial.
As others have said, regardless of the outcome, the accused will still suffer being referred to as "the accused porn peddling teacher".
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We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.
Aristotle |
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Alcohol
Premium
join:2003-05-26
Somerset, NJ | reply to wehooper
40 years in jail?
What's the charge for murder? Child Pornography?
Great justice system
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I would but.. Meh.. Effort |
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javaMan
Premium,MVM
join:2002-07-15
San Luis Obispo, CA
| reply to Psicop
said by Psicop :. . . Problem is that the teacher's reputation is in tatters after this. Nothing that a retrial and an acquittal wouldn't fix though. There are more than enough people around who understand how things like this can happen even though the judge, jury, prosecutor and "investigator" apparently don't. She might consider hiring a better attorney though.
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Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness. . . Isa. 5:20 |
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MarkAW
Barry White or lil bratt
Premium
join:2001-08-27
Canada
 ·Bell Sympatico
·Cogeco Cable
| reply to wehooper
"Was justice done here?"
Hell no for starters the detective who was in charge of the investigation admits "there was no search made for adware, which can generate pop-up advertisements".
so how was justice served.
Then there is the judge who “was seen falling asleep during proceedings and made comments to the jury that she wanted the case over by the end of the week. It was also reported that Judge Strackbein attempted to pressure the defense into an unwanted plea deal, in place of a trial. The defense attorney for Amero, moved for a mistrial shortly before closing arguments Friday, based on reports that jurors had discussed the case at a local restaurant.” I'd say the judge should be taken off the bench and placed on trial for impersonating a judge.
"A bad spyware infestation can splatter a machine full of porn popups and it’s a bit unnerving to think that a teacher could get hard prison time for something that was likely to have been completely innocent."
Duh!
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"Sometimes one pays most for the things one gets for nothing." - Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
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Blue2
Premium
join:2004-04-14
France
1 edit | reply to wehooper
There are a few things about this story I still don't get.
The local Connecticut newspaper states, "Still, she was accused and convicted of intentionally accessing several pornographic sites -- not pop-up ads or windows, as she suggested. And she did not turn off the computer when the students saw the images."
- How did they prove "intention"?
- How did they prove she was the one who accessed these sites? (The computer was in a room under lock and key that only she had access to?)
- Did any student testify that they saw her click on a link or type in the URL to a pornographic site? Since the students were obviously watching at the time (according to this quote), what exactly did they see her do?
- And finally, not to be too sexist about this, but how many 40 year old women do you know who access porn sites, at school no less, unless there is a more significant underlying problem (e.g. a sexual predator hoping to get a reaction)?
This perhaps shows that a prosecutor wanting to set an example or make a name for himself, a computer-illiterate judge, and a bad defense lawyer can be dangerous to your health.
Just my two cents. |
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thender2
Glamour Profession
Premium
join:2004-05-16
Staten Island, NY
1 edit | reply to wehooper
The only person liable is the person who made the spyware.
As for exposing "kids" to porn.. how many haven't seen porn in middle school? If anything the kids are probably getting a kick out of the fact that a big deal, or any deal is being made over this.. I didn't know a single person in middle school who hadn't seen porn before someplace. A good portion of my 7th grade classmates used the computer class to find ways around the stupid filters to look at porn anyway. |
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