Have Spyware? Go to Jail for Child Porn

I’ll bet you never thought that having spyware on your computer could put you in jail. A number of real cases have been in the news about innocent computer users arrested because spyware had infiltrated their computers. While 99.9% of folks caught with child porn have lame excuses about someone else using their computer its a horrible nightmare for those innocent .1%.  (actual % is unknown)

The big story on the blogs lately has been Julie Amero, a substitute teacher from Connecticut who is facing  40 years in prison for exposing children to porn.

    Sunbelt Blog: Is this a miscarriage of justice?
    Computer World: Porn-surfing teacher: Spyware made me do it!
    Ben Edelman: Spyware Showing Unrequested Sexually-Explicit Images

Meanwhile in Phoenix, the Brandy family had police storm their house and arrest 16 yr old  Matthew Brandy on child porn charges.  Not wanting to risk 90 years in jail Matthew agreed to a guilty plea on a reduced charge but it still made him a registered sex offender. Luckily, a judge with a brain rejected the plea deal and threw out the case on appeal.

        ABC News: Prison Time for Viewing Porn?   (includes Video)
        Classically Liberal Blog: Computer security expert confirms for us on the Bandy case

Can this really happen to me?

Well, here’s one scenario.
Suppose you’re a collector of child pornography but you don’t want to keep evidence of the crime on your own home computer.  There’s plenty of software available that allows you to infect other unknowing victims and gain access to their machines.  Just store your photos on someone else's computer.  Just downloading a greeting card could install a stealth program which opens up a port on your system giving control to others.

Here’s another…
You accidently clicked on a web site and suddenly your screen is filled with pop ups. When you close one screen two more open.  It’s very possible that one of those screens contained an image of someone under 18 years old. Even though you immediately closed that window and rebooted, the images are still stored in your Temporary Internet Folder and could be evidence at your trial.

No, I’m not trying to scare you into downloading our WinPatrol program.  You need more. You need multiple security plans and more than anything, education!  I hope, the links above provide education and not extreme paranoia.