Teacher facing jail time for being victim of porn pop-ups on malware-infected computer

This story is sickening. Please read this short article, and if you agree it's a grave injustice, write or call Connecticut's Board of Pardons. Sentencing is March 3.

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/02/16/malware-victim-faces-jailtime-write-connecticuts-governor/

Here's a WaPo story, too.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/01/substitute_teacher_faces_jail.html?nav=rss_blog

PB

They are blaming her for something malware did? That's just ridiculous.

So I explained how malware works, and showed him it was on his own comp. too. He feels better, now that he knows his teacher isn't necessarily a perv. :)


edit: punc-tu-a-tion is VERY important. :)

I mean the insecurity of the computer implicates the vendor no?

It was a couple of months after my anti-virus and firewall had expired.

I ran out and bought the new Norton program, and when it did it's initial scan, said I was infected by a virus, and recovery was impossible. It wouldn't let me install the new Norton Internet Security. Even after I formatted the hard drive, it was hijacked by an anti-porn pop-up, and it still wouldn't let me install Norton.

I wound up installing a new hard drive.

I finally got it off after I got another program on it. There was a virus that was making Norton try to delete a file, while making a backup of the file, over and over and over and over and over. It was one of those "reach out and unplug the computer from the wall NOW" situations.

there are plenty of other (better) programs to use. I've been online for quite some time (Even debating trying my hand at hacking back in middle school, I had access to places online where I could have learned. Thankfully my natural caution and my morals won that debate) and I have to say that Norton is one of the WORST programs I've ever seen. Bloated, sluggish, badly put together, and generally it will at the very least slow down your computer. At the worst, it'll screw it up entirely.
When my ex got a hand-me-down computer a year or two ago, the minute I saw that it had Norton on it, I made her take it off. Complete uninstall. Yet there was still some crap in the start-up registry, so it kept trying to load Norton when the computer started. Of course, it wouldn't find Norton there, so it would give up. But it was annoying to have the same error pop-up message every time the computer started... for something that was not an error. You'd think when you uninstall a program, it would take itself out of the windows startup registry.
Also, the computer ran about 3 times faster once Norton was gone. And I'm not exaggerating.

Anything FREE??

I'm using RoadRunner internet, they give us EZ Antivirus, which has worked perfectly for viruses, and hasn't slowed my computer down one bit. For spyware, I'm using Spybot - Search & Destroy.
Found the newest version here at download.com... I'm still running 1.3 so maybe I should update. :)
http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022_4-10122137.html

*edit*
Also I've used Lavasoft's AdAware, and it's caught a few things here and there that spybot didn't, so you might want to have both and just run AdAware once a year or so to see if there's anything spybot missed. :)
http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-SE-Personal-Edition/3000-8022_4-10639408.html

Try AVG: http://free.grisoft.com/

Also, I totally dig hijackthis to take care of browser hijacks: http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php#hijackthis

Off to do some exploring.........

I don't remember much about it and haven't used it since. But since my browser is not currently hijacked, obviously it worked. :)

Just saying. Malware doesn't work on Macs running Safari or Firefox.

I'm not sure but I suspect that Linux OS could be configured to allow visitors to the system limited access in all sorts of ways. Any kid that could crack the system should go straight to college anyway.

Mac malware door creaks open

Dashboard, one of the much-publicized features of Apple Computer's latest OS, Tiger, could be ripe for exploitation by porn scammers.

Apple has been encouraging developers to create new widgets for Tiger's Dashboard--a semi-transparent layer of everyday, often-used applications such as a calculator or currency converter that appears over the user's desktop--but within days of its public release, one developer claims to have already found a way to turn widgets into potential malicious software.

Developer Stephan, who has posted the widgets to his blog, has created two mini-apps which he describes as "slightly evil." One widget, he says, will automatically install itself on users' desktops when his "Zaptastic" Web site is visited using Apple's Safari browser.

This, according to Stephan, is a golden opportunity for porn scammers, enabling them to auto-install widgets that can hijack browsers... http://news.com.com/Mac+malware+door+creaks+open/2100-7349_3-5700982.html

a whole lotta peoples standing beside that teacher that failed miserably in their jobs.

1. Ignorant user = teacher (to all the IT people who just went *cough*redundant*cough*, you're next)
2. The tech who set up the PC could have locked that sucker down - hard. If you know what you're doing (pertinent phrase) you can lock down a PC so the user can run only those programs deemed appropriate for the environment which includes downloads, scripts and installations to the PC.
3. Network Admin - domain blocks? IP blocking?

4. Poorly written IT policy compounded by
5. Poorly enforced IT policy compounded by
6. Return to #1 and start again.

These are just the basics and not intended as a comprehensive list.

They can't afford to pay teachers let alone a decent net admin. I bet net admin is a duty of the 'AV' teacher.

-Hoot

include the administration in my little loop.

IT, has been in my experience, the first place to cut costs and eliminate needed services because they "don't contribute to the bottom line."

This kind of think is usually the result of that thinking.

Thanks for reminding me.

They don't have to pay them.

If she ran for help, why was she convicted?

Sometimes, living in America is a downright terrifying experience.

According to the article, significant technical information that the defense wanted to put forward was refused by the judge.

Although I have to say that the jury must have been made up of mouth-breathing idiots to ignore the fact that she ran down to the teacher's lounge for help in making the popups stop. That hardly seems like the behavior of a guilty person who was caught surfing porn sites...

To think we actually live in a country where we can be imprisoned for up to forty years for something that we have no control of. I'm going to keep my eye on this one, and I hope other DU'ers do the same. First thing on Monday I'm going to call that pardon board, and I encourage every DU'er to do the same. We can't allow something like this to just slide. This is just outrageous.

By the time I was in the fifth grade I had seen porn. By accident, but I had seen it.

Whoopede-freaking-do.

when you choose to fight a case rather than take the guilty way out. She could have had a very easy probation if she had agreed to acknowledge her "guilt," witch-hunt style.

It does not pay to put yourself up before a jury FOR ANY reason in America. Juries are picked to be ignorant, and the judges often help them out, as in this case.

Because it produces that POS Internet Explorer

Also please folks Norton Antivirus is severely compromised nowadays please try other products like AVG.

Happy Opera user

:)
So... um... should we duel to the death over which one of us has a better browser, or should we just compliment each other on not having a sucky one? :) 'cause I'm not sure I'm really up for the duel thing.

Or should we get serious someday and see who can down the most Newfie Screech (the real stuff not the brand)

Not only a gross miscarriage of justice, but as a warning to all the millions of people online who are a danger to themselves and those around them because of what they DON'T know.

teachers in this country. Criminee!

came in with his laptop- his browser had been hijacked and there were porn popups and shortcuts on his machine. He was horrified, and I didn't judge him as to whether he had surfed to sites or not. I cleaned up the machine, shut it down, and brought it back to him. Started it back up, and everything I had just deleted was back already.

I didn't know how malware worked- then I had a talk with our webmaster- he said it reinstalled as the machine was shutting down or booting up. Lots of hidden stuff in the registry and processes running. Anyway I had to do a lot of searching to find a way of getting it off the machine.

The antivirus and anti adware is much better now and I haven't had to do this for a while. But this teacher was scared of losing his job- if something like that were seen on his machine while a female student was in his office. The home page the browser reset was innocuous enough- I think this could happen to anyone who clicked on something just passing by.

a political article--or so I thought. My guess is that the poster was a Republican mole, one of those paid to post messages and cause trouble on liberal websites. He was someone who posted frequently over time, so it didn't occur to me that he might be a mole. The link led me to a nasty site and then porn popups started. Now I won't click any link that just has the name of an article or a website that sounds legit. I have to be able to actually read the URL.

although my company has just moved to Sophos. It used to be that you'd have to get separate products to deal with adaware and viruses but Symantec is pretty good at the whole thing.

The thing is, people should be more careful about entering information on websites, even if its just an email address. It will be sold over and over again, you'll get more and more emails and be tempted to click on something just to see what it is... its a jungle out there.

Notice my emphasis on the fact that a state where an innocent teacher can be railroaded like this could end up being a place where no decent teacher would risk working.

Dear Governor Rell,

I realize that you have no direct control over the issuing of pardons in criminal matters in your state, but as Connecticut's governor, you should want to prevent the very black eye that Connecticut will suffer as the story of Julie Amero becomes more and more widely known around the country and the world. This poor woman's plight might well create a situation that will prevent teachers from being willing to work in any school in Connecticut, for fear that they too could suffer such an outrageous injustice over something that they have no control over and that is in no way their fault!

Julie Amero is a substitute teacher who was convicted of exposing students to online pornography. The evidence clearly shows that she was not responsible for the spyware popups that infected the computer she was required to use in class, but since the DA, the judge, and the jury in her case were tech-ignorant, they had no understanding of what caused the popups to happen. The judge, in his ignorance, did not even allow independent computer experts to testify for the defense, in order to explain to the jury why the spyware and popups could not have been the fault of Ms. Amero.

Ms. Amero reported for work at Kelly Middle School in Norwich, Connecticut, school on October 19, 2004. She ended up being the victim of malicious software of the sort that spams computer users.

According to the Washington Post, the school district’s IT director Robert Hartz acknowledged that the computer was not protected from malicious software and viruses. On January 23rd, Hartz told the school board that the computer was not “updated in time for the 2004 school year and that's why this incident happened.”

Older computers are particularly susceptible to the malicious software (such as viruses) installed by spammers. The computer in question is a Windows 98 PC. Even computer technicians have been exposed to pop-up windows that multiply in spite of the user’s efforts. A teacher like Ms. Amero, with no technological knowledge or experience, one who was not even there at the time the malicious spyware wormed its way onto the computer, simply cannot be held responsible for such spyware infections.

Julie Amero was the victim of malicious software on an openly accessible computer. Her conviction is a terrible mistake which you can and should rectify through judicious application of the influence you undoubtedly have as governor. Amero now faces a lengthy appeals process. Please, please, please, read the facts for yourself and push for a pardon for Julie Amero. While you are at it, you could use the publicity to educate people--including ill-informed parents, Das, and judges--about the conditions and technological issues that produced such a bizarre, embarrassing miscarriage of justice.

I teach college English, but I have also worked as a substitute teacher in my city's elementary schools, when they desperately needed "warm bodies" because of severe teacher and substitute teacher shortages.

Reading about what happened to Ms. Amero has sent a chill down my spine. I assure you that there is not enough money in the world to ever get me to go back into a public school classroom in this country. It is just too dangerous to be a teacher in the U.S. today!

Here is the contact information for the governor of Connecticut if you want to clamor for justice for Ms. Amero:

Snail Mail
Governor M. Jodi Rell
Executive Office of the Governor
State Capitol
210 Capitol Avenue
Hartford, Connecticut 06106

Telephone
Greater Hartford Area: 860-566-4840
Toll Free: 800-406-1527
TDD: 860-524-7397

Email
Governor.Rell@po.state.ct.us

comfortable writing stuff is welcome to adapt any part of my letter to use to craft his or her own message.

"In the State of Connecticut, the Governor does not have the authority to grant a pardon as this authority is given to the Board of Pardon and Paroles, if you have any questions regarding the pardon process in the State of Connecticut, I would suggest you contact this agency directly at (203) 805-6605."

Connecticut Board of Pardon and Parole
(203) 805-6605

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/02/16/malware-victim-faces-jailtime-write-connecticuts-governor