Well, the media are now becoming more and more aware of the nastiness and pervasiveness of pornographic spam and adware. This stuff can attack you from anywhere. And, any action that occurred while YOU were signed on to a computer, YOU are the one deemed conducting these "viewings". While, it can not be proved whether it was actually YOU doing the browsing, enforcement still actively seek to punish whomever they can get their hands on.
The laws are still behind the times in this regard. The analysis the computer forensics personnel undertake can not determine who was using a computer at a certain time. Almost all of these cases are based on who signed on to the computer before these incidents occurred. If a computer was hacked or infected prior to the user signing on makes little difference to prosecuters. Having a pornographer viewer conviction in their pocket is all they care about.
Amero was convicted in January of exposing students to pornography on her classroom computer.
While prosecutors insist she is guilty, some experts believe that the lewd images were caused by unseen spyware and adware programs, which critics call one of the top scourges of the Internet.
Amero, who claims to have little experience with computers, has become a cause celebre for technology experts around the country who say she is the victim of a miscarriage of justice that could happen to anyone.Amero says before her class started, the teacher allowed her to e-mail her husband. She used the computer and went to the bathroom, returning to find the permanent teacher gone and two students viewing a Web site on hair styles.
Amero says she chased the students away and started class. But later, she said she noticed pornographic images popping up on the computer screen by themselves. She tried to click the images off, but they kept returning.
At her trial, computer consultant Herb Horner testified that the children went to an innocent Web site on hair styles and were redirected to another hair style site that had pornographic links.
"It can happen to anybody," Horner said.
Prosecutor David Smith contended Amero clicked onto graphic Web sites, which included meetlovers.com and femalesexual.com, and failed to prevent children from seeing the pornography.
Amero is emphatic that she did not click on the Web pages. She said any inappropriate images on her computer screen were from adware, which can generate pop-up ads, and not from sites specifically keyed.
Amero and her supporters say the old computer lacked firewall or antispyware protections to prevent inappropriate pop-ups.
"What is extraordinary is the prosecution admitted there was no search made for spyware — an incredible blunder akin to not checking for fingerprints at a crime scene," Alex Eckelberry, president of a Florida software company, wrote recently in the local newspaper. "When a pop-up occurs on a computer, it will get shown as a visited Web site and no 'physical click' is necessary."
And, based on the young kid's actions and the veracity of adware and porn, a decent innocent woman is convicted. Haven't these wise and learned people ever heard of PORNSTORM? If you haven't, I suggest you look it up quick.
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