Thread: Frightening: Framed for child porn _ by a PC virus

Of all the sinister things that Internet viruses do, this might be the worst: They can make you an unsuspecting collector of child pornography.
Heinous pictures and videos can be deposited on computers by viruses — the malicious programs better known for swiping your credit card numbers. In this twist, it's your reputation that's stolen.
Pedophiles can exploit virus-infected PCs to remotely store and view their stash without fear they'll get caught. Pranksters or someone trying to frame you can tap viruses to make it appear that you surf illegal Web sites.
Whatever the motivation, you get child porn on your computer — and might not realize it until police knock at your door.
An Associated Press investigation found cases in which innocent people have been branded as pedophiles after their co-workers or loved ones stumbled upon child porn placed on a PC through a virus. It can cost victims hundreds of thousands of dollars to prove their innocence.
Their situations are complicated by the fact that actual pedophiles often blame viruses — a defense rightfully viewed with skepticism by law enforcement.
"It's an example of the old `dog ate my homework' excuse," says Phil Malone, director of the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society. "The problem is, sometimes the dog does eat your homework."

Read the full report: The Associated Press: AP IMPACT: Framed for child porn _ by a PC virus

Actually when I was an attorney in America I was involved in 3 of these cases. The Prosecutors I met were very reasonable in that no one was going to be put in jail for 1 or even 50 "misclicks". They only filed the cases in which there was clear intent as evidenced by hundreds of pictures downloaded over a period of time.
That's the difference between the spirit of the law and the letter of the law, and truthfully, even though they were the opposition most prosecutors I met were dedicated and reasonable professionals.

Let's just get something clear shall we. There is a huge difference between deliberately downloading porn and pop-up windows and other shyte from malicious software. But both can deposit images on your hard drive.

It isn't difficult to tell if you have deliberately accessed a site or it's a pop up as the result of a virus infection.

Whilst loads of pervs have tried the "my computer was infected with a virus" shyte, it is obvious to those experienced in IT (and especially Windows) whether or not they are lying.

If you get pop up porn on your computer it's probably because you were surfing porn at the time, and clicked on everything that said "Click here for free.....<insert appropriate content", which instead of giving you free anything, installed malicious content on your PC.

If you don't wish to be even considered a porno perv (or kiddie fiddler for that matter), then make sure you have AV software installed, keep it up to date, and scan regularly.

And it doesn't hurt to empty your Browser cache out either. And defrag your hard disk once a month.

I doubt anyone sent down or convicted for downloaded images is innocent because "a virus did it".

The AP article proves absolutely nothing. It even refers to computers "dialling out" which I doubt anyone in America does any more. Even the case that was dropped doesn't clarify whether the case was dropped against the individual because someone else had used the computer, which makes conviction almost impossible. Typical journalist trash when they don't understand the subject on which they are writing.

It's a simple fact that most porn on computers ends up there for a reason; either it was deliberately downloaded, or downloaded because at one point or another, the computer was infected (which in 95% or more of cases I'd hazard was from the user surfing porn or other illegal downloads/file sharing).

It is extremely simple for a trained forensic analysy to tell the difference between the two.