“Of all the sinister things that Internet viruses do, this might be the worst: They can make you an unsuspecting collector of child pornography,” Jordan Robertson reports for The Associated Press.
“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,” Robertson reports. “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,” Robertson reports. “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.”
“In the first publicly known cases of individuals being victimized, two men in the United Kingdom were cleared in 2003 after viruses were shown to have been responsible for the child porn on their PCs,” Robertson reports. “In one case, an infected e-mail or pop-up ad poisoned a defense contractor’s PC and downloaded the offensive pictures. In the other, a virus changed the home page on a man’s Web browser to display child porn, a discovery made by his 7-year-old daughter. The man spent more than a week in jail and three months in a halfway house, and lost custody of his daughter.”
“Ned Solon of Casper, Wyoming is serving six years for child porn found in a folder used by a file-sharing program on his computer,” Robertson reports. “Solon admits he used the program to download video games and adult porn — but not child porn… ‘Computers are not to be trusted,’ says Jeremiah Grossman, founder of WhiteHat Security Inc. He describes it as ‘painfully simple’ to get a computer to download something the owner doesn’t want — whether it’s a program that displays ads or one that stores illegal pictures.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Good thing you “saved” $69 on that shiteous Dell laptop instead of getting that Apple MacBook you really wanted, Skippy.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “sparkplug” and “Cubert” for the heads up.]
Balmer says: Windows for pedophiles
For once, I’m a disappointed Mac user! Not because of the child thing, but just porn in general.
Okay, I admit it I’m single and I have a smidge of p0rn. Who doesn’t. I loves me some fat-bottomed girls.
Unless this isn’t America, last I checked guilt has to be proven, not innocence.
There really is so much more software ‘available’ for Windows – why is that universally seen as a good thing? This situation makes one wonder.
Ballmer says, “That’s right, Windows really appeals to pedophiles. What have we got? Millions and millions of them? And Apple has what, a few users running that Nike app. I like our position, I like it a lot. Eh? What’s that? That’s not what pedophiles do, they don’t run a lot? Track how far they’ve run? Oh…never mind…”
New Dell ad: Dude, you’re getting a 10 year prison sentence.
@ anthony007
That only counts until you get arrested…
You know what’s really sad is, this will be used as a defense by the real bastards who knowingly solicit this garbage.
What!!!? I didn’t know that was there!
This makes me glad I have owned Macs since System 7.5.5.
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> I only run Windows through VMware Fusion along with Kaspersky Internet Security 2010.
Mac users can pass on Windows virii to Windows users, so this is why you should have an anti-virus program. I noticed Kaspersky released an anti-virus program for the Mac – very nice IMO. It runs in the background and does not take too many system resources.
When I first ran Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Mac it found virii attached to e-mail from my old Power Mac G4, so I promptly deleted the infected e-mails (spam that I happened to miss). Before purchasing Kaspersky’s program, I ran a couple of other anti-virus programs and they never even found these infected e-mails.
You know what’s really sad is, this will be used as a defense by the real bastards who knowingly solicit this garbage.
Forgive me, ’cause I know it sounds hypocritical because I do solicit p0rn, but this time I was talking about the child thing.
G4Dualie: Glad you clarified and made a distinction.
You’re right about the perverts using this as an excuse to hide behind…Leave it to Microsoft to be the shelter for that pedophiles use to hide…
@Macintosh Sauce
I don’t get or pass on virii at all. My ISP (web host) and Mobile Me flag all suspects in que and notify me they exist.
Lately I’m being informed that Facebook emails from tech support are being held up because of viruses.
Wow, that’s some scary stuff. If I were a windows sufferer I’d be terrified I’d lose my wife and kids over something like this. Thank goodness I never, ever use windows at home, and almost never at work either.
@breeze
Microsoft has long been an enabler but this, this is going to piss off a lot of parents and leave them to wonder to no end whether their own computers are a haven for someone’s p0rn stash.
Microsoft will have to address this before it becomes mainstream. Can you imagine what would follow if tomorrows mainstream headlines revealed:
MICROSOFT WINDOWS ENABLES PEDOPHILES TO SHIELD THEMSELVES FROM PROSECUTION!
See. Thats the real tax working. Rather than the BS coming out of Ballmers ass, this recent issue with Windows is REAL TAX costing users money and hurting their children.
Get a Mac, Get your life back.
G4Dualie:
Make the round and the headlines…
Can’t wait for Balmer to get up on stage and start chanting “Pedophiles, Pedophiles, Pedophiles, Pedophiles, Pedophiles…” etc at the next conference.
Unfortunately (again!), it’s the unsuspecting Windows sufferer who “Pays for sure…”
I had same shit when I used Windows. That’s reminds me windows in Amsterdam…
Yet another good reason to buy a Mac.
“‘Computers are not to be trusted,'”
Err… It isn’t a problem with computers in general, Jeremy. It’s a problem with Windows specifically. No other operating system makes it painfully easy to download things the user doesn’t want (they actually make it a point to design that to be difficult).
Shit-poor security is Microsoft’s unique contribution to personal computers. Somebody using OS X, or Linux, or the reincarnated BeOS or what have you doesn’t have to live in fear of waking up one day to find that some piece of malware has deposited child porn on their hard drive.
Try being a little more honest instead of making a sweeping generalization that people should live in fear and paranoia of computers.
This article was in our local newspaper today (city of 250,000).
I just wish they’d mention that Macs are unaffected. They don’t though, so most just keep on putting up with this and all the other Windows crap ’cause they just thinking this is how it is. Sad.
@ anthony007
The problem is the laws usually state that the possession of child porn is the crime. Now the person who had it must prove they didn’t know it was there, and without having known the virus did the damage, most people don’t know where to look. Plus, such investigations can be expensive.
So, how’s that Hope-and-Change working out for you?
MS is literally responsible for numerous people being wrongly sentenced to PRISON.
I’m disgusted.
@Figurative
**THWACK** and **THWACK** again
Man! That feels good. Thanks derekcurrie!