http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-virus-child-porn-1109,0,49705,full.story

My God how sick, I mean its one thing to attack and screw you another person's computer but frame them for child porn, damn thats harsh.

Wow, that is crazy. Never suspected that could happen.

And my God, why would you want that crap for?

The only way it is different is if you're actually that age.

In 2007, Fiola's bosses became suspicious after the Internet bill for his state-issued laptop showed that he used 4 1/2 times more data than his colleagues. A technician found child porn in the PC folder that stores images viewed online.

Fiola was fired and charged with possession of child pornography, which carries up to five years in prison. He endured death threats, his car tires were slashed and he was shunned by friends.

Fiola and his wife fought the case, spending $250,000 on legal fees. They liquidated their savings, took a second mortgage and sold their car.

An inspection for his defense revealed the laptop was severely infected. It was programmed to visit as many as 40 child porn sites per minute — an inhuman feat. While Fiola and his wife were out to dinner one night, someone logged on to the computer and porn flowed in for an hour and a half.

Prosecutors performed another test and confirmed the defense findings. The charge was dropped — 11 months after it was filed.

The Fiolas say they have health problems from the stress of the case. They say they've talked to dozens of lawyers but can't get one to sue the state, because of a cap on the amount they can recover.

"It ruined my life, my wife's life and my family's life," he says.

Yeah, a kid from SUNY Potsdam got in trouble for it Freshman year when I was at Clarkson. It sucked for him because it made the papers and everything, and I think they found it was a case of him having a gf in high school that wasn't of age.

That kind of thing happens all the freaking time. It's why the sex offender registry is basically a joke, and a cruel one at that to the ones who really didn't do anything wrong. Families have had to move three or four times because the father had sex with someone two years his junior when he was younger, or because the mother got caught messing around with her boyfriend when she was sixteen in a not-so-private place, and then the neighborhoods and schools find out that they're on the registry and tell their kids not to play with those kids and ostracize them and bada-bing, it's over, gotta move. And even if people aren't convicted of anything and don't have to register, so often the media finds out and goes crazy and crucifies folks for absolutely no reason at all, if anyone ever bothers to ignore what they say and really look into things. It's so infuriating.

That and places where public urination is a sex-crime.

Computers, and their use, can be a very, very damaging thing. You may be home alone in your own house; but you're actually potentially an open window to the world - especially if someone wants you to be.....

Amen.

Brings to mind a very unsettling experience I had late last year (and didn't discover it until months later) in which a person I'd had a previous relationship with had sent me an email with malicious code in it, in which the text went on to say something about trust....ironic, huh?

I opened the email because it was someone I knew and the subject line seemed innocent enough, and I thought it may have related to something pertinent, whatever; I stupidly opened it. I opened it with trepidation, but figured it was ok, since there was no attachment.

Months went by with no word from him, which stuck me as strange, because he was the type of person to not let go unless HE was done with them. When I was the one to end the relationship, he harangued me for months. The person I was seeing shortly thereafter I'd left him bore witness to the endless phone calls, threats, lies and manipulations to keep me in his clutches.

When my anti-virus software began shutting itself off, and several programs ran slowly or with hiccups in them, I suspected that I'd been hacked. I had no idea to the extent that I was infected until a more computer-savvy individual looked at my computer, the router and the other person's computer with whom I was sharing the router. He proceeded to tell me of the massive invasion, the IP addresses found on the router, and both computers.

I won't divulge all of the details here, but suffice it to say my computer friend advised me to get rid of computer, router and anything remotely attached to it because of the source of the IP addresses. He warned me if I were to pursue prosecution of the individual(s) involved that there could be very negative repercussions for me. I know this sounds "cloak and dagger-ish", like a plot from the movie "The Net" but it really happened, and the individual whose computer was also affected ended up reformatting their computer and starting over with a fresh router. I had to buy a new laptop, change every address, account, password; basically disappear from the internet for a time.

The level of intrusion and the length of time that had passed since the original infection allowed this sick individual into my most personal part of my life, all of my online accounts, every keystroke I typed, every email I sent, my bills, bank accounts, you name it, he accessed ALL of it. Not only from the introduction of the spyware, but because of the length of time before I discovered the intrusion, he had the potential to go back for months, even years into my old accounts, saved emails, phone bills, bank statements. I have no idea how far back he went into my life, but it was a real wake up call for me.

The other person's computer was not invaded nearly as bad as mine, but invaded just the same.

To this day, I look over my shoulder and am so paranoid that I've been hacked again. I've driven my computer-savvy friends crazy with my questions and persistent fears of being hacked again when something goes slightly awry with my computer. A lost internet signal freaks me out nowadays.

Lesson learned: if you don't want someone to see it, don't put it out there, as Howie says......

<shivers>

Whatever happened to: "Innocent until proven guilty"?

This is not the first instance, nor will it be the last. For shame, people.

Recently the "victim" from that torture case from 2007 in which a woman claimed that she was held prisoner in a trailer and beaten, raped, urinated on, etc. by seven or eight people admitted that she made the entire story up to get back at an abusive ex-boyfriend... Ridiculoso.

Unfortunately, this happens all too often, and only serves to reinforce the perception that people who are sexually abused are not to be believed. This is a grave injustice to the people who have been assaulted and are continually put through the ringer, with their credibility questioned time and again.

If this had really happened to any of these people who make false accusations, I can assure you they'd be singing a different tune. You wouldn't want to make this up and be subject to the intense media and personal scrutiny that accompanies a public declaration such as this.

It really pisses me off.

/endrant