Yeah, yeah….blogging from work.
I saw this in an email newsletter this morning, and wanted to share it. I think I may have heard bits and pieces a little while ago, but this summary just floors me:
“Pop-up ads can land you in jail” – windowssecrets.com
The story revolves around a substitute teacher who had to use a given PC in her classroom. The PC was infected with spyware/malware, and when she used it, it started popping up adult content. Kid’s saw naked people, the sub was arrested for “child endangerment”, and she’s now apparently looking at jail time rather than having the case thrown out outright because it was ridiculous.
Seriously, what is wrong with our legal system? This is completely insane – it says the class computer was running Windows 98 with IE6, an expired antivirus program, and no anti-malware software. When she arrived at school some kids were surfing on the PC, she kicked them off, and when she used it later it began doing the pop-up dance. When I was doing tech support for the local library, they’re Win98 computers were horrible – it was next to impossible to keep them clean from spyware and junk, no matter how many protective measures I added. I don’t know how many times I was called in because of rampant pop-ups. I’d get there, kill most processes, and be in the middle of cleaning things and then they’d start up again. That’s just what spyware and malware does.
What I don’t understand after reading this account, is that it seems that everyone involved with this case has absolutely no computer tech experience at all. Anyone who’s worked around computers enough, especially older versions of Windows, and helped friends and family is aware of how the above scenario works. Who is this woman’s lawyer? Why wouldn’t he seek out qualified unbiased professionals to help her case?
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:36 pm
Seriously, why can’t they just make me Supreme Ruler for the entire world? It would be my full time job and I be carefully weigh cases with, I dunno, things like logic, evidence, and reasoning.
I guarantee that this teacher would not be found guilty under any circumstance. (WTF, it wasn’t even her computer – she was a substitute).
I also guarantee that people like this article would be denied the right to exist:
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2.....al,00.html
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:37 pm
Where’s the damn edit button Pete? Having typos in my plea to be Supreme Ruler doesn’t help my case at all.
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Also, this man better not serve jail time. In fact, he should be given a monetary reward for using a sword of all things.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,253602,00.html
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:43 pm
Sigh….the world is a crazy place. That link is messed up, too. Leaving a child wrapped up in a closet for a weekend is bad? You don’t say? Of course, there’s no red flags when the story involves “a wife intimidated into going along with a plan hatched by her husband and his live-in lover”.
I’ll have to check on the editing comments thing again….last time I checked there wasn’t much out there.
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:46 pm
Again, there’s that “logic, evidence, and reasoning” thing. How much better would things be if people just weren’t so stupid, stood back for a minute, and thought about what’s going on? Make the guy pay to fix the door, but don’t send him to jail!