Julie Amero porno popup story on AlterNet

Here's my AlterNet article on Julie Amero, the Connecticut substitute teacher wrongfully convicted of corrupting the morals of her students because her browser spawned unsolicited internet porn popups.

In fact, a forensic analysis of Amero's computer showed that the machine had been infected with numerous viruses, adware, and spyware before she ever visited the school. During his forensic analysis of Amero's computer, the defense expert, Herb Horner proprietor of Contemporary Computer Consultants, found viruses, spyware, and adware in her computer's activity logs.

Horner was able to reconstruct what happened inside the computer on the morning of October 19, 2004. Someone started doing online job searches shortly after eight am. Various pieces of spyware and adware were starting to act up. A few minutes later someone navigated to a non-pornographic hair styling site which sent a java script file full of porn links. You could tell it was the hair page because the references were all back to the hair site. When the computer started executing this file, the machine was locked in an endless cycle of obscene popups.

The police expert admitted at trial that he never even checked for malware. The defense expert wasn't allowed to present most of the results of the independent analysis in court because the defense attorney didn't bring up malware in the discovery phase of the trial. The first the prosecutor heard of malware was when the defense expert mentioned it in his testimony.

So, a lot of the evidence I discuss in my story was never heard by the jury that convicted Amero. The defense attorney didn't return my four phone calls, so I never got an answer from him as to why he didn't tell the prosecution about the malware angle during discovery.

I talked to Horner this afternoon. He said that thanks to the article, he was getting calls from other people who may have gotten into legal trouble because of the actions of malware.

This is a very serious problem because, according to Alex Eckelberry of Sunbelt Software, unless there's a detection program running on the computer at the time of the alleged activity, there's no way to tell from an internet cache whether a user intentionally navigated to a particular page, or whether a piece of malware faked that click.

Thanks so much to all the Majikthise readers who generously offered their expertise on malware and computer security.

Comments

[Bruce]

Sounds like considerable grounds for a post-conviction attack on the conviction due to ineffective assistance of counsel.

[Eric Jaffa]

Was this on one computer monitor? Multiple monitors? A projection screen?

[aeroman]

Yep, sounds like IAC to me.

[j swift]

I have a hot button for the spy/mal ware. People who put this stuff on the internet are, as far as I am concerned, breaking and entering into my home and going through my desk or filing cabinet. Trespassers and vandals. They should do time.

[The Phantom]

--People who put this stuff on the internet are, as far as I am concerned, breaking and entering into my home and going through my desk or filing cabinet--

And I've never heard a politician say this, which shows how dumb and out of touch most of them are. If aggressive criminal prosecution of spyware/malware producers was proposed, it and whoever proposed it would gain immense support.

A lot of this stuff is produced or distributed from outside the US. But certainly not all of it.

Some of the spam/spyware is believed to be riding in from small or Third World countries who wink at the activities as it does provide some revenue to them. Fine. If they don't cooperate with efforts to stamp this out, then cut off their internet access to the US.

jswift, you are right on the mark

[QrazyQat]

The amazing thing in this case, for me, was the "police expert". This "expert" seems to know far less than non-expert me. It also reminds me of the police-connected seminar speakers who pushed the "satanic abuse" idea around the country -- is this a new version of that we're seeing here? Are there now "police experts" and things written by or for them that push this subject, with incorrect info?

[liza]

Oh my god. New Media Illeteracy is not just a problem among the economic "have nots". It's really a problem for everybody. Too pase at which technology is changing really does not allow for a lot people to catch up. I mean, any lawyer with a new media 101 background should have known to ask about malware and spyware.

[Fima Estrin]

I read recent publications in ABC and Fox news about
16 years old boy in Arizona and his criminal case.

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=bizarre&id=4935302

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,244009,00.html

I send you again links to publications about my case.
I was forced to confess to the
possession of internet digital pictures of porn in deleted clusters of
my computer hard drive. My browser was hijacked while I was browsing
the web. I was redirected to illegal sites against my will. Some
illegal pictures were found on my hard drive, recovering in
unallocated clusters, without dates of file creation/download.

I do not know how courts can widely press these charges on people to
convict them, while the whole Internet is a mess.

This is my story in inquisition21.com. There is all
information about case written by Irish writer Brian
Rothery. You can see a lot of violations of law by police

http://www.inquisition21.com/article~view~7~page_num~3.html

This is publication in Wired news

http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,63391,00.html

[1984 Was Not a Shopping List]

I used to use two computers, one which was dedicated only to printing out a huge report. The report was klugey and took forever, so one night I left it running as I left work, figuring to get it in the morning. When I returned in the morning, some lucky maintenance guy or gal had found the computer left on, and taken it as a great opportunity to experience a whole bunch of porn. Thanks! I shut it down, but wondered ever after if anyone else had noticed it. Luckily, it was at a company that had, as part of its business (it was an ISP) to deal with porn sometimes, so their employees had to agree not to freak out about it, as part of their job.

At the same company, the first day I started, someone told me, "open a browser and enter (name of server) as the url." I'd never worked a single day in high tech before, so of course I entered www.(name of server).com. Of course, when you added "www" before it, it went to a porn site. I'm thinking, "great; first day on the job." When I was done shutting popup porn windows, I asked, "Um... I entered www.(name of server).com, and..." "No no! Just enter (name of server)!"

There but for the grace of God.

[pili]

install ad aware and spybot search and destroy. run them every day before you shut down or log off. both are free.

thanx

pili

[Anthony Damiani]

Yet another reason being a substitute teacher really sucks.

[fishbane]

One amusing/appalling aspect of the situation is that having malware installed could theoretically create plausible deniability for doing something exactly like what this poor teacher was accused of.

An excellent reason to ask for all of: better operating systems, better school administrators, better trained law enforcement, and better DAs.

Congrats on the article, Linday. It came out well.

--Jamie

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

Jamie, thank you. Thanks also to Zed and Ted and all the other readers who so kindly offered their expertise for the story. It was my first IT-related article, and I couldn't have done it without you folks.

[Nathan Hodges]

Why does every article about this poor woman refer to the computer in question as "Amero's computer" or "her computer"? This was an outdated, SCHOOL DISTRICT owned computer installed (by them) in the classroom that Julie Amero was engaged (by them) to use for a single day. It was running Windows 98 and IE 5 with no firewall, no antivirus software and no internet filter. It was known to be very slow and clogged with spyware. The computer should be called "THE SCHOOL DISTRICT'S COMPUTER" because it was in their control--not Amero's. The investigation was admitted by police to be incomplete and the DA relied on a legal technicality to permit a miscarriage of justice for political expediency. Can anyone say Mike Nifong?

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

You're right that the phrase "Amero's computer" could easily be misinterpreted. I'll be more conscious of that in the future. It wasn't her machine. She wasn't even the regular user of that computer. Another teacher at Kelly Middle School, Mr. Nett, normally used that machine. Nett signed Amero in under his username for the day.

[John Sharp]

My company is the largest licensee of antispyware and web site filtering technologies in the world. We arguably know more about this stuff than anyone - except perhaps Alex Eckelberry of Sunbelt Software: he is considered by many to be one of the best, if not the best, in this space.

Here's what Alex and I agree on 100%: the treatment of the defendant in this case has been terrible, and the evidence upon which Julie Amero's conviction was based is fundamentally flawed. Much more will emerge about this in the coming weeks, as new, better-informed folks get involved on the legal front.

Here's what else is true - there is far more to this story than is generally known. Details are starting to circulate among those who know people connected to this story - details about why Julie Amero decided not to take the plea bargain. What is certain now is that this woman has suffered considerable personal loss because of this event: exactly how much she has lost will come out over time. When this does come out, I predict that Norwich detectives and district prosecutors will be *very* hard to reach for comment.

What is also certain is that it can no longer be assumed that a judge in a US trial will direct jurors to consider "reasonable doubt" as the basis to reject a verdict of guilty. Think those fifties courtroom dramas like "12 Angry Men" are quaint now? Wait a few years. It doesn't matter whether or not Julie is guilty of the felonies she is accused of - what matters most is whether or not she was afforded the protection of this fundamental right.

[paparazzo1]

ANTONELLO DE PIERRO E CARLA SOLARO AL MARE

Il direttore di Italymedia.it Antonello De Pierro e la nota attrice tintobrassiana Carla Solaro in tenerezze al mare.
Per notizia la Solaro è la protagonista del calendario 2007 di Italymedia.it.
E' stata raccomandata o è stata scelta casualmente?
A voi la risposta.

Per vedere il servizio fotografico

http://fotogossip.tripod.com/antonellodepierro/antonello_depierro_carla_solaro.htm

[Greg Malin]

Hi! i found a lot of films here, of course if you are using rapidshare
premium account http://loadingvault.com

[needfornews]

needfornews.com

[paparazzo1]

ANTONELLO DE PIERRO e FRANCESCA BERGER in un locale di Roma

Era da tempo che cercavamo di pizzicare in atteggiamenti intimi il noto giornalista Antonello De Pierro, direttore di Italymedia.it, voce storica di Radio Roma, nonché leader del movimento nazionale Italia dei Diritti, con Francesca Berger, moglie del grande attore e regista Helmut Berger. Ed eccoci riusciti: la bella e fascinosa consorte dell'ex pupillo di Luchino Visconti non sembra aver resistito alla corte serrata che da molto tempo le fa il sosia italiano di Nicholas Cage, noto anche per le sue numerose conquiste. Negli ambienti mondani si vocifera che De Pierro abbia perso talmente la testa che avrebbe chiesto alla signora Berger addirittura di convolare a giuste nozze, ma anche se sembra che questa sia stata lusingata dalla romantica proposta, giuridicamente ciò non risulta possibile in quanto il matrimonio con Helmut Berger non le permetterebbe di accettare.

Per vedere il servizio completo:

http://fotogossip.tripod.com/antonellodepierro/antonello_depierro_francesca_berger.htm

[paparazzo1]

ANTONELLO DE PIERRO E LA MOGLIE DI HELMUT BERGER

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Li avevamo già pizzicati in atteggiamenti equivoci e siamo riusciti a ribeccarli insieme e in tenerezze. Il noto giornalista Antonello De Pierro, direttore di Italymedia.it, sembra non voler mollare la presa sull'incantevole giornalista e scrittrice Francesca Berger, moglie del grande attore Helmut Berger, pupillo di Luchino Visconti, che tra un impegno e l'altro sembra trascurare la bella consorte. Nell'occasione De Pierro, noto anche come il sosia italiano di Nicholas Cage, e la Berger si trovano insieme nella giuria di un noto festival musicale, ma sembra che oltre alla musica pensino anche ad altro. Se son rose fioriranno... E noi aspetteremo con pazienza per immortalarli.

http://fotogossip.tripod.com/antonellodepierro/antonello_depierro_francesca_berger_giuria.htm

[The Phantom]

This story isn't over but it should be