Felony charges dropped against teacher in porn/spyware case
A Connecticut substitute teacher arrested four years ago for allegedly showing students porn on a classroom computer has been cleared of the felony charges--for now--after experts pointed the finger at spyware.
Julie Amero, 41, agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct, pay a $100 fine, and surrendered her teaching license, according to the Hartford Courant. The ordeal left her hospitalized for stress and heart problems, the report said.
The Superior Court judge in Norwich on Friday tossed out the charges that she had endangered children by intentionally causing "pop-up" pornography to display on her computer and ordered a new trial after computer forensics experts presented evidence about the spyware. Judge Hillary B. Strackbein said the conviction was based on "erroneous" and "false information."
Despite the expert evidence, and the fact that state prosecutors never conducted a forensic examination of the hard drive, New London County State's Attorney Michael Regan said he remained convinced of Amero's guilt and was prepared to take the case to trial again.
The security expert who led a team of forensic volunteers in the case is outraged that officials are dismissing the evidence about the dangers of spyware.
"Regan's pronouncement of his certainty of her guilt speaks to his ignorance and unwillingness to learn the facts of this case, and the facts of what PC viruses can do to a computer and, in some cases, a life," Alex Eckelberry, chief executive of security firm Sunbelt Software, wrote on The Julie Blog, a site spawned by the Amero case and which is focused on seeking fairness in the intersection of law and technology.
"All of our forensic investigators felt it was a complete miscarriage. It was clear she was absolutely innocent," he told the Hartford Courant. "The mistakes and misinformation that occurred in that courtroom were astounding."
Amero suffered because the school system failed to keep the computer updated with software to block the pornography, experts said.
The case serves as an important lesson for everyone--use antivirus, antispyware, and other security software and update it regularly.
(Via Brian Krebs' Security Fix blog at The Washington Post.)
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor. 
Ain't technology grand?
The lesson that should be learned here is never trust a public computer, including the computers at school. Assume they are loaded with spyware, malware, pornware and pure evil. Update them yourself (don't expect the school to do it), scan them yourself and make sure everything is in good order right before class begins. Is that a pain? Yes. Is neglecting to do that criminal? No, but that doesn't make it a good idea either.
Julie's teaching credentials should be returned to her and all charges based on this "case" should be dropped. She has paid enough for her mistake, more than enough.
Criminal Justice Commission
c/o Division of Criminal Justice
300 Corporate Place
Rocky Hill, Connecticut 06067
Telephone: (860) 258-5800
(860) 258-5858 Fax
conndcj@po.state.ct.us
To hold people accountable for what is ostensibly under their control.. You see when someone is arrested for say drug possession. It is not uncommon that the drugs are found on property under their influence but not necessarily really under their control. No one searchers their vehicle or passengers when they get in the vehicle.. Vehicles are not always locked in a secure location.. No one searches their passengers or guests for contraband when they get in the car or come into their home..
Now unless the drugs are found directly on the person they really are not in their possession are they. With the exception of traffickers (where ever you draw that line which I would draw based upon a certain volume where in it is not reasonable to argue you had no Idea there was 400lbs of Pot in your trunk etc.) For the average person the drugs should be confiscated as contraband and that's the end of it.. Only problem the entire Law Enforcement Crime Industrial Complex would immediately be cut in half. Profits from the prison industry would plummet and so forth..
Now we have computers for which the Federal Government has deliberately created Trojans, Worms and Key loggers . (Very likely forced the OS manufacturers like Microsoft and many Security Software Companies to ignore the mechanisms by which their creations are inserted or locations where they exist.) in order to access the data contained on the computer.. Which in truth provides the mechanism by which a person may be targeted for their political beliefs then taken down for based upon illegal content contained within their possession even thou it is beyond their ability to prevent the contraband from being placed there either by script kiddies, genuine hackers or the Feds interested in taking down a political opponent.
This is a Power Play and about Profits not Justice.. The women was forced to surrender her license to teach and pay a fine (The more important of the two) to prevent a civil rights lawsuit.. (She has been convicted no matter how minor she has no standing to sue or to demand the production of evidence methodologies of collections etc..
Pretty Slick ... No? Your right... No.. pretty disgusting.
W
The lady lost her teaching license and had health problem due to this act that is not even her fault!!!
Michael Regan should be prosecuted for criminal negligence. Justice is not about harming the defendant but to reeducate them so they can perform better in society. Regan as a prosecutor gives a bad name to justice. His action is more about vengeance than about justice and he should be convicted for criminal negligence.
When the computer is infected, pop ups will show porn and viagra advertisements. In some cases, redirect the page to porn website.
Antivirus, Antispyware, and Antimalware tools requires constant connection to the Internet with a valid subscription to receive the most up to date definitions to keep client computers from infected.
Michael Regan's comment/allegation/assumption is unprofessional and he is not a worthy person to stand as State Attorney. I wouldn't be surprised if he was viewing porn himself. Hypocrite.
Other than the Letters to the Editors pages of the local papers who can be contacted about this?
c/o Division of Criminal Justice
300 Corporate Place
Rocky Hill, Connecticut 06067
Telephone: (860) 258-5800
(860) 258-5858 Fax
Anyone who says this doesn't know enough to post an opinion.
Anyone who doesnt know that should perhaps not post. Lol!
Computer security at our schools is a joke. They tend to be at least a year behind leaving the backdoors available for the kids to use (like the old days of Field Service default). The kids usually are one step ahead of staff anyway. Updates are lacking. They don't have the weekly/monthly updates.
As for Courts and Computers, it'll take a while until they are CLOSE to being updated. Maybe 8-10 years?? They just did the music side, are starting in on video currently (laws are not there yet). Right now we have the MySpace case being debated saying you MUST USE your REAL NAME and can't use pseudonyms (since when?? it's called "screen names" for a reason).
She was so humilitated.
;-)
This is not what the law is meant to do. Isn't there any oversight in Connecticut?
Charles Whealton
Why are people still surprised by nonsense like this? Isn't it time to stop being surprised and start being disgusted yet? Isn't it time to fix the problem? Isn't that why Obama is taking over in January?
DJJ1
If she goes for pain and anguish of over a million dollars, I would not blame her.
.
Julie fired up a computer, supplied by the school, to start up a lesson plan that was also approved by the school. She was approved by the school to be using that computer. That computer was negligently abandoned by the school instead of being maintained and updated on a regular basis. Julie's error was in not arriving in the classroom before class began and check out the computer (maybe just try a dry run of the lesson, to make sure the computer would work properly through it).
If you still can't see a difference between these two cases, please go tell your mommy that you aren't grown up enough to use her computer yet. Hopefully she will love you enough to take it away before you get yourself in trouble.
Until morons like this end up on the wrong side of the lawn, this kind of prosecutorial misconduct will continue. As Americans, we have had enough of your kind of twisted justice. UP YOURS Regan!
What makes you think she is a witch?
VILLAGER #3:
Well, she turned me into a newt.
BEDEVERE:
A newt?
VILLAGER #3:
I got better.
VILLAGER #2:
Burn her anyway!
CROWD:
Burn her! Burn! Burn her!...
BEDEVERE:
Quiet! Quiet! Quiet! Quiet! There are ways of telling whether she is a witch.
VILLAGER #1:
Are there?
VILLAGER #2:
Ah?
VILLAGER #1:
What are they?
CROWD:
Tell us! Tell us!...
BEDEVERE:
Tell me. What do you do with witches?
CROWD:
Burn! Burn them up! Burn!...
BEDEVERE:
And what do you burn apart from witches?
VILLAGER #1:
More witches!
VILLAGER #3:
Shh!
VILLAGER #2:
Wood!
BEDEVERE:
So, why do witches burn?
[pause]
VILLAGER #3:
B--... 'cause they're made of... wood?
BEDEVERE:
Good! Heh heh.
CROWD:
Oh, yeah. Oh.
BEDEVERE:
So, how do we tell whether she is made of wood?
VILLAGER #1:
Build a bridge out of her.
BEDEVERE:
Ah, but can you not also make bridges out of stone?
VILLAGER #1:
Oh, yeah.
RANDOM:
Oh, yeah. True. Uhh...
BEDEVERE:
Does wood sink in water?
VILLAGER #2:
No, it floats! It floats!
CROWD:
The pond! Throw her into the pond!
BEDEVERE:
What also floats in water?
VILLAGER #1:
Bread!
VILLAGER #2:
Apples!
VILLAGER #3:
Uh, very small rocks!
VILLAGER #1:
Cider!
VILLAGER #2:
Uh, gra-- gravy!
VILLAGER #1:
Cherries!
VILLAGER #2:
Mud!
VILLAGER #3:
Uh, churches! Churches!
VILLAGER #2:
Lead! Lead!
ARTHUR:
A duck!
CROWD:
Oooh.
BEDEVERE:
Exactly. So, logically...
VILLAGER #1:
If... she... weighs... the same as a duck,... she's made of wood.
BEDEVERE:
And therefore?
CROWD:
A witch! A witch!...
The air is thick and still
The vigilantes gather on
The lonely torchlit hill
Features distorted in the flickering light
The faces are twisted and grotesque
Silent and stern in the sweltering night
The mob moves like demons possessed
Quiet in conscience, calm in their right
Confident their ways are best
The righteous rise
With burning eyes
Of hatred and ill-will
Madmen fed on fear and lies
To beat and burn and kill
They say there are strangers who threaten us
In our immigrants and infidels
They say there is strangeness too dangerous
In our theaters and bookstore shelves
That those who know what's best for us
Must rise and save us from ourselves
Quick to judge
Quick to anger
Slow to understand
Ignorance and prejudice
And fear walk hand in hand...
- Rush - "Witch Hunt".
Maybe someone should play that song for Michael Regan. Repeatedly, until he gets it.
If the user(s) of that infected computer would have surfed RESPONSIBLY instead of downloading toolbars, reading personal mail on a work computer, installing themes and pretty cursors and/or installing chat clients, then this whole mess could have been prevented in the first place. That computer most likely did not get distributed WITH spyware. The spyware installed itself on a system due to poor judgement and user ignorance. THAT is why she needs to get the axe.
End of discussion.
Don't know much about the case. But does anyone know if she was the only one to use the computer? From the very start of this article here I see this, "A Connecticut substitute teacher arrested four years ago for allegedly showing students porn on a classroom computer." She was a substitute? Well who was the actual teacher? Is anyone sure if this was her computer or just a random computer that she happened to be working on at the time?
They must be rich, up there in New London, if they can afford such incompetence. And the fact that they allow Regan to abuse people so shrieks that they have no respect for justice or even the law.
- by thetruthisking November 27, 2008 9:35 AM PST
- Lets let Michael Regan and the State of Connecticut Criminal Justice Division know what a great job they are doing!!!
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
Showing 1 of 2 pages (43 Comments)Criminal Justice Commission
c/o Division of Criminal Justice
300 Corporate Place
Rocky Hill, Connecticut 06067
Telephone: (860) 258-5800
(860) 258-5858 Fax
conndcj@po.state.ct.us