Trojans Putting Child Pornography On Computers

from the that-can't-be-good dept

With the recent acquittal of a UK man accused of having child pornography on his computer after it was determined that the images were a result of a Trojan horse virus on his computer, the NY Times is looking at a number of legal questions this brings up. First of all, there's the issue of whether or not this will become the "standard" defense of anyone caught with child pornography. However, even scarier, is the idea that child porn could just end up showing up on your hard drive without your knowledge, if you did happen to get infected with a Trojan horse. The article quotes Mark Rasch saying: "The scary thing is not that the defense might work, [but] that the defense might be right." Yet another example where authorities are going to have to get caught up on technology if they're going to accurately find the criminals, and not end up throwing innocent people in jail.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Aug 2003 @ 7:48am

    No Subject Given

    Years ago, as a 'joke' at work, we subscribed a co-worker to an explicit pornographic gay male magazine. While we never admitted... we hinted... and the whole thing was seen as a joke.

    Can't imagine what would happen today.

    The parallels are obvious.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Ian Davis, 11 Aug 2003 @ 8:21am

    Deliberate Infections

    Of course, now all the paedophile has to do is deliberately get infected - not only do they get their chosen type of porn for free they also get an alibi for having it. Makes you wonder at the motivation of the virus writer.

    The same could happen with MP3s also - a virus that acts as a Kazaa client would provide cover for all kinds of illegal trading.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Aug 2003 @ 9:53am

    Re: No Subject Given

    Yeah. we used to do that all the time. It was gas with those who could get the joke (which used to be more people, back when people used their brain and lived without mommy).

    In this american theocracy, I'd be afraid today of having my figurative hand chopped off by the snarling 'protective' lawyers.



    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    aNonMooseCowherd, 11 Aug 2003 @ 10:37am

    No Subject Given

    Maybe this is what will finally get people to take security seriously.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    cef, 21 Jan 2005 @ 12:24am

    No Subject Given

    That's why the internet piracy must be stopped, i mean, guess no one's ever in mood to find some crap like that on the hard drive

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.