Fighting Porn Vs. Ruining Innocent Lives

After news of the conviction of a substitute teacher for endangering minors — because porn popups, possibly initiated by adware, had appeared on her computer during class — comes the even sadder story of 16-year-old Matt Bandy. His family's life was turned upside-down when he was charged in Arizona with possession of child pornography, even though the family computer was riddled with spyware and Trojans. After the intervention of ABC's 20/20, Matt finally was allowed to plead to a lesser charge (namely, sharing a Playboy magazine with friends) and just barely escaped being labeled a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Windows Cost Of Ownership

[codepunk]

Now let's figure ruining your life into into that total cost of ownership.

Coming into your computer??

[NineNine]

"If you have an Internet connection, high speed, through, let's say, your cable company, or through the phone company, that computer is always on, and basically you have an open doorway to the outside," said Tammi Loehrs."So the home user has no idea who's coming into their computer."

Call me crazy, but can't this last issue be fixed by locking your door? If you keep your doors locked, then it's really not too hard to figure out who's coming into your computer. Although, I've got to say that coming into one's computer gives new meaning to Intarweb porn. Maybe she should teach her son that there are safer places to come.

Re:they still dont see it

[Tablizer]

popups, spyware, viruses, trojans & worms are all part of the microsoft windows experience...

Jail Gates! Jail Gates! Jail Gates!
     

sounds like...

[Geekboy(Wizard)]

is 'fighting porn' aka 'mud wrestling'?

Re:Funny..

[fatduck]

That's because sex offenders are unholy merchants of sin, corrupting our children with the devil's ways. Next you'll want notification when a priest moves into your neighborhood.

Sex offender label...

[EmbeddedJanitor]

... priceless

Re:your country is fucked

[Moekandu]

Tell me about it.

Although, I'm starting to think that our District Attorneys here in AZ need a gift subscription to Playboy...

Man, lemme tell you, it's tempting!

Re:Esc

[Gryle]

Oh, for crying out loud, it's Amish, not Omish! If you were trying to make a joke about impedence (which I hope you would resist) that would be spelled "Ohmish".

Re:Save me from my internets

[The PS3 Will Fail]

"And as an occasional viewer of adult content(not child porn) how in the world can I tell if the girl I am looking at is 19 (legal) or 17 (illegal)"

Always stick to granny porn; you're flying safe there.

They're still a young country.

[Anonymous Coward]

Remember, the US is still a very young nation. It's history as a country only goes back 350 years or so. Even then, present American culture only really took off after World War II. So it hasn't even been 70 years since what we consider "American society" took root. Compared to the history of even just European society, for instance, that's virtually nothing.

So it's no wonder that they still have an aversion to boobies. It's something they'll grow out of, likely once the first generation of people exposed to the Internet for virtually their entire lives start to become politicians and hold office. They'll realize that a bouncy pair of titties are a wonderous sight, and some vulva now and then is good for the health.

Re:Save me from my internets

[carl0ski]

A car is metophocially almost 100% identical to a computer
The car is also prone to attack
Auto theft has varying levels of success


Leaving the keys in the ignition (no password)
Leaving the keys in the ignition and doors unlocked(no password, no firewall)
Crappy ignition (bad password)
Crappy ignition, doors unlocked (bad password, No Firewall)

Anti-virus/adware (car alarm)
Don't Forget the weakest point of a car is always its Windows

Re:Save me from my internets

[Anonymous Coward]

I should post this anonymously, but meh, more people need to speak out.

Tell me, "irc.goatse.cx troll", do you have a good reputation to protect?

Happens all the time

[Anonymous Coward]

If you are using Windows, the odds are good this could happen to you.

Re:Save me from my internets

[AnyoneEB]

I should post this anonymously, but meh, more people need to speak out.

This just in: Slashdot user irc.goatse.cx troll (593289) [slashdot.org] cares about his public image.

Seriously, you make good points, but with that comment when posting with that nick you were asking for it.

Fortunately...

[JourneyExpertApe]

...by mentioning his full name in the article, /. made sure that any searches for + "sex offender" will turn up hits for decades to come. Nice work.

Re:Funny..

[geminidomino]

Next you'll want notification when a priest moves into your neighborhood.

Way ahead of you. [wikipedia.org]

Re:To quote the parent....

[Creepy Crawler]

Heh, when I was 16, I bought my own computer (333MHz yada yada). I caught my dad using mine for porn.

When I caught him, I told him to save it to (my documents)/homework/images/ .
Guess what... My mom found out and threw a FUCKING fit.

Re:Save me from my internets

[LoveGoblin]

Always stick to granny porn; you're flying safe there.

"Ah,' said Arthur, "this is obviously some strange usage of the word "safe" that I wasn't previously aware of.'

Incrimination?

[rolandog]

Well,... it kind of reminds me of the 'olden' days where horse porn [bash.org] was used as a form of 'WTF' factor.

Re:Save me from my internets

[modecx]

Always stick to granny porn; you're flying safe there.

And who's to assume these internet grannies aren't indeed 15 year old girls with strange rapid-aging diseases??!?!?!

To paraphrase Robin Williams...

[interactive_civilian]

It IS a country built by Puritans, people so uptight that the British kicked them out.

Re:I've seen similar ~3 years ago

[name*censored*]

Just install a few trojans, XP, IE, OE and a bunch of trojans

oops, ignore that there's two sets of trojan-installing going on.