Korean Job Discussion Forums

[igotthisguitar]

Teacher Faces 40 Years Behind Bars ...
For Pop-Up Infested PC
Steve Bass
Wed Feb 7, 3:00 AM ET

Have you ever faced a pop-up that wouldn't go away? You try clicking it closed and another pops up in less than a nanosecond. You reboot the system, annoyed that your anti-spyware program let something slip through.

That's a hassle, sure--but chances are, your experience won't land you in jail.

A Teacher's Worst Nightmare

Julie Amero, a substitute teacher in Norwich, Connecticut, has been convicted of impairing the morals of a child and risking injury to a minor by exposing as many as ten seventh-grade students to porn sites.

It's a short story: On October, 19, 2004, Amero was a substitute teacher for a seventh-grade language class at Kelly Middle School. A few students were crowded around a PC; some were giggling. She investigated and saw the kids looking at a barrage of graphic, hard-core pornographic pop-ups.

The prosecution contended that she had used the computer to visit porn sites.

The defense said that wasn't true and argued that the machine was infested with spyware and malware, and that opening the browser caused the computer to go into an endless loop of pop-ups leading to porn sites.

Amero maintains her innocence. She refused offers of a plea bargain and now faces an astounding
40 years in prison (her sentencing is on March 2).

CONT'D ...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20070207/tc_pcworld/128672 ... etc ...

[xeno439]

I downloaded some stuff from limewire and got that virus. Every 30 seconds an ad for porn or gambling would pop up even if I didn't have a browser open. She is probably innocent.

[cruisemonkey]

There's no way she'll be convicted... it's just too bad she has to go throught the stress and expense of a trial; and that the prosecuter is such an idiot!

[gsxr750r]

Yeah, she won't get convicted. Money needs to be spent to catch the people who make the content.

[ulsanchris]

she has been convicted. she is going to be sentenced now. her only hope is to appeal the verdict.

[Milwaukiedave]

That's a strange story. Hopefully she doesn't get convicted of anything.

[Smee]

Imperative word being she.

So a person gets more time for viewing porn than for molesting a child? Bravo everyone's life!

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Here's a really good editorial on this case: http://www.courant.com/news/local/columnists/hc-rgreen0130.artjan30,0,6064060.column?coll=hc-utility-home

I'm sooooooooo happy I don't teach in the west.

[diablo3]

pity to see an emergency teacher caught at the wrong place at the wrong time with something that has nothing to do with her.

[Corky]

I remember this case. Some information is missing. In court, the prosecution was able to prove that she put in specific search queries that resulted in the pop ups. The pop ups came from web sites she had gone to while the students were working.

Either way, 40 years is just nuts.

[khyber]

Hasn't everyone back home been caught in a pornado before?


Besides, I think that this:

[crazy_arcade]

This is insane.
I can't believe no one thought that the students might have done it to the computer while she was out of the classroom.

[arisketch]

wow ... well, I'm not going into a barrage of why this is such nonsense, I think everyone already know -

but I like to point out some stuff, a word of advise - and hopefully help prevent something like this ever happening again;

1. first 2 programs I install on my computer were;
- zone alarm (firewall)
- spybot (spyware killer) ad-aware is also good ...
every week I would run spybot/ad-aware to check my computer

2. I dont use limewire, kazaa, etc. if I want to download stuff, I use bittorrent, somewhat safer, and still (virus) check the file I've downloaded

3. when I surf the net, I usually turn off java script; get rid of those pop up

* how to turn off/disable javascript; (I'm using mozilla firefox, should be the same with internet explorer) go to 'tools' on the toolbar, choose 'options', click on the 'content' tab, un-check 'enable javascript'

some site does require that you have javascript enable (ie. hotmail) but most site you can do without

---

I surf the net at my school as well, and I usually have the javascript disable and the images turned off ... I dont want any 'surprises' popping up - we do have to be extra careful in places with kids ...

hope things will work out for that girl ... and really hope something like this never happen to any of you guys

[lastat06513]

OUCH~!
In my backyard......yuck!


Well.....
There was legislation that just passed the state senate and the New Haven city counsel of Aldermen that states that the Department of Education at the state, county, and city-levels are liable for any harmful content found on computers found in the classroom, no matter if it was put there by a teacher or a student (the teacher is responsible for locking down access to the computer when it isn't used for class research). And the student's parents CAN sue the teacher, the school and the local and regional schoolboards for exposing children to such content.

Connecticut has some the most conservative and strictest laws either in New England and perhaps the US

[polarbearbrad]

So let me get this straight; in a country founded on personal freedoms and not being told what to do by someone else without a voice in that decision, a person can now be held responsible for something they didn't do.

are liable for any harmful content found on computers found in the classroom, no matter if it was put there by a teacher or a student (the teacher is responsible for locking down access to the computer when it isn't used for class research).

So again if some 13 year-old kid downloads porn when they should be working on the computer researching dinosaurs, I am responsible. Now the kid is not at all responsible for his actions, I mean he is the one who typed in the address, clicked on the "Yes, I am over the age of 18." button and was disregarding class rules but hey he is only a kid so he can't be responsible right?

Whatever happened to owning your decisions? I mean when you make a decision, you own the fruits as well as the repurcussions. If you don't want the responsibility then don't make the decision. How old do you have to be to understand that? I think by 12 children should know that they are responsible for their actions. I know my friends and I were. Not saying a student put it there but if a student did, then the student should be in trouble, not the substitute teacher.

Sad sad world.
PBB