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The Virus Did It

Posted by michael on from the dangers-of-running-insecure-operating-systems dept.

scubacuda writes "The Inquirer and Get Reading report that a UK man accused of having pornographic pictures of kids on his computer was acquitted after a court heard that his machine was infected with a Trojan on his PC which probably auto-downloaded the images. (In light of moves like Operation Ore, we'll probably hear more defenses like this.)"

21 of 373 comments (clear)

  1. Insanity by dledeaux · · Score: 5, Funny

    Human: I plead insanity! I wasn't aware of my actions at the time that I was doing them. I can't be held responsible.

    Computer: I plead trojan. I wasn't aware of my actions at the time that I was doing them. I can't be held responsible.

  2. perhaps... by HBI · · Score: 4, Funny

    Perhaps Mr. Schofield should be charged with the misdemeanor offense "Running Windows".

    Some community service should put things aright, methinks.

    --
    HBI's Law: Frequency of calling others Nazis is directly correlated with the likelihood of the accuser being Communist.
    1. Re:perhaps... by Capt.+DrunkenBum · · Score: 3, Funny

      Windows is anything but attractive.

      --

      Not everyone deserves a 320i

  3. I must have lots of viruses.... by hoggoth · · Score: 5, Funny

    They've been downloading MP3s, porn, movies, all kinds of stuff I am not aware of!

    --
    - For the complete works of Shakespeare: cat /dev/random (may take some time)
    1. Re:I must have lots of viruses.... by Andrewkov · · Score: 2, Funny

      I believe that virus is called "Kazaa".

    2. Re:I must have lots of viruses.... by Surak · · Score: 3, Funny

      Prosecutor: "How did that copy of Unreal Tournament 2003 end up on your computer?"
      Me: "It was a virus! It downloaded it along with all the other pirated stuff on my computer and it even downloaded the DeCSS code! I don't even know how it got there!"
      Prosecutor: "So how did you get that account on fragism.com?"
      Me: "The virus stole my credit card # and signed me up! I had nothing to do with it!"

      --
      My journal has hot /. gossip.
    3. Re:I must have lots of viruses.... by DickBreath · · Score: 2, Funny

      I must have lots of viruses... They've been downloading MP3s, porn, movies, all kinds of stuff I am not aware of!

      Baloney! You did it. You are guilty. You should be sued for $150 Billion. (Can't be taking food out of the mouths of artists now, can we.?)

      Your defense does not hold up because, at present, there is no virus that credibly does the things you describe.

      hint, hint, wink ;-), wink ;-)

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  4. Trojans by rf0 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Now this is why you should always use protection? Don't know what you will catch

    Rus

    --
    Cheap UK and US VPS
  5. Great defense. by grub · · Score: 3, Funny


    Himmler: My orders were not from Hitler but from a virus.
    Tim McVeigh: A virus filled that truck with diesel and fertilizer.
    Magic Johnson: I didn't get AIDS from a woman but from a virus.

    well.. ok, you can scratch the last one.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  6. I see by Joe+the+Lesser · · Score: 2, Funny

    So that's how those pictures of mating llamas got on my hard drive!

    Why haven't I deleted them?...

    *shifts eyes, and flees*

    --
    "I only speak the truth"
    Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
  7. Really by g0bshiTe · · Score: 0, Funny

    IT wasn't ME it was the one armed man!

    --
    I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
  8. In other news... by xYoni69x · · Score: 1, Funny

    A trojan horse program, codenamed "Kazaa", has been reported to download pirated music and DVDs on thousands of computers throughout the world. The matter is being investigated.

    --
    void*x=(*((void*(*)())&(x=(void*)0xfdeb58)))();
  9. err.... by idfrsr · · Score: 2, Funny

    I am sorry Mr. President... my computer was infected with a virus and this trojan submitted comupter code to terrorist supporting open source projects. Particularily, OpenBSD...

    --
    "The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away" -Tom Waits
  10. Windows by Mattygfunk1 · · Score: 3, Funny
    That's the reason I keep a windows box around. If anyone comes knocking then it was a hacker that downloaded those Britney Spears tracks.

    --
    cheap website hosting

  11. Re:Won't Work by miketang16 · · Score: 2, Funny

    No.. no... the virus not only downloaded the porn, but also used his credit card information to sign up for the site, confirmed his subscription via email, and initiated correspondance with Michael Jackson...

    --
    -------
    "In times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act."
    -- George Orwell
  12. Bye bye Symantec... by dreadpiratemark · · Score: 5, Funny

    I gotta keep this short 'cause I have to go uninstall Symantec Norton Antivirus Corporate Edition to make sure that my company lawyers have a good defense for some of our employees.... Hell, I might just turn off our firewall and load MS Backoffice for an OS as long as we're looking to give more people/programs easy access.

  13. Re:Hmmm... by NetDanzr · · Score: 4, Funny

    Or you can turn it the other way round. Suddenly, I have the urge to ununstall all my virus protection and run that trojan I found, which automatically downloads mp3s of my favorite artists ;)

  14. Let's take this one step further by Raul654 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yes officer, the lock on my front door has been broken for a few weeks now. That body is in the basement because some bastard probably dropped it off there while I was at work

    --


    To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
    --E.C. Stanton
  15. Simple defence... I have Windows XP! by jkrise · · Score: 3, Funny

    Need I say more?

    --
    If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
  16. No Judge... by Spleen · · Score: 5, Funny

    I didn't notice the folder named "Child Porn" and all the neatly arranged subfolders inside of "My Documents".

  17. Elvis said it best by jellyfish_green · · Score: 2, Funny

    Caught in a loop
    and I can't log out
    I've been hacked on my port 80
    Why can't I free
    system memory
    Why didn't McAffe's checker save me

    I cant go online ever
    with these malicious MIMEs
    Now I know I should have never
    clicked suspicious MIMEs...

    Popup windows
    that I can't ever close
    Backspawn themselves and won't go away
    My javascript's bad
    I guess I've been had
    by some script kiddie based in Bombay

    My own ISP
    is denying service to me
    They say I hosted last night's ping storm
    And I'm spamming the net
    and people I've never met
    Are questioning my taste in p0rn

    I cant go online ever
    with these malicious MIMEs
    Now I know I should have never
    clicked suspicious MIMEs...