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Man Accuses Cat of Downloading Child Porn

Posted by samzenpus on from the when-pets-go-bad dept.

bruce_the_loon writes "They have blamed viruses. They have blamed neighbors. They have accused police of planting it. In rare cases, they have admitted downloading it. This is the first time someone has accused a cat of downloading child porn onto their computer. This seems like a defense almost too stupid to be made up."

3 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. CD Behind radiator by shadowknot · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Working in digital forensics you hear all the ridiculous defenses dreamed up by crazy suspects and defense lawyers but this one is pretty out there! One case a colleague of mine involved the usual defense of "a trojan did it" but this was his defense for how a CD-R marked "best stuff" had gotten from the spindle on his desk, into his machine, appropriated a copy of the illicit images on his computer (which he then moved to the recycle bin!) and then hidden itself behind a radiator in a jewel case. Amazing what a little knowledge (and I do mean a very can do!

    1. Re:CD Behind radiator by Jeremi · · Score: 3, Interesting

      One case a colleague of mine involved the usual defense of "a trojan did it"

      I'm rather surprised trojans don't do it more often. It seems like a pretty viable extortion scheme:

      1. Infect victim's PC
      2. Download loads of kiddy porn to various places on the PC
      3. Email the victim: "ILLEGAL CHILD PORNOGRAPHY DETECTED ON YOUR PC at C:\WINDOWS\KIDDYPORN AND OTHER LOCATIONS. Send us $100 to purchase cleanup tool within 5 days, or the police will be notified"
      4. Wait 5 days, collect money from victim, or if no money, send an 'anonymous tip' to the police
      5. Evil profit!
      --


      I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
    2. Re:CD Behind radiator by Lord+Ender · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I would like to get into computer forensics, but I'm afraid I would be spending all my time going after dirty old men, rather than prosecuting real crimes with real victims and damages. Worse than that, I'm afraid I would be forced to attempt to make cases against people who had no intention of downloading illegal content at all (does a 17year 11month old girl look any different from an 18 year old?).

      So as someone who has worked in the industry, I ask you: is modern computer Forensics at all about prosecuting serious crime, or is it just playing porno police? What is your caseload like? The idea of having a hand in ruining someones life for looking at a picture of a sexually mature female just seems immoral to me, and I would want no hand in it.

      --
      A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.