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Man Gets 12-Year Jail Sentence For Planting Child Porn On Enemy's Computer
An anonymous reader writes with an update to a story we discussed in August about Neil Weiner, a man who sought to ruin the life of a school caretaker by planting child pornography on his computer. Weiner has now been convicted on two counts of possession of child pornography and one count of perverting the course of justice. He was sentenced to 12 years in jail.
"The judge told Weiner that his plot to have Mr. Thompson sacked and prosecuted very nearly succeeded. Police had been careful not to make public their arrest of the caretaker and only informed those at the school who needed to know, he said. 'But you gratuitously and spitefully informed the local press so that he and his wife suffered the distress of the unwelcome publicity which followed.' Mr. Thompson's health and that of his wife suffered. The judge said: 'There are still those who believe, and probably always will, that he is a pedophile. I am wholly satisfied that Mr. Thompson is innocent.' ... Weiner had discovered the caretaker's password by looking over his shoulder one day and been caught doing so. When Mr. Thompson was asked why he did not change it, he said he wished he had, adding: 'Who in their worst nightmares would could have thought that anyone could stoop to do what he did?'"
What an appropriate charge. Also, this guy can rot.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
All of the above combined
When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
Should have been much longer in my opinion.
Who in their worst nightmares would could have thought that anyone could stoop to do what he did?
This clearly illustrates that until lay persons learn to think otherwise in terms of privacy and security on systems and networks; nothing is going to get better.
Did you ever wake up in the morning, with a Zombie Woof behind your eyes? -- FZ
This isn't surprising when you have laws forbidding the possession of information and a stigma that persists if someone were to openly come against ridiculous laws simply forbidding possession of information.
Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
Mr Weiner will be very popular amongst his jailmates with a name like that.
...one count of perverting the course of justice.
Does that satisfy Rule 34?
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
'Who in their worst nightmares would could have thought that anyone could stoop to do what he did?
When I was growing up, my dad once told me something along the lines of, "Boy, think of the worst, meanest, most downright, terrible thing you would be willing to do to someone that you truly hated. Now, you can safely make the assumption that someone else out there could come up with something worse if you give them enough reason. Remember that."
I always did.
Motorcycles, Robots, Space Gossip and More!
the "would could could" aside.... REALLY? in your WORST nightmares people aren't stooping low enough to commit homicide? no physical harm at all?
Unlike you, not everybody is a twisted sociopathic asshole. Many people are "good", and can't imagine that someone could attempt to destroy someone else's life.
a tarnished reputation later exonerated by a judge is your WORST nightmare?
Sorry, but "what he did" wasn't an attempt to get the guy exhonerated - "what he did" was attempt to destroy the man's life. And he very nearly succeeded.
So pull your head out of your ass, your brain is starving for oxygen.
what makes you think this guy is going to be in jail any time close to 12 years?
As for hyperbole, it may have been an exageraiton, and it is not as bad as many other things in life, but if it happened to me I would freak out too.
what made the convicted man freak out enough to do what he did? since when is freaking out an excuse for being a hypocrite?
If you RTFA, you'd know both the man and his family were subjected to months of abuse while the investigation proceeded, and the abuse occurred because the guy framing him leaked the charge to the news media. Yes, he should have changed his password, but that just puts him in the same category as the overwhelming majority of people who don't keep their office computers sufficiently secure.
And yes, for many people, being accused of pedophelia IS worse than being charged with murder. I know a man who lost his job, his house and his family while his case dragged through the courts. The whole town thought he was guilty. He was beaten twice, once very severely. The kids who accused him eventually recanted their stories, but the damage was done. So you can take your self-righteousness and shove it straight up your ass.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
While I can understand some naivity, it's not like computer kiddie porn is the first witch hunt.
Whether criminalizing kiddie porn is a good idea or a bad one (I can understand the viewpoint of the porn enabling the crimes / creating the demand), when you have thoughtcrimes on the books, everyone really should be expecting that sometimes innocent people will be harmed. I think that when someone says they can't believe it would happen, they probably really mean that they think it'll probably never happen to them. Probably.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
and, as i already stated, having a password already acknowledges the threat of someone else accessing your account. this would be the same as having locks on your doors, using them improperly, and then crying to the media that they never imagined it was possible when someone enters their home and causes them harm from their most vulnerable place.
the only fact is simple... you are NOTHING
More than anything else, this is the single best reason for keeping your security tight and your password secret - especially from caretakers, who will have free, unfettered and prolonged access to your work computers after you've gone home..
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
Usually both. It's a state/local crime to posses it, and a federal crime if they can prove you moved it across state lines (including electronically). In this case it's a UK law though, because that's where this particular story happened. I'd venture to guess that there are a *very* small number places in the Western World where it's not a crime, if any at all.
I don't need a million points of light, just two points of multi-mode fiber and a 10 Gig-E router.
Shit, it's basically impossible to keep your computer "sufficiently secure" from anybody who has physical access to it all weekend like a co-worker. If someone wants to plant something on your machine, they're going to be able to do it. Even if you're paranoid and encrypt your hard drive and take your laptop home with you every night someone can still come in and stick a keylogger in your keyboard. Then it's just 10 minutes one lunchtime and you're forced to literally live under a bridge, alone and penniless until you die. That's the power of invoking one of our cultures most forbidden taboos.
I read the internet for the articles.
Police had been careful not to make public their arrest of the caretaker and only informed those at the school who needed to know, he said.
Good for them, exercising a bit of restraint while the suspect was not yet proven guilty!
what makes you think this guy is going to be in jail any time close to 12 years?
AFAIK they don't generally keep people in prison after they're dead, so I'd agree with that.
You are NOTHING lol.
Le français vous intéresse?
"So you can take your self-righteousness and shove it straight up your ass."
I agree, I'm troubled by what more people than me are calling the 21st century equivalent of the Salem witch trials, made even more cogent by these frame charges. Every one of the supposed "witches" were simply accused of witchcraft by a group of four bored teenagers. The lives of the entire family faculty of McMartin PreSchool were destroyed because one child lied. Mere possession can land you in more hot water than murder? That's ridiculous. I'm not condoning pedophilia, but I think people & media are caught in a sensationalism that rivals yellow journalism from the 1900's.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
Attempted 1st degree murder will get you more jail time than 12 years. You would only get a shorter sentence for killing someone if you didn't intend to kill them (manslaughter).
Think of how much jail time and beatings in prison Thompson would have received if this plot hadn't been foiled. Weiner should get that + a few extra years for being a dick and going to the media about it. He tried to ruin someone's life, and deserves at least the fate of what Thompson would have gotten, plus a little extra.
Global warming and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking number of pirates - Gospel of the FSM
As others have pointed out, you were a contractor. Your choice. And this is your side of the story, I'm sure it leaves out some details. If you had an actual case, you could go to court. But you don't, do you? And so you daydream about ruining someone's entire life. Did you know the idea of "an eye for an eye" was originally not seen as harsh,because it was meant to replace "Your life for an eye." Of course nowadays, even "an eye for an eye" is seen as unjust. But you seem to think that even "an eye for an eye" is not harsh enough.
If your boss had a problem with you watching Fox News, it sounds like you were simply not a good fit. Why stay at a place you are not wanted, especially as a contractor? Do you not feel confident in your abilities to find work? If that's the case, perhaps you should not be a contractor. She did you a favor, enabling you to look for a job where your political views would not be an issue. If you were a real employee, you might have a case. If you had some sort of protections written into your contract, you might have a case. But that is not how contractors generally work, they generally work at the whims of those that employ them, and can be let go for any reason or none, at any time.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Like the Utah woman who took pictures of her 10 month old twins taking a bath and mistakenly had the pictures developed at WalMart? That was in 2000, she is still in prison!
When you let totalitarianism get a foothold it is always under the assumption that it is "for the common good" and it always spreads and grows like a cancer.
You can tell a villain by:
God bless (fill in the).
Think of the children.
Get tough on crime/drugs/drunk driving/illegal immigration, etc.
Running for office/passing the bar.
Making a speech.
I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
The law concerned is national, but to qualify as child pornography it would have to be "posed" and in a sexual context.
(or an image of, or apparently of, sexual interaction with a child).
But good luck in trying to persuade a magistrate (not a jury!) that an image that the prosecutor claims to meet that description doesn't really.
What extra shame are you talking about? He defended his failure to change his password by saying he never even thought someone would do this to him. He perhaps exaggerated a bit to suggest that no one would ever think of that. He compared it to his worse nightmares, which seems like a reasonable comparison. Is it "stoop" that you object to? Really, the last thing Weiner has to worry about is his victim telling the public "He did a horrible thing to me."
what did he do to this man to provoke such an unimaginable response? what "good" can come from continued provocation?
He planted it and got 12 years. This guy DID IT with hundreds of kids and gets 8-1/2. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-11403984 Doesn't anyone see what the fook is wrong here????
i have no problem with anything until the victim attempts to exploit the media to further harm a convicted and sentenced man.
that is a hypocritical act of malice and vengeance, and can only serve to discredit the justice system.
we'll all see how the show ends in <12 years, and whether or not continued agitation of the situation was the "good" move.
So even though he's been exonerated and the true criminal was successfully convicted, the innocent has no right to publicize his innocence? He was FRAMED for crying out loud. Who, if not he, should be allowed to vilify his attacker?
You'd be just as well off asking a rape victim to be respectful and grateful to her rapist.
So, how long HAVE you and the convicted been chums??
Depending on the circumstances, killing someone could easily be a lesser crime. Manslaughter, negligence, crime of passion, etc, would all be far, far, far less vile than what this case is about.
If you catch somebody at work doing it, report it to their manager immediately! I've had people fired for this, at IBM we are trained to swivel 180 degrees when a client is entering a password. This is non-trivial, DO NOT ALLOW THIS!
I killed da wabbit -Elmer Fudd
it is also completely within the law for me to call him an ignorant hypocrite.
how long has hypocrisy been your chum?
So can pervs just use this excuse, now, any time they get caught and would like (a) freedom plus (b) an enemy or other arbitrary member of society to take the heat for it? Let's remember something: Martha Stewart's trial hinged on destroyed computer evidence -- DELETED computer evidence -- that there was no proof ever existed because one person claimed to have had access to the computer, to the "logs" that would have tracked the files' existences and deletions, and by way of deleting the "logs" also deleted any trace of the data. And yet, she was convicted. That's a precedent; this is a precedent; straight, normal people beware!
The moral is: computer data should rarely ever be considered evidence. This used to be a given, but for "some reason" over time in America computer data has become more and more "tangible" in courtrooms. Bad! Not good!
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
Neither am I, believe it or not. U.S. American, born and raised, with U.S. American parents, grandparents, and 7 out of 8 great grandparents :)
(Not that there's anything wrong with Koreans :))
Le français vous intéresse?
i'm also not implying you're a man, and never would.
So by my count you have 5 different /. ids. What's up with that?
"If sorry were enough, we wouldn't need seppuku"
The irony is that the justice system seems to ruin people's life all day long. If this issue had sent the innocent guy into jail, which surely happens a lot, then this is the fault of the flawed justice system. If one supports drastic punishment without enough evidence, then one is also guilty of ruining people's lives, who go innocent into jail. I think many people ignore that or think it's bad luck, until it hits them themeselves, but imho every time, someone is sent innocent to jail, it's a crime against humanity done by society especially those, who support a broken system and those, who are not responsible enough with their power.
exploiting the flaws of systems of control is the responsibility of us all.
Ignorant, how? He is uninformed on exactly which facts?
Hypocritical how? He is planting kiddie porn exactly which computers?
slashdot = stagnated with vengeance.
One of her best friends just called her. This woman's house was just raided by the FBI this morning. Turns out that her boyfriend was into child porn. I've hung out with them, he seemed like a regular guy. I liked him. Now I don't know what to think, or feel. I know I feel a little dirty just from having hung out with him. But I also feel some sympathy, because I know the guy, and before I found this out, I liked him. I can't imagine what his girlfriend is going through. Can you ever take enough showers to feel clean after that?
I know he had a screwed up childhood. I guess I just didn't know how screwed up. And now I can't help but contemplate his future. It isn't pretty. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it, kiddie porn is inexcusable. But his life is over now. If I were somehow in his position, I know what I'd do. I know the man owns guns. There aren't many situations where suicide might just be the best answer, but along with painful terminal illness, this is one of them.
I just feel sick now, I could barely eat lunch today. The wife and I offered to help clean up after the mess the FBI left, tearing up the place. But cleaning the physical mess is only the first step.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
So the purpose of a password is to prevent being framed for possessing kiddie porn?
You keep using that word 'hypocritical', but you don't seem to know what it means. Thompson is vilifying Weiner for attempting to frame him and ruin his life. It would only be hypocrisy were Thompson doing the same thing. Since Weiner actually did what Thompson says he did, and Thompson never did what Weiner said HE did, these aren't congruent enough to warrant hypocrisy. Thompson, as a victim, has the right to speak out about it. Weiner, as the villain, has a similar right, but is in no way protected from the scorn of his accusers.
Both are using the media, true, but that's where the similarity stops. That alone isn't a strong enough similarity to make the logical leap to hypocrisy.
Coming from you, I can safely take no offense at that label. Have a nice day!
"You will be suspected by many of being a paedophile and, like Mr Thompson, you may find that you suffer, both in prison and on release, for the rest of your life.
"All these consequences will last for life and the irony is that you have brought them upon yourself by your own deliberate conduct
The judge is basically treating the social stigma of being assumed a pedophile as part of the sentence- even though "the judge said there was no evidence that Weiner was a paedophile" (from the article). I realize the justice system can't change how others accept him, but at the least I would hope the judge to precede the above quote with "unfortunately"*, as opposed to acting like society's witch hunt is a tool for punishment.
*I'm assuming the journalist isn't cherry picking quotes.
My webcomic
I was replying to a single statement - "Being alive with emotional issues is better than being dead." Anything else you think I was implying is on you, not me. Don't try to put words I didn't say (or even infer) into my mouth.
"But this one goes to 11!"
Is it still on Thompsons background and does he have to list it on job applications and hope that some does not just see child whatever there and does not look any lower.
Does he have a NOT guilty card to show people?
Not hardly. It is the right of the wronged to assail their attacker with the truth of what they did.
Again, I don't care whether you think whomever is an idiot, myself included. Your judgement clearly isn't solid enough for your opinion to count.
Also, again, the right to act here is what's salient.
One more try.
Imagine that I might go home tonight and sleep with my wife. When you wish to do so, I'll deny you that right.
Hypocrisy?
These are nuanced, but I'm confident you're able to reason it out if you try.
Took my windows machine to Fry's Electronics for some hardware repair (essentially, replace a bad video card under warranty). Got it back, but the one account on it had lost its password. Yeah, tools/methods exist to take the password off your account, at which point your windows machine is fully accessible. That is... if they have physical possession of the (windows) computer and existing tools, they don't need a keylogger.
I can't say whether their tool would work with whole disk encryption or not (mine wasn't). Would be interested, if someone with knowledge on that could speak up.
the IMPLICIT HYPOCRISY OF THE ACT is what's salient. i know, because I AM THE ONE THAT BROUGHT IT UP.
you're an idiot.
i would never sleep near, talk with, look at, or breathe the same air as any of the beasts you've infected with your ignorance.
you are NOTHING. your wife is LESS.
Just so long as you're being rational about it. Or as much as you can be, anyway.
Hey dude, I heard you like trolling, so I put a troll in your troll so you can troll while you're trolling!
you've always been an idiot.
Am I the only Slashdot reader old enough (and a porn consumer for long enough) to know the history of child porn laws?
It's amazing how many times I've needed to post something like: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1790178&cid=33671018
the "would could could" aside.... REALLY? in your WORST nightmares people aren't stooping low enough to commit homicide? no physical harm at all? a tarnished reputation later exonerated by a judge is your WORST nightmare? why do you think passwords exist? because accessing your account is something someone might do... having the password already acknowledges this threat...
i feel no remorse for a victim who would hypocritically exaggerate the truth to the media and attempt to exploit their reach to create more sympathy for yourself and more hatred towards the already convicted offender. you can't have it both ways. if you want to whine about someone using the media, don't turn your back and do the exact same thing with your own exaggerated hypotheticals.
Would it be "hypocritical" for a victim of an assault with a handgun to shoot back in self defense? As I see it, a huge number of people aren't going to know this guy was exonerated. The publicity is necessary to get the word out. And given that this media effort is a response to real harm, I find it justified on those grounds.
Which is why, when cases like this come to the media, the media has the responsibility not only to emphasize that the charges are alleged, but to PUBLISH RETRACTIONS AND/OR PUBLISH THE RESULTS OF TRIALS THAT RESULT IN A VERDICT OF INNOCENT.
Unfortunately, too few media outlets do that - scandals sell, innocence doesn't. Perhaps the judges in such cases should make it a requirement that the local/involved media publish the results- and not buried in two lines somewhere on the back page.
I too know of a few people who have been falsely accused and exonerated - and when the subject comes up in ordinary conversations, I always make a point of stressing to the people I'm talking with not to get carried away with rumor and innuendo, because they could be next. It seems to get their attention, somewhat...
(About eight years ago I was asked to be a potential witness in exactly this same thing - because I had worked on this person's computer a few times before that. I was never called to witness, and he was completely exonerated, but the ugly commentary I heard in public around me during the trial was disgustingly reminiscent of what I've read about witch trials from the dark ages. I can certainly blame the wagging tongues of the local media outlets for THAT one. )
SB
It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
you're an idiot.
no harm would have come to the victim if the media was not utilized to push the attackers agenda prematurely... and now after the justice system has done its job and the score has been settled, the victim chooses to hypocritically utilize the same media to continue to portray the attacker in a negative light using ignorant hypotheticals that are little more than obvious lies. i believe he has had worse nightmares. i believes he understands why he had a password. i believe he understands why he was an idiot for not protecting it AS HE HAS STATED AS SUCH.
you're an idiot.
Based on this and a previous comment, i think we all know what to do: construct self sufficient wilderness cabins and start leasing tracts of wilderness and subdivide the land under bridges, cause thats where an awful lot of people are going to be living soon.
You hear about the person who didn't rely on anecdotal evidence to support his belief system?
And I always will be, but at least I'm not you.
... if it weren't for those meddling kids.
UTF-8: There and Back Again
is it ignorant to bring up "self defense" in regards to a legal case after the accused was convicted and sentenced?
Yes, when the harm is still going on. I can't believe you're this dense.
you are NOTHING
so confident in your argument that you are unwilling to take credit for it?
you are NOTHING
But maybe the first discovered and prosecuted...
Who knows how many people are jailed because hackers (meaning "evil computer intruders") planted CP or used the victim's machine as a relay or distribution point... Kinda scary but then all the more reason to keep the machine patched and avoid pissing off collegues who might snoop your password or install a keylogger...
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
http://slashdot.org/journal/256272/Oh-shit
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton