Teacher Fired for Pop-up Infested Computer

[Dragon_Dreamer]

http://www.computerworld.com/action/...LT_VVR&nlid=37

I just saw this. Being a former tech myself, I can easily picture this senario. Any thoughts?

[XCashier]

For heaven's sake, spyware can happen to anybody! That stuff is insidious, and the people who make it are coming up with new tricks every day. What makes the prosecution think that she's responsible for it? According to the article, she can barely manage the AOL mail system!

[Mr. Rude]

Open & shut case...Just look at the info on the HD, access dates, etc....She'll get off no prob.
Gotta love an electronic trail

[Broomjockey]

Problem is, according to the article, teach has already been found guilty. Talk about poor lawyering.

[Crazyredhead]

When I pulled up this artical, I had about 7 popups blocked by my blocker. So it can happen anywhere. If the school is so concerned about this, they should have updated there systems before this happened.

[Cia]

Non computer savy prosecutors going after a non computer savy substitute. The prosecutors need to be slapped upside the head. Malware and spyware were abundant on the computer before she even logged on. Blame the school district not the poor sub.

Also, how in the hell did the jury find her guilty? Was the defense that bad?

[XCashier]

Non computer savy prosecutors going after a non computer savy substitute. The prosecutors need to be slapped upside the head. Malware and spyware were abundant on the computer before she even logged on. Blame the school district not the poor sub.

Also, how in the hell did the jury find her guilty? Was the defense that bad?

The jury and defense lawyers probably weren't computer-savvy either. They really should have brought in a computer tech as an expert witness (is that the correct term?)

[KaeZoo]

This lady's problems are going to be far worse even that what's reported in the link.

Even if she escapes without jail time, she'll need to register as a sex offender for the rest of her life. She'll face harassment from well-meaning neighbors, scrutiny from local law enforcement, restrictions on where she can travel or move to, and will be vulnerable--for the rest of her life-- to any measure some state legislature comes up with to prove they're tough on child molesters.

When it comes to "protect our children" paranoia, common sense goes out the window. How could any jury or prosecutor really believe a middle-aged substitute teacher, with absolutely no criminal record, would deliberately display pornographic material to a school classroom? Does that make any sense at all? Apparently it did to at least twelve of her peers.

[Dips]

I'm not surprised by this. We have lots of schools as customers. Most are good customers and know how to handle technology. But an alarming number of them could easily be described as "adminstratively sloppy" when it comes to security, piracy, updating and basic training on how to use their computers.

I've provided support to people just like this teacher and it's frustrating. They're nice as can be, but lack even the smallest bit of basic knowledge. The district just buys computers, sticks them into classrooms and expected the teachers to figure out how to use them with no support, no security and no money to buy what they need to function. If a school wants to buy $1000 paperweights, they could at least buy some with more artistic merit than a bunch of computers nobody can use.

And the jury? Who wants to bet anyone with computer knowledge was dismissed from the pool as "too biased?"

I really hope this gets overturned.

[ShortTemperHatesStupidity]

http://www.computerworld.com/action/...LT_VVR&nlid=37

I just saw this. Being a former tech myself, I can easily picture this senario. Any thoughts?

This is such a shame. This woman is going to be a scapegoat to two parties, for parents and their "emotionally damaged children", and for the school-they probably think they won't get sucked into that lawsuit if they throw this lady to the wolves.

How irresponsible of the defense to not retain any sort of electronic trail. It's easy enough to tell where and when people have been doing things on any computer. She sure had some shoddy lawyer...

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Also, how in the hell did the jury find her guilty? Was the defense that bad?

Two words: Jury selection.

As Dips mentioned, anybody with any knowledge of computers and how they track what sites were visited and at what times was probably dismissed to create a jury of impressionable people who wanted to "send a message" about sex offenders.

And if it did not occur to the defense to bring in the proper experts to explain how to track the sites that were being visited on that computer, then they did a piss-poor job.

I hate sexual predators and child molestors just as much as anybody else does, but sometimes in these kinds of cases prosecutors and juries go overboard just to "protect the children".

[Format C]

When I pulled up this artical, I had about 7 popups blocked by my blocker. So it can happen anywhere. If the school is so concerned about this, they should have updated there systems before this happened.

7 popups? That sounds like a spyware infestation.

[AFpheonix]

Who wants to bet that a student had been responsible for visiting a questionable site?

[Cia]

One jurist said that she should have thrown a jacket over the monitor or pulled the plug. I'd like him to get down on his knees next to the electrical outlet and pull the correct plug on the first try. I don't even know which plug goes to my monitor. Plus she was told not to turn it off and her being not computer savvy might have thought that turning the monitor off would destroy something.

And for the jacket theory - they would have still yelled at her if she took the time to find something to throw over the monitor.

All in all, it isn't her fault - it is the school district's for not keeping the firewall and security up to date.