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| Julie Amero: Adware Victim or Porn Surfer? |
| Guilty as charged but no prison |
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| Guilty as charged and send her to prison! |
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| Not guilty! |
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| Total Votes : 16 |
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TACH
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Joined: 03 Nov 2005
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 Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 6:45 am Post subject: Julie Amero: Adware Victim or Porn Surfer? |
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| Quote: | Substitute Teacher Faces Jail Time Over Spyware
Brian Krebs on Computer Security - Washington Post
A 40-year-old former substitute teacher from Connecticut is facing prison time following her conviction for endangering students by exposing them to pornographic material displayed on a classroom computer.
Local prosecutors charged that the teacher was caught red-handed surfing for porn in the presence of seventh graders. The defense claimed the graphic images were pop-up ads generated by spyware already present on the computer prior to the teacher's arrival. The jury sided with the prosecution and convicted her of four counts of endangering a child, a crime that brings a punishment of up to 10 years per count. She is due to be sentenced on March 2.
I had a chance this week to speak with the accused, Windham, Conn., resident Julie Amero. Amero described herself as the kind of person who can hardly find the power button on a computer, saying she often relies on written instructions from her husband explaining how to access e-mail, sign into instant messaging accounts and other relatively simple tasks.
On the morning of Oct 19, 2004, Amero said she reported for duty at a seventh grade classroom at Kelly Middle School in Norwich, Conn. After stepping out into the hall for a moment, Amero returned to find two students hovering over the computer at the teacher's desk. As supported by an analysis of her computer during the court proceedings, the site the children were looking at was a seemingly innocuous hairstyling site called "new-hair-styles.com." Amero said that shortly thereafter, she noticed a series of new Web browser windows opening up displaying pornographic images, and that no matter how quickly she closed each one out, another would pop up in its place.
"I went back to computer and found a bunch of pop-ups," Amero said. "They wouldn't go away. I mean, some of the sites stayed on there no matter how many times I clicked the red X, and others would just pop back up."
Amero said she panicked and ran down the hall to the teacher's lounge to ask for help. "I dared not turn the the computer off. The teacher had asked me not to sign him out" of the computer, she recalled. Amero said none of the teachers in the lounge moved to help her, and that another teacher later told her to ignore the ads, that they were a common annoyance. Later on, prosecutors would ask why she hadn't just thrown a coat or a sweater over monitor. On that day Amero hadn't worn either.
Several children told their parents about the incident, who in turn demanded answers from the school's principal. Three days later, school administrators told Amero she was not welcome back. Not long after that, local police arrested her on charges of risking injury to several students.
The case came to trial this month, and computer expert W. Herbert Horner testified for the defense that the images were the result of incessant pop-up ads served by spyware on the classroom computer. The prosecution's expert, a local police officer, said time-stamped logs on the machine showing adult-themed images and Web pages accessed by the Web browser at the time she was in the classroom proved that someone had intentionally visited the sites by clicking on a link or typing the address into the browser address bar.
An explanation for this is that Web browser logs will keep records of sites accessed whether they were generated by internal pop-up serving software or clicked on by a user. Also, try not to dwell on the fact that the judge in the case barred Horner from presenting technical evidence to back up his claims. Horner on Monday published a summary of the facts he would have presented were he allowed to at trial.
I checked out theInternet Archive's view of the site referenced in this case, and it is clear that the page was a gateway site for the type of products typically promoted by spam -- penis enlargement and hair loss drugs. A review of the site's source code shows that it also uses Javascript to launch at least one pop-up ad promoting various online dating and porn sites. When I clicked on one of the sites in that list -- "CoolSexx!" -- my anti-virus program alerted me that it was trying to drop a Trojan horse program on my machine (Trojans are generally used to download malicious software to your PC). The spyware was attempting to load itself onto my computer despite the fact that I was using Internet Explorer 7 and up-to-date anti-virus software.
Try also to ignore that the computer in question was a Microsoft Windows 98 machine running an outdated version of Internet Explorer Web browser (IE 5.0), or that the school's license for its firewall program expired prior to the date of the alleged incident. Likewise, the machine's anti-virus software (Cheyenne Software) was expired and it lacked any anti-spyware tools. In short, the Windows 98 computer was completely exposed to the Internet without any kind of protection.
Then there is the admission by the prosecution that it had failed to conduct even a rudimentary scan of the computer's hard drive with anti-spyware software. Amero's defense said that had it been allowed to present its full testimony, it would have shown the results of spyware software scans on the PC she used, which found two adware programs and at least one Trojan horse program. The logs showed that all of the unwanted programs had been installed weeks prior to the alleged incident, the defense claims.
Spyware and adware has long been the source of objectionable pop-up ads. In February 2006, I wrote about a young man who was earning thousands of dollars each month installing porn pop-up ad serving software on computers whose users had failed to equip the machines with security patches or firewall software. The adware this kid installed was a Web browser add-on that barraged victims with endless pop-ads for adult Web sites and services. I managed to track down several of his victims, including a technologically naive pastor in Memphis.
I spoke briefly with Amero's attorney, who said: "I sincerely believe that had we been allowed to present our testimony in full, Julie would not have been convicted. This is a grave miscarriage of justice." With no prior convictions or criminal history, Amero was eligible under state law for "auxiliary rehabilitation," meaning she could have the charges expunged by agreeing to a short probationary period (provided she didn't get arrested again during that period). But, insistent upon her innocence, she chose to fight the charges.
A number of blogs have recently spoken up on Amero's behalf. Also, a former Massachusetts school administrator recently called on the state governor to pardon Amero and expunge the conviction. Even the local paper, firmly convinced of Amero's guilt, called for lenience in her sentencing.
This may not have been an isolated incident in the Connecticut public school system. According to another former teacher in Amero's school, who spoke this week with Security Fix on condition of anonymity, the kids in the school had few restrictions on what sorts of content they could and did view on school computers. "You could look at any history in any computer and chances are you would see the children had [visited] inappropriate sites," the teacher said. |
This is very scary stuff... |
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Exick
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Joined: 17 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 7:34 am Post subject: |
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I can't believe that 12 people honestly thought she was guilty. There was either some seriously compelling evidence presented at trial that we aren't being made aware of or they found 12 of the stupidest jackasses in the universe to be jurors.
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TACH
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Joined: 03 Nov 2005
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Location: Chillin on the Delaware.. from the Jersey Side
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 7:41 am Post subject: |
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| Exick wrote: | | I can't believe that 12 people honestly thought she was guilty. There was either some seriously compelling evidence presented at trial that we aren't being made aware of or they found 12 of the stupidest jackasses in the universe to be jurors. |
That's what I was thinking... All the articles I read doesn't mention anything else, but there has to be something... if not,.. you are really 'rollin the dice' if you are put in front of a jury. |
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Marty
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 9:16 am Post subject: |
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TACH, can you send me the link of the article, I wanna print this out and distribute to my co-teachers... This scares the heck out of me.
Thanks in advance! |
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TACH
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Socks
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 10:38 am Post subject: |
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| Jeezus. I don't get why the defense wouldn't be able to present their full case. What's going on there? This seems ridiculous. |
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NoMoreGame7s
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Joined: 12 Apr 2001
Posts: 3818
Location: Phoenix, AZ
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:21 am Post subject: |
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Please excuse me while I go run my Spybot Search and Destroy program. It's been too long.
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Thanks for the avatar, Hybrid27. |
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mbloves L.A.
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Joined: 21 Feb 2005
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:28 am Post subject: |
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Damn, how would this risk injury on the students?
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NoMoreGame7s
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:48 am Post subject: |
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I was wondering the same thing, mb. Seems like a bad choice of words.
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I got a fever....and the only prescription is more cowbell.
Thanks for the avatar, Hybrid27. |
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XTC
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Joined: 22 Jun 2002
Posts: 6194
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:11 pm Post subject: |
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| What a travesty and an injustice for not allowing the defense to present its case, I wonder what's going on in CT? Sounds like she's not too savvy with computers and is a victim of a series of unfortunate circumstances. |
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Exick
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Joined: 17 Mar 2005
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:21 pm Post subject: |
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| NoMoreGame7s wrote: | | I was wondering the same thing, mb. Seems like a bad choice of words. |
It's not a choice of words at all, it's how the law is likely worded. It's something along the lines of child endangerment. It's not necessarily a physical injury they're talking about.
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LarryCoon
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Joined: 11 Aug 2002
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 12:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Not only that, but the more prudish among us claim that sexual imagery inflicts trauma on their kids. Go back and look at the complaints after the Janet Jackson Superbowl flash -- parents actually complained that their kids were traumatized by a sub-second, mostly-exposed breast flash. America is pertty puritanical about some things, and like it or not, people consider it traumatic, and therefore injurious. |
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Exick
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 1:25 pm Post subject: |
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I find it more than a little unsettling that this lady might spend 40 years in prison for essentially accidentally letting a group of 12 and 13 year olds see brief flashes of pornographic advertising while people like Debra Lafave, who actually had sex with a 15 year old, gets off with probation. Or Mary Kay LeTourneau who had sex with a 13 year old and was let out only to get caught with him again and put back in prison.
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Michlake
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 1:32 pm Post subject: |
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jail time for this crazy. that jury needed to have some common sense.
Sex is so overblown, while violence is always tolerated in video games, tv, movie etc. |
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TACH
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Joined: 03 Nov 2005
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Location: Chillin on the Delaware.. from the Jersey Side
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 1:47 pm Post subject: |
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| Exick wrote: | | I find it more than a little unsettling that this lady might spend 40 years in prison for essentially accidentally letting a group of 12 and 13 year olds see brief flashes of pornographic advertising while people like Debra Lafave, who actually had sex with a 15 year old, gets off with probation. Or Mary Kay LeTourneau who had sex with a 13 year old and was let out only to get caught with him again and put back in prison. |
Excellent point! |
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Ziggy
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 3:09 pm Post subject: |
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This really sounds like the school (and maybe the entire community) has something against this lady.
Something similar happened to my sister who worked for a major corporation, except they actually helped her. Her computer was bombarded with these porn popups. She went to the HR department right away and told them what happened (they keep logs of what sites everyone is surfing), and they just had a laugh. They knew she wasn't the type to look at that stuff.
Sounds like this lady did the same thing and tried to get help, only they didn't believe her. What a shame. |
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lakers0505
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Joined: 23 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 4:51 pm Post subject: |
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| Ziggy wrote: | This really sounds like the school (and maybe the entire community) has something against this lady.
Something similar happened to my sister who worked for a major corporation, except they actually helped her. Her computer was bombarded with these porn popups. She went to the HR department right away and told them what happened (they keep logs of what sites everyone is surfing), and they just had a laugh. They knew she wasn't the type to look at that stuff.
Sounds like this lady did the same thing and tried to get help, only they didn't believe her. What a shame. |
Sad, but our jusitic system is full of (bleep), i have no faith in it, and hope never too need it in a court. I read an article on espn about a kid, a former sports athlete who had it all going for him. Was thrown in jail...u know for what? A 16 year old girl willingly gave him oral sex, they had tape of it being done and willingly as well. He gets 10 years in prison for molesetation, because he was 17 i think and she was 16. The girl has also accused him of rape and he had some other counts against him. All other charges were dropped, the jury held the molestation charges against him. Thing was, no one their knew it was a 10 year mandatory sentence, a future ruined because of the wording of a law. Ide find the article if any cares, very disturbing read too me and makes you realize how cautious u must be when u do anything, jus ridiculous.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=wilsonhttp://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=wilson |
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The Buss
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:02 pm Post subject: |
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This actually happened to my nephew when he was in elementary school. They were doing something with the stock market and a certain site had ad-ware porno popping up everywhere. I guess all the kids were going crazy. Imagine the teacher sitting there in the computer lab while all the screens start getting pop-ups of naked girls everywhere. 
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Socks
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 5:07 pm Post subject: |
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| lakers0505 wrote: | | Ziggy wrote: | This really sounds like the school (and maybe the entire community) has something against this lady.
Something similar happened to my sister who worked for a major corporation, except they actually helped her. Her computer was bombarded with these porn popups. She went to the HR department right away and told them what happened (they keep logs of what sites everyone is surfing), and they just had a laugh. They knew she wasn't the type to look at that stuff.
Sounds like this lady did the same thing and tried to get help, only they didn't believe her. What a shame. |
Sad, but our jusitic system is full of (bleep), i have no faith in it, and hope never too need it in a court. I read an article on espn about a kid, a former sports athlete who had it all going for him. Was thrown in jail...u know for what? A 16 year old girl willingly gave him oral sex, they had tape of it being done and willingly as well. He gets 10 years in prison for molesetation, because he was 17 i think and she was 16. The girl has also accused him of rape and he had some other counts against him. All other charges were dropped, the jury held the molestation charges against him. Thing was, no one their knew it was a 10 year mandatory sentence, a future ruined because of the wording of a law. Ide find the article if any cares, very disturbing read too me and makes you realize how cautious u must be when u do anything, jus ridiculous.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=wilsonhttp://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=wilson |
I read that article too and was disgusted by it. Particularly the DA who prosecuted the kid. He seemed to have no bad feelings about it and stuck to the letter of the law and mentioned several times he was just the mechanism for enforcing the law. C'mon, you're a human being with a brain. If the law doesn't make sense then find another way. Seems like he's just happy to add another conviction to his resume. When the "victim" says that the accused shouldn't be charged, that should tell you just about all you need to know. Way to ruin a kid's life.
And how the hell is it jurers didn't know what the sentence was gonna be?? Just ridiculous. |
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angel
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 6:00 pm Post subject: |
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Kids are good at circumventing protection systems. The intenet is a tool for good or bad. I hope schools aren't destroying the lives of good teachers by making them vulnerable to criminal prosecution for misuses of internet access by children. The kids usually know more about computers than the adults. The next thing that might happen is prosecution of parents for child endangerment if their home computers somehow get contaminated.
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Dominator
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 6:06 pm Post subject: |
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| If it had been pictures of dead bodies, guns, or other violent images the parents would probably have been fine with it. But Sex? OMG NOT SEX!!! |
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DuncanIdaho
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| Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2007 7:01 pm Post subject: |
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| Dominator wrote: | | If it had been pictures of dead bodies, guns, or other violent images the parents would probably have been fine with it. But Sex? OMG NOT SEX!!! |
Yeah, no kidding. America - land of the free, where it's our god-given right to own lethal weapons, killing Muslims in the middle east is our new national pastime, but god forbid a nipple is ever shown on TV ... THINK OF THE CHILDREN! |
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NoMoreGame7s
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Joined: 12 Apr 2001
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| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 12:08 am Post subject: |
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| DuncanIdaho wrote: | | Dominator wrote: | | If it had been pictures of dead bodies, guns, or other violent images the parents would probably have been fine with it. But Sex? OMG NOT SEX!!! |
Yeah, no kidding. America - land of the free, where it's our god-given right to own lethal weapons, killing Muslims in the middle east is our new national pastime, but god forbid a nipple is ever shown on TV ... THINK OF THE CHILDREN! |
Nah - Our new "national pastime" is bashing our own country.
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I got a fever....and the only prescription is more cowbell.
Thanks for the avatar, Hybrid27. |
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lakers0505
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Joined: 23 Jun 2005
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| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 1:51 am Post subject: |
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| NoMoreGame7s wrote: | | DuncanIdaho wrote: | | Dominator wrote: | | If it had been pictures of dead bodies, guns, or other violent images the parents would probably have been fine with it. But Sex? OMG NOT SEX!!! |
Yeah, no kidding. America - land of the free, where it's our god-given right to own lethal weapons, killing Muslims in the middle east is our new national pastime, but god forbid a nipple is ever shown on TV ... THINK OF THE CHILDREN! |
Nah - Our new "national pastime" is bashing our own country. |
That janet jackson situation was ridiculous, have any of these parents or people who made a (bleep) fit about it , ever turn on mtv. Seriously, they thought janet jackson was bad, flip mtv on and see whats goes on their. And yes .5 of a second of a nipple will scare our youth. Because of those people we have prince now at the half time show ( no offense too prince lovers, but maybe someone newer?) Im not saying what they did was right either, but completetly blown out of proportion. |
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Ziggy
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Joined: 10 Feb 2005
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| Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 1:52 am Post subject: |
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| lakers0505 wrote: | | Ziggy wrote: | This really sounds like the school (and maybe the entire community) has something against this lady.
Something similar happened to my sister who worked for a major corporation, except they actually helped her. Her computer was bombarded with these porn popups. She went to the HR department right away and told them what happened (they keep logs of what sites everyone is surfing), and they just had a laugh. They knew she wasn't the type to look at that stuff.
Sounds like this lady did the same thing and tried to get help, only they didn't believe her. What a shame. |
Sad, but our jusitic system is full of (bleep), i have no faith in it, and hope never too need it in a court. I read an article on espn about a kid, a former sports athlete who had it all going for him. Was thrown in jail...u know for what? A 16 year old girl willingly gave him oral sex, they had tape of it being done and willingly as well. He gets 10 years in prison for molesetation, because he was 17 i think and she was 16. The girl has also accused him of rape and he had some other counts against him. All other charges were dropped, the jury held the molestation charges against him. Thing was, no one their knew it was a 10 year mandatory sentence, a future ruined because of the wording of a law. Ide find the article if any cares, very disturbing read too me and makes you realize how cautious u must be when u do anything, jus ridiculous.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=wilsonhttp://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=wilson |
That link doesn't work, but I remember the story. I saw them on some talk show. The boy was a nationally recognized football player and was getting recruited by all the major schools. Sad story. |
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