Online Virus Frames Victims for Child Porn

From Slate

A new computer virus may give credibility to people like the Florida man who recently blamed his cat for his child pornography stash. According to the Associated Press, a growing number of people have been framed by an Internet virus that secretly deposits child pornography on victims' computers. In some cases, the legal costs of fighting pedophilia charges have bankrupted victims and cost them their jobs, not to mention their reputations. In 2007, a Massachusetts man spent more than $250,000 on legal fees after his work computer was found to contain a folder full of child porn. Eventually, analysts determined that his computer had been programmed by hackers to visit more than 40 child porn sites a minute. While experts say that it's difficult to tell whether the virus was deliberately installed on a computer, it's easy to tell when somebody is falsely using the virus as an excuse. "We call it the SODDI defense: Some Other Dude Did It," a federal prosecutor remarked.

Read original story in Associated Press | Monday, Nov. 9, 2009