Pervert teacher guilty in subjecting students to porn!

[Indian Summer]

NORWICH -- State Prosecutor David Smith said he wondered why Julie Amero didn't just pull the plug on her classroom computer.

The six-person jury Friday may have been wondering the same thing when they convicted Amero, 40, of Windham of four counts of risk of injury to a minor, or impairing the morals of a child. It took them less than two hours to decide the verdict. She faces a sentence of up to 40 years in prison.
[...]
Among the sites Amero visited were ***.com and ***.com, along with others with more graphic names.
[...]
Amero, because the charges are felonies, faces 40 years in prison at her March 2 sentencing. Her family, present in court for entire trial, declined comment about the verdict.
http://www.norwichbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070106/NEWS01/701060312/1002/NEWS17

Let's hope they take this pervert off the streets and give her the full sentence before she has a chance to impair the morals of those poor, fragile children again!!!

[HandcuffedAngel]

This made me laugh. Everyone knows the school can keep track of where you've been online if you're in the network.

What a ditz. Personal life needs to stay separate from business life. Especially when it comes to stuff that personal.

[WonderRandy]

HA, I think you missed the sarcasm in IS's post...

the teacher in question accidentally encountered a "pop-up storm". She did not visit the sites intentionally. The school's network did not function properly by blocking the pop-ups. The pop-ups were started by a spy-ware program that she did not intend to activate. She was a SUBSTITUTE teacher, and was flustered by the experience.

Yes, she should have unplugged. Yes, she could have turned off the monitor. But I highly doubt she was deliberately showing porn to her students...

[Thalia]

This was a travesty of justice. The IT experts of the prosecution had little understanding of computers and the IT expert for the defense wasn't allowed to give all the vindicating testimony.

http://www.alternet.org/rights/46925/


Why didn't the police check for malicious software? According to prosecutor David Smith, the police didn't check for malware because the defense didn't raise the possibility of a malware attack during the pretrial phase, as required by law. Defense attorney Cocheo could not be reached for comment as of press time.
Herb Horner, the proprietor of the consulting firm Contemporary Computing Consultants, testified as an expert witness for the defense. His exhaustive independent forensic analysis of Amero's hard drive showed that the machine had been infected with multiple pieces of malicious software before she arrived at the school, and that these hidden programs were responsible for the pornographic deluge.
Horner arrived in court with two laptops filled with the voluminous records of his investigation. However, the judge only let him present two slides. Prosecutor Smith objected because his team hadn't been previously informed about the malware defense.
Hopefully this will be won on appeal.
I first heard about this on the CBC's as it happens, but I can't find the episode. They had a long interview with the defense's expert.

[Kiz]

There are two sides to every story. It makes it sound that she was accessing various porn sites to start with, which, in turn, may have kicked off a pop-up. Kind of unlikely but we didn't hear all the testimony. If the pop-up story is true why didn't she just turn off the computer or the monitor?



The prosecutor’s expert testimony was: "You have to physically click on it to get to those sites," Smith said. "I think the evidence is overwhelming that she did intend to access those Web sites."


I feel the trojan story is far more likely but without hearing all the evidence it's hard to make a judgement.

ETA: Ok, read the above post about malware being there previously. Thanks Thalia!

[Iria]

Unless this was on a big screen that all the students were viewing, I find it hard to believe that she wouldn't shield the screen with her body while she tried to get rid of the popups. If she stood up in front of it and stayed close to the computer, shooing the kids back if they were around her, they should only have had a glimpse.

Does anything say how old the students were? The first article just said 'minors.'

[evan_fabiani]

what were the sites!!
lol im kidding....or am i?

[Sevenseas]

Even if she intentionally showed real porn, 40 years is a bit.. um.. harsh.

[Skylark]

I agree, SS, 40 years for briefly showing porn? C'mon.

[gaya]

Gosh, this story is so stupid and disheartening.

"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. "

that sounds like my mom and she has pop-ups all the time because my brother used to live with her. poor woman lol

[gaya]

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2007/01/substitute_teacher_faces_jail.html

[Skylark]

That jury should meet my 17-year-old cousin. She's been sneaking into clubs and bars since she was 13, sleeping around, doing drugs, shoplifting, and the list goes on. Now there's a minor whose morals have been impaired, and she was never shown porn, accidentally or on purpose, by a teacher.

[kentauros]

...If she stood up in front of it and stayed close to the computer, shooing the kids back if they were around her, they should only have had a glimpse.

When you consider just how fanatically prudish people are in this country, you start to understand how they could react to "just a glimpse". Remember the brouhaha over that glimpse of a breast during the Stuporbowl halftime show in Houston? ;)

I don't agree with the sentence nor that it should have even gone to trial, but I do understand the reaction and over-zealous sentencing. I hope the appeal trounces the first court's decision :D

[astro]

"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. "

It looks pretty pathetic thesedays if you're a teacher and you don't have some basic computer skills. You shouldn't be allowed near a class without them.

[troub]

alt+F4! alt+F4! alt+F4!


[windowskey]+d! [windowskey]+d! [windowskey]+d! [windowskey]+d!

[troub]

It looks pretty pathetic thesedays if you're a teacher and you don't have some basic computer skills. You shouldn't be allowed near a class without them.

Check on the requirements to be a sub.
IIRC, in Michigan it's 96 college hours.

as far as I know, thats it.
*shrug*

not everyone was raised on computers.

[WonderRandy]

alt+F4! alt+F4! alt+F4!


[windowskey]+d! [windowskey]+d! [windowskey]+d! [windowskey]+d!

I consider myself to be pretty computer savvy, but I don't know those keyboard shortcuts. I seriously doubt many people do...

I really only use keyboard shortcuts for copy/paste type stuff...

[astro]

not everyone was raised on computers.

I wasn't either but you have to learn. If you're gonna be teaching kids you should do a basic computer course so you at least know how to switch one on. It's 2007 ffs not 1985. :)

I think you can excuse other people but not teachers.

eta: smilie so i dont sound angry :grr:

[IamJen]

gaya..thanks for posting that link. There is some additional info in there. If the teacher was away from the desk, then how can they prove that SHE was the one who clicked on the supposedly required first porn link? Duh.

I also find it interesting that one of the sites (they're listed in the first linked article) isn't a porn site at all, it's about female sexuality. I know that may be one and the same in the eyes of some of the parents, and still inappropriate, but jeez, 40 years?

[astro]

Uh, she's a sub, right? For sub pay, I wouldn't be inclined to learn computer skills, either.

I'm quite surprised that you would say that as a teacher. Things must be very different in the US. In Australia thesedays, that's like saying I'm only a sub so I don't think I'll learn how to spell. :-/

Kids that work at Macdonalds are on minimum wage too, should they decline to learn PC skills as well?

[froggythefrog]

This was on a projector hooked to a laptop possibly? Unplugging a laptop would just have it switch to its battery, so my solution would be to stand in front of the projector while I turned it off.

The people who "proved" that these sites were visited during class were morons. Where do they think the pop-ups came from? (Like someone earlier stated, either spyware or a seemingly innocent site could cause the pop-up storm. Who hasn't encountered such a trap before?)

[catswym]

i don't really have anything to add, but that's my hometown (where i grew up and born). kind of funny.

but yes, this all seems a bit ridiculous. unfortunately for her the jury is probably as full of incompetent computer people as the defendant.

[eggplant]

This reminds me of several years ago when I was helping a student with online research in my office (I'm a community college teacher). All of a sudden all of these porn pop-ups started appearing! The more I tried to get rid of them, the more popped up! I tried to block the screen and got the student out of my office. We both thought it was pretty funny, especially when I called out to my colleagues, "Help! I can't get porn to stop popping up on my computer!" Although I try to keep my computer skills up-to-date, at the time I wasn't sure what to do and I was too flustered to simply turn off the machine. To think, what to me was simply a funny snafu could have earned me 40 years in the big house!

[nookle]

Either way - -40 years? Wow - now THERE'S justice!

[WonderRandy]

Subs are paid relatively well here ($120/day), and are required to take a 20hr training course on top of a Bachelor's degree.