…to the point that I didn't even want to come up with a catchy title. Just read the lead-in to this story from the Associated Press:
"Of all the sinister things that Internet viruses do, this might be the
worst: They can make you an unsuspecting collector of child pornography."
Look, I'm not naive. The 'I didn't do it' defense is as common as apple pie. That's not the point. The point is, sometimes it's true. I touched briefly on child porn issues a couple of times and I'm the first to admit; I don't even want to discuss it. [Note to the attorneys out there – especially if you're dealing with the state of California – I recommend you familiarize yourself with the Tecklenberg case (warning: link opens 28-page pdf).]
But this story is a cautionary tale about several things that directly affect us, not the least of which is, clicking on unfamiliar sites and/or looking at adult porn (legal, but this is how a child-porn virus may be planted on your PC). People do this every day – at the office.
What about on the 'detection' side of things (proper virus software, proper firewall software and/or hardware)? Are you aware it's estimated that 70% of corporate PCs contain pornography? Are you aware that someone in the IT department can look at a report of every Internet location any PC visits? What happens if porn is detected on a company PC? What happens if child-porn is detected on a company PC? What happens if that PC is yours?
How are you going to prove, "I didn't do it?"
One of my favorite movies is, WarGames. It's a favorite because of a two-sentence conclusion delivered near the end of the film by the talking computer, Joshua: "A strange game. The only winning move is not to play."
