Madness Factor

As if substitute teachers didn’t have it hard enough already. A former one from Connecticut may be going to jail because of spyware. From the Washington Post blog post:

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.

The prosecution neglected to mention the outdated browser on the school computer, and the school’s lapsed anti-virus software subscription. They didn’t even do a scan of the hard-drive to see if there was any spyware installed; according to the defense, their own scans of the PC revealed the presence of two adware programs and at least one Trojan horse program, but they were not allowed to present this evidence in the trial. This is a gross miscarriage of justice. I hope enough folks kick up a stink and the accused either gets the conviction vacated, or at the very least is granted a new trial. Read the full post here.

(madfac note: This MF entry added to after original post.)