Edited for brevity. Hat tip InstaPundit--OT, but disturbing for any computer user (e.g. you!).
A man accused of storing child pornography on his computer has been cleared after it emerged that his computer had been infected by a Trojan horse, which was responsible for transferring the images onto his PC. Julian Green, 45, was taken into custody last October after police with a search warrant raided his house. He then spent a night in a police cell, nine days in Exeter prison and three months in a bail hostel. During this time, his ex-wife won custody of his seven year old daughter and possession of his house. This is thought to be the second case in the UK where a "Trojan defence" has been used to clear someone of such an accusation. In April, a man from Reading was found not guilty of the crime after experts testified that a Trojan could have been responsible for the presence of 14 child porn images on his PC.
Three questions come to mind after reading this disturbing article: 1) What justification did the police have for a warrant? 2) Who stood to benefit (the ex-wife certainly did) from making an anonymous tip? 3) How widespread is this? It certainly appears targeted, not random, if only two people have been affected--that they know of, anyway. |