The Julie Group

While the law seems overly broad to those not unde...

2010-11-10T13:37:36.081-05:00

While the law seems overly broad to those not understanding the internals of the operating system, it is not so broad when you understand system internals, particularly digital forensic investigators. The problem is that the publicity is horrific and the cost to defend is too great.

A good forensic investigator can usually determine how such images got on a computer and when.

I share your concerns. When I do forensic work on a computer and I am working for the owner I warn them in advance of the issue. Thus far no one has told me they changed their mind.

THIS EXACT THING HAS HAPPENED TO MY FAMILY. MY BR...

2010-01-27T00:04:59.387-05:00

THIS EXACT THING HAS HAPPENED TO MY FAMILY. MY BROTHER, WHO HAS AUTISM, CAME TO ME AND TOLD ME THAT AFTER DOWNLOADING MORPHEUS, A MUSIC SHARING SITE HIS COMPUTER WAS FULL OF PORNOGRAPHIC VIDEOS STORED IN FILES, AT THE TIME I THOUGHT NOTHING OF IT, 3 MONTHS LATER THE POLICE WERE AT OUR DOOR WITH A SEARCH WARRANT. HE IS 100% INNOCENT. WE LIVE IN ARIZONA, WHERE THESE CHARGES ALONE CAN GET U A LIFE SENTENCE. IT TRUELY HAS BECOME A NIGHTMARE WE CAN'T WAKE UP FROM. PROSECUTORS HERE COULD CARE LESS WHAT THE TRUTH IS. ARIZONA HAS TO CHANGE ITS LAWS, THIS CAN HAPPEN TO ANYONE

For an MIT student she sure is dumb, not street sm...

2009-06-12T13:08:17.855-05:00

For an MIT student she sure is dumb, not street smarts.

You got a college studnet dealing with high school graduates with a gun and the law.

She IS very lucky she didn't get shot.

This sort of thing is infuritating. I have a fami...

2009-01-05T14:35:00.000-05:00

This sort of thing is infuritating. I have a family memeber that was facing a similar situation. He used a poorly secured computer and was arrested and charged with possession and viewing images in the cache that he never saw. The really disturbing thing about this is that the witnesses available to the defense were advised that they were not to become involved in this case as it may have some negative affect on their careers. Both personal and work attorneys for various individuals promised vigorous defense against any subpoena. Fortunately the prosecutor educated himself on what the evidence was and when he asked the law enforcement investigators about the possiblility of innocence they acknowledged that there was no real way to prove guilt. It is too bad that some prosecutors will go to any length, including lying and perjury, to get a conviction.

A terrible case of injustice. I hope there is an ...

2008-12-23T23:43:00.000-05:00

A terrible case of injustice. I hope there is an appeal process and experts like yourselves are available to support Ms Amero. Meanwhile, Mr Regan and Lounsbury need to take some basic computer courses. Some courses in basic law would help also. Art

"I am not saying that Lounsbury testified that way...

2008-12-23T13:16:00.000-05:00

"I am not saying that Lounsbury testified that way out of malice. I do, however, think he was untrained, had very little knowledge of viruses and spyware, and a full-blown ego that didn't allow for the possibility he was wrong."

Yes indeed, as Hanlon's Razor states, "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."

Unfortunately, stupidity (with power) is still enough to cause a lot of injustice and suffering in the world.

Thank you for your efforts, even if the injustice in this case was not undone. Hopefully future cases elsewhere will turn out differently due to the publicity.

It is scarry that someone so ignorant of the facts...

2008-12-23T08:26:00.000-05:00

It is scarry that someone so ignorant of the facts can have so much power to destroy peoples lives. She should sue the school district for not having a properly maintained security policy in place that let the computer get in that condition in the first place. She should appeal the decision as well.

Tom

Go get 'em, boss. As the saying goes, "The only th...

2008-12-23T07:57:00.000-05:00

Go get 'em, boss. As the saying goes, "The only thing evil needs to succeed is for good men to do nothing".
-DC

So what happens in that school come the next spywa...

2008-12-23T01:16:00.000-05:00

So what happens in that school come the next spyware infection? Because they're clearly not up to speed on such things. And my own experience in the (UK) education sector would suggest that even after this debacle they're not likely to improve.

What is the phrase, "beware of stupid people in la...

2008-12-22T20:37:00.000-05:00

What is the phrase, "beware of stupid people in large numbers..."

The scary thing is that local officials, police and state prosecutors like those Ms Amero's case are not confined to her locality or state. Combine well-meaning prosecutorial attitude, ego, ignorance and power and you have a very dangerous situation from which no one can escape being unjustly tarred by the same self-righteous, unwilling to admit mistakes brush.

I'm glad that the collective voices of reason prevailed at least enough to reduce her charges, but outraged that she was not completely exonerated.

The authorities in this case appeared to know just...

2008-12-02T16:36:00.000-05:00

The authorities in this case appeared to know just enough about computer security to be very dangerous. Especially true in the case of Mrs. Amero.

Worse still is the smugness of the prosecutor who is blaming the outcome on poor investigation. Yes, there was poor investigation by the police. It was due to the ignorance and/or incompetence of the "computer experts" starting with the school admin on up.

I just read about this story in ARS Technica and l...

2008-12-01T14:11:00.000-05:00

I just read about this story in ARS Technica and linked to this site and was dismayed to know that there was such widespread stupidity in government. I just wanted to say great job to all of you who helped out this woman the way you did. What a horrible simple-minded government/officials New London appapently has...I'm going to do a history search on them tonight to see if they burned any "witches" in the day. Talk about a bunch of arrogant stone throwing boneheads. I would like to see this go to the federal courts, Julie to get exonerated and turn around and bring a civil suit against those simpletons for wrongful prosecution, loss of her child, deterioration of health and/or whatever else she can stack on.

How interesting that the Feds and State Police wer...

2008-11-30T11:15:00.000-05:00

How interesting that the Feds and State Police were reduced to charging Star Simpson with Disorderly Conduct. The same charge that Julie had to cop to get her life back.

Star points out that it's convenient to the prosecutors because they do not have to prove intent. What do y'all know about this?

as a partner in an ISP business for nearly 10 year...

2008-11-26T07:25:00.000-05:00

as a partner in an ISP business for nearly 10 years, shipping Gigs of data per minute, it is ridiculously obvious what caused the pop-ups. I envision Connecticut a well-educated populus, if there isnt a congressional campaign regarding this cause, I was wrong. Regan is a complete and utter baffoon for not running a SIMPLE SCAN of the computer. What an idiot. He would be less of an idiot if he would just admit they made a mistake, but we live in an age where no one is accountable for their actions. disgusting. give her her license back.

Having watched this case from the UK for the last ...

2008-11-25T20:47:00.000-05:00

Having watched this case from the UK for the last couple of years I have found it hard to understand why it wasn't simply tossed out by the judge when the prosecution failed to abandon it. It has been a grotesque mockery of justice.

Julie, I understand why you accepted a guilty plea to the trivial charge. You had no choice, and any rational person would have done likewise. Outside the strange bubble that Connecticut appears to be the world knows you are innocent and wishes you well.

what a nightmare!
The Prosecutor should be "sch...

2008-11-25T18:44:00.000-05:00

what a nightmare!
The Prosecutor should be "schooled" about what can happen with today's malware. Maybe he'd be able to explain it if some porn popped up on HIS computer during trial?

I've been reading up on this today from an ars sto...

2008-11-25T13:45:00.000-05:00

I've been reading up on this today from an ars story regarding it. [ http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081124-teacher-in-porn-popup-case-dodges-jail-loses-creds.html ]

Absolutely sickened by the court's approach to this; that an innocent person would suffer so much because of a misunderstanding of something which really should be common knowledge to anyone involved in a computer-orientated case... urgh... and they parade under the pretence that they stand for justice?!

I'm a tech consultant for a small company over in the United Kingdom, so malware and spyware is a fairly common sight to me, but surely the United States legal system has some sort of definition or explanation as to what exactly the various types of computer infection are capable of?

Computers dominate the modern world - people who get to decide who goes to jail and who doesn't over such cases should at least take the time out to acquire a basic understanding of how such work, instead of relying on random people who clearly don't have a f**king clue what they're talking about.

Not too sure if much of the above rant makes sense, I've been coming back to it between work, so it may be a bit jumbled. If such is the case, I can only apologise. :)

"had very little knowledge of viruses and spyware,...

2008-11-25T11:42:00.000-05:00

"had very little knowledge of viruses and spyware, and a full-blown ego that didn't allow for the possibility he was wrong"

Isn't this true for most IT workers these days? I say that with cynicism, because I work in IT, have been a sysadmin before, and hate the egos.

It's really sad. Normally, the 'Nick Burns' mentality does little more than ruin a day. This time, it ruined a life. Maybe he should face legal action if Julie is ever exonerated. This has sort of gone beyond injustice and into the realm of victimization.

I feel for this chap. I too have been a victim of ...

2008-10-22T09:12:00.000-05:00

I feel for this chap. I too have been a victim of wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution over something I did not do. I believe my wireless router was 'hotspotted' by someone who downloaded a lot of illigal material which was never found on my computer, but the overzealous police who raided my house found two legitimate video files that my 17yo son (God bless his soul) had downloaded one evening just prior to being raided. The files they attempted to prosecute me on were verified as adult actresses, yet here in Australia you can be arrested for having something that looks remotely like underaged images despite the person being over the age of consent (18)! They never incidently found any of the files they alleged were downloaded according to their search warrant - even after the date that the files they used were downloaded! 10 months of pure hell, having my name published as a person charged, presumed guilty until I proved my innocence in court, total destruction of my life, work, family, reputation and the list goes on! Yet, here I am not able to claim costs for my defence. The only recourse I have is to sue the police, and I have to prove malicious prosecution, which is NOT an easy thing to do - all with the threat hanging over my head where the state can go after my assets if I don't manage to prove my malicious prosecution case!

The laws need reform. No one denies the job is hard, and for the need to prosecute those actually doing these crimes, but far far too many people are being victimised for something they didn't do! The age we live in eh?

I just think of the many poor souls who have committed suicide after being accused of such a crime, just how many of these poor people were actually innocent but ended their lives because they knew their lives were over and/or would never be the same again!

I never gave in because I always knew I was innocent, and because I had the money spare to defend my case, what of those poor souls who don't have these resources?

Dr. Kardasz, how did you get your Doctorate when y...

2008-10-14T15:01:00.000-05:00

Dr. Kardasz, how did you get your Doctorate when you obviously cannot read?

Do you even understand the concept of a backup? As mentioned in the post immediately preceeding your own?

Fear and stupidity combined produce nonsense like ...

2008-06-29T00:22:00.000-05:00

Fear and stupidity combined produce nonsense like this. That prosecuting professionals and members of the bar could even initially charge it as a hoax device boggles the mind.

I supervised the Bandy investigation.

I re...

2008-06-19T17:08:00.000-05:00

I supervised the Bandy investigation.

I read the forensic report that was done by an experienced trained and veteran professional from the Maricopa County Prosecutors Office.

Bandy was charged with images that were found on a compact disk that was on a desk next to his home computer.

Could a phantom trojan virus attacker/burglar also load a blank cd, place it into the drive-tray, place images on it and then remove it and put it on the nearby desk?

No.

It is not unusual to find viruses on the computers of persons who surf porn.

Bandy plead guilty, perhaps because he was guilty.

Kardasz-Arizona
frank.kardasz@phoenix.gov

Julie Group,
I'm a member of the Fiola family, ...

2008-06-18T14:22:00.000-05:00

Julie Group,
I'm a member of the Fiola family, and I just wanted to say that I feel for you and your cause so deeply. The past year and a half has been so hellish, and I can only imagine it's been at least as bad for you. I am praying that you receive the justice you deserve.

You are spot-on with this. The justice system is ...

2008-06-18T12:44:00.000-05:00

You are spot-on with this. The justice system is fundamentally flawed in regard to accusations of sensational digital crime, and we need systemic reform, and not just here in Connecticut but all over the country.

Unfortunately the police viewed the Bandy family c...

2008-04-21T19:29:00.000-05:00

Unfortunately the police viewed the Bandy family computer in the home at the time they went in without using a mirror or seperate system. Also the CD with the images was one of six total that was used to back-up the hard drive, not a stand alone CD as the proscuter would like you to believe.