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Nov 09, 09 - 03:01 pm Comment from: breeze

Balmer says: Windows for pedophiles

Nov 09, 09 - 03:04 pm Comment from: G4Dualie

For once, I'm a disappointed Mac user! Not because of the child thing, but just porn in general.

Okay, I admit it I'm single and I have a smidge of p0rn. Who doesn't. I loves me some fat-bottomed girls.

Unless this isn't America, last I checked guilt has to be proven, not innocence.

There really is so much more software 'available' for Windows - why is that universally seen as a good thing? This situation makes one wonder.

Ballmer says, "That's right, Windows really appeals to pedophiles. What have we got? Millions and millions of them? And Apple has what, a few users running that Nike app. I like our position, I like it a lot. Eh? What's that? That's not what pedophiles do, they don't run a lot? Track how far they've run? Oh...never mind..."

New Dell ad: Dude, you're getting a 10 year prison sentence.

Nov 09, 09 - 03:10 pm Comment from: Malthus

@ anthony007

That only counts until you get arrested...

Nov 09, 09 - 03:10 pm Comment from: G4Dualie

You know what's really sad is, this will be used as a defense by the real bastards who knowingly solicit this garbage.

What!!!? I didn't know that was there!

This makes me glad I have owned Macs since System 7.5.5. I only run Windows through VMware Fusion along with Kaspersky Internet Security 2010.

Mac users can pass on Windows virii to Windows users, so this is why you should have an anti-virus program. I noticed Kaspersky released an anti-virus program for the Mac - very nice IMO. It runs in the background and does not take too many system resources.

When I first ran Kaspersky Anti-Virus for Mac it found virii attached to e-mail from my old Power Mac G4, so I promptly deleted the infected e-mails (spam that I happened to miss). Before purchasing Kaspersky's program, I ran a couple of other anti-virus programs and they never even found these infected e-mails.

Nov 09, 09 - 03:12 pm Comment from: G4Dualie

You know what's really sad is, this will be used as a defense by the real bastards who knowingly solicit this garbage.

Forgive me, 'cause I know it sounds hypocritical because I do solicit p0rn, but this time I was talking about the child thing.

Nov 09, 09 - 03:15 pm Comment from: breeze

G4Dualie: Glad you clarified and made a distinction.

You're right about the perverts using this as an excuse to hide behind...Leave it to Microsoft to be the shelter for that pedophiles use to hide...

Nov 09, 09 - 03:17 pm Comment from: G4Dualie

@Macintosh Sauce

I don't get or pass on virii at all. My ISP (web host) and Mobile Me flag all suspects in que and notify me they exist.

Lately I'm being informed that Facebook emails from tech support are being held up because of viruses.

Nov 09, 09 - 03:23 pm Comment from: John

Wow, that's some scary stuff. If I were a windows sufferer I'd be terrified I'd lose my wife and kids over something like this. Thank goodness I never, ever use windows at home, and almost never at work either.

Nov 09, 09 - 03:26 pm Comment from: G4Dualie

@breeze

Microsoft has long been an enabler but this, this is going to piss off a lot of parents and leave them to wonder to no end whether their own computers are a haven for someone's p0rn stash.

Microsoft will have to address this before it becomes mainstream. Can you imagine what would follow if tomorrows mainstream headlines revealed:

MICROSOFT WINDOWS ENABLES PEDOPHILES TO SHIELD THEMSELVES FROM PROSECUTION!

Nov 09, 09 - 03:26 pm Comment from: Jubei

See. Thats the real tax working. Rather than the BS coming out of Ballmers ass, this recent issue with Windows is REAL TAX costing users money and hurting their children.

Get a Mac, Get your life back.

Nov 09, 09 - 03:28 pm Comment from: breeze

G4Dualie:

Make the round and the headlines...

Nov 09, 09 - 03:37 pm Comment from: Bartsimpsonhead

Can't wait for Balmer to get up on stage and start chanting "Pedophiles, Pedophiles, Pedophiles, Pedophiles, Pedophiles..." etc at the next conference.

Unfortunately (again!), it's the unsuspecting Windows sufferer who "Pays for sure..."

I had same shit when I used Windows. That's reminds me windows in Amsterdam...

Yet another good reason to buy a Mac.

"'Computers are not to be trusted,'"

Err... It isn't a problem with computers in general, Jeremy. It's a problem with Windows specifically. No other operating system makes it painfully easy to download things the user doesn't want (they actually make it a point to design that to be difficult).

Shit-poor security is Microsoft's unique contribution to personal computers. Somebody using OS X, or Linux, or the reincarnated BeOS or what have you doesn't have to live in fear of waking up one day to find that some piece of malware has deposited child porn on their hard drive.

Try being a little more honest instead of making a sweeping generalization that people should live in fear and paranoia of computers.

This article was in our local newspaper today (city of 250,000).

I just wish they'd mention that Macs are unaffected. They don't though, so most just keep on putting up with this and all the other Windows crap 'cause they just thinking this is how it is. Sad.

@ anthony007

The problem is the laws usually state that the possession of child porn is the crime. Now the person who had it must prove they didn't know it was there, and without having known the virus did the damage, most people don't know where to look. Plus, such investigations can be expensive.

So, how's that Hope-and-Change working out for you?

MS is literally responsible for numerous people being wrongly sentenced to PRISON.
I'm disgusted.

Nov 09, 09 - 04:09 pm Comment from: G4Dualie

@Figurative

**THWACK** and **THWACK** again

Man! That feels good. Thanks derekcurrie!

I asked a question of a former colleague of mine who, as a cop, had done some investigations of this kind of material. I explained my situation - my wife is an MD, and works, among other things, with pediatric SA cases. There are diagnostic texts and CD that she owns which feature some rather graphic imagery. I asked if, since possession of this material is prima facie evidence of a crime, I was living under some risk.

His response was, and wasn't, reassuring - that it's all about the context; in this case, it was clearly part of a legitimate professional education curriculum, so no problem.

I just hate that it's left as a contextual decision. Some crazy DA gets a wild hair about something, and I could have to spring for thousands in lawyers to prove our innocence, not to mention damage to my reputation.

Nov 09, 09 - 04:31 pm Comment from: shen

"Unless this isn't America, last I checked guilt has to be proven, not innocence."

there is an entire prison full of people who beg to differ with you on that. Thanks gitmo!

Nov 09, 09 - 04:35 pm Comment from: iPhoner

After reading this article, I finally decided to do this:
http://usm.maine.edu/computing/roadrunner/routercfg.jsp

I know, I know - should've been done before. But damn iPhones seem to have a difficult time staying connected so I always remove it.

Nov 09, 09 - 04:37 pm Comment from: HueyLong

@ Figurative:

Do you practice at being a dick, or does it come naturally?

Nov 09, 09 - 04:41 pm Comment from: pastrychef

@ anthony007

"Unless this isn't America, last I checked guilt has to be proven, not innocence."


That is a huge misconception that Americans have.

Nov 09, 09 - 04:42 pm Comment from: Predrag

iPhoner,

What you finally did is all good, but it really has absolutely no effect on the substance of this story. A Windows computer connected to your router would still be a target for a trojan or a virus with child porn.

this is some sick fscking shit (and im no prude). now every asshole pedophile can claim a virus got on their computer. whoever is responsible for this should be killed, and i fully mean it. do people not understand the suffering that these children endure for the rest of their life? why should we as a society tolerate this crap? anybody who is anti-capital punishment deserves to be kicked in the gonads.

eSemen

Nov 09, 09 - 05:19 pm Comment from: DLMeyer

According the the various "forensics-heavy" TV shows I watch, it is possible to extract origin tags from computer files - they can tell a) where they came from and b) what caused them to be moved. OK, chances are pretty good that these searches a "possible", I'm sure they are neither "easy" nor "inexpensive". Which means if someone finds the files on your computer, YOU will have to get a hacker-type to discover how they got there - that you are innocent. Which would mean YOU would pay for the investigation.
IF you could find a hacker the court will accept as an "Expert Witness".

Nov 09, 09 - 05:21 pm Comment from: kirkgray

@ anthony007

"Unless this isn't America, last I checked guilt has to be proven, not innocence."

Except in sexual assalt cases, especially those involving kids. "He touched me" can never really be proven. So we bend the burden of proof a bit to see justice done. If a few innocent people go to jail and spend the rest of their lives on sex offender lists, oh well.

Well deserved... hope many of them go to jail

...after all that these morons have done to the Internet and computing in general for decades, by buying Windblows (outmyass) PeeeeCeeees.... assmonkeys, too cheap and dumb to buy a real computer.

Wow... thieves using Windows to steal millions from companies and now this. This should scare everyone the fuck off of Windows AND from torrents type file sharing.

Pedophiles will be using YOUR computer to store their contraband. And once the files are discovered on your machine, just how the f do you prove you didn't know.

This has gone waaaaay beyond the virus makes computer unusable, destroys data, etc.

NO WONDER Mac sales keep growing.

If you can't afford a mac get a used one.
If you can't afford that get Linux.

@iPhoner, the best thing is to not use the most common and hackable wireless router in existence.

We mac users are gay. We have no interest in kids, everybody knows that.

MW = girls.

go figure

Nov 09, 09 - 11:01 pm Comment from: Cubert

@G4Dualie,

Nov 10, 09 - 01:11 am Comment from: TheConfuzed1

@ Anthony007--

Naive much? It's your guilt that needs to be proven by the word of the law, but it's your innocence that needs to be proven in the real world.

Take Michael Jackson for instance.

He was found innocent, but the stigma never went away, and plenty of people doubt his innocense to this day.

He didn't go to prison, because he had a crack law team. How good are your lawyers?

'Figurative' seems to be under the delusion that there were no pedophiles in America between Jan2001 and Jan2009.

That kind of 'thinking' is truly unfortunate.

For the kids.

"Figurative" is paid by the post.

Asymptomatic Carriers...
As we become more dependent on computers, and their infrastructure essential, added with the demand for our devices to be constantly available, is it not critical to insure each machine is not playing a part which could negatively affect others?
Linux, Mac, and other non-Windows platform users (e.g., Windows Mobile, Palm, Android, Symbian, Blackberry, to name a few) currently may have a wrongheaded attitude when it comes to security. These users believe they can surf, open and forward attachments, and emails with impunity… but in truth they maybe inadvertently propagating malicious code that can affect the Windows desktop globally.... Again, is there an individual responsibility lacking which clearly affects us all?
Today, due to the overwhelming majority of malicious attacks directed at Windows, are Linux and Mac machines on the LAN and part of the whole “infrastructure” , themselves a security threat to the Windows environment and the enterprise’s data? Because most said machines ignore the need to immunize all data which pass through their domain.
As for the OS wars…Clearly security through obscurity works for a few, but does it make sense to cull that miniscule group which have the potential to infect a part of the largest group, and/or is it realistic to eliminate the largest group so the tiniest can claim the majority? Or might it just be time for a paradigm shift in securing our infrastructure?
Should security today or tomorrow be about the platform, an individual’s choices, or immune to both?
As has been stated so many times by others, all actions online, regardless of device, today have consequences, the question maybe; before you click, what are you willing to risk and does your fellow user have your back?

Nov 10, 09 - 10:44 pm Comment from: G4Dualie

Clearly security through obscurity works for a few,

really? Apparently you haven't noticed the tiny group of jailbreakers have uncovered their first virus. How many do you suppose there are, a couple million?

As for the rest of your piece, which is a bit hard to follow, I think you underestimate the inherent security of both the Linux and Mac platforms.

That we might be forwarding malicious code and are ignorant of the fact, I still stand by my earlier comment about the manner in which our ISPs are taking a proactive role in intercepting virus-laden mail before it even gets to my Mac.

I receive an email almost daily from my ISP stating they have quarantined a suspected letter containg malicious code that could not be stripped away.

This is just creepy... :S