slashdot bits
Slashdot | Chimera Twins Story. Unfortunately this is audio-only; which is an irritating way to publish a story. But the concept is pretty wild - apparently it's possible to have two lots of DNA. I can see the Hollywood movie being pitched as we speak.
Acquitted Man Says Virus Put Pornography on Computer. A man in England successfully beat criminal charges on the grounds that his computer was riddled with Trojans and other viruses. In short, malicious code did the downloading; not the computer's human users. Slashdot notes this is not the first time this defence has been used.
While I'm amazed at anyone stupid enough to leave their computer connected to the phone line when they knew it was autoconnecting to the net; it does open up some questions of proof. The presence of the porn is not sufficient proof of guilt; however the presence of a Trojan is not immediate proof of innocence. The trouble is how to protect the innocent, but prevent this becoming an easy defence for real offenders? Computers are complicated beasts and there are many ways an innocent person could get in trouble... particularly as the average computer user barely understands anti-virus software, let alone spyware sniffers and firewalls.
Computers and the law are a scary combination.
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