@Mr. Liesik and editors...

"Scoff" is a strong word. I don't get that sense at all from the authorities quoted. "Dismiss," maybe. "Downplay," perhaps. "Scoff," no.

It is a fact and true that these worms and viruses can go undetected for many years. There own admission that to find porn on a computer is costly and lengthy only proves the point. Most of these convictions are being implemented on individuals that have no idea how to program and hide this on their computers.

I have also been victimized with porn with an accidental visit to a site. I only found the worms by accident and these programmers of sex sites are so clever and devious they use highly trained programmers to hide their worms in many places on home and business computers. They are so well hidden it takes another programmer or accident to find them, and this is how law enforcement is able to find them. It took me several years to find and get rid of the many porn sites secretly installed on my PC, I hope.

Law enforcement could go to any home or business computer and find some kind of porn on almost every computer. So worms and viruses are real and should not be allowed as evidence or fact on their own.

The 'authorities' pursue this line of work so that they have ready access to child porn without the threat of being put in jail for viewing it. Shame on them. There is a Chinese saying, "cops and robbers are in the same family".

Okay folks, no more "Punching the Pig" or "Swatting the Fly" or clicking on any links that you don't know where they go.

1. Get a virus scanner and leave it on!
2. Don't go to questionable web sites.
3. Use Mac or Linux and this doesn't happen.
4. If you use Windows, you gotta re-format and reinstall anyway every 6-12 months, just to get performance back to where it was.
5. Store your pics on an external hard drive, and a backup.

Have a nice day!

I'm still not clear on if we are discussing another "urban myth" or if there is a real concern. There doesn't appear to be enough evidence either way.

Child porn is today's witch hunt. 80% of computers contain unwanted spyware and adware. Pop-up porn adds leave pictures on your hard drive that the typical user is unaware of.

Despite the assurances of our trusted law enforcement officers, individuals are charged and even falsly convicted.
A personal friend of mine was charged with possession of child porn. The computer was located in a home (ex-wife) he had not lived in for over a year, there were no links to porn sites, no visits to porn sites, no "dubious" search words in the cache. The computer didn't even work! The FBI refused to turn a copy of the hard drive over for review for 7 months. The charges were dropped of course, before even a preliminary hearing took place, but the meer accussation of child porn cost him his job, reputation, and over $20,000 in legal fees.
Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon occurrence. Don't believe me? Tell that to the Davis County high school teacher, the UVSC professor, West Jordan mother, Maryland principal, or Conneticut state worker. Or just google "porn dismissed." Myth? Try urban fact.

As a high-level computer professional with over 15 years of experience, I'm telling you the witch hunt can catch you completely unaware that anything "bad" exists on your computer...to no fault of your own.

It can and does happen. With government chipping away at our freedoms, due process being served in these cases is highly suspect.