Scary: Viruses put Child Porn on Your Computer

Sounds like one of those internet email hoaxes but it's apparently not.  The AP has a story by Jordan Robertson out today about how pedophiles will use computer viruses to put child porn on the computers of innocent people:

Pedophiles can exploit virus-infected PCs to remotely store and view their stash without fear they'll get caught. Pranksters or someone trying to frame you can tap viruses to make it appear that you surf illegal Web sites.

Whatever the motivation, you get child porn on your computer — and might not realize it until police knock at your door.

And another problem is, the police probably won't believe you because that's what pedophiles claim when they get caught with child porn:

Many prosecutors say blaming a computer virus for child porn is a new version of an old ploy.

"We call it the SODDI defense: Some Other Dude Did It," says James Anderson, a federal prosecutor in Wyoming.

The article relates the story of a man in Massachusetts who was fired from his state job and prosecuted, spending a quarter of a million dollars to defend himself because a virus had infected his laptop and downloaded child porn.

Just another reason to keep those virus detection programs up to date and scan your computer regularly.