Pink Poogle Toy Forum

Imagine you know next to nothing about computers. You're a substitute teacher for a seventh grade class. There's a computer in the classroom and, knowing you're going to be sitting there for a while, you ask a fulltime teacher if you can use it. He logs you in with his password and tells you not to shut it off because you couldn't get back on.

Not that you have a clue about this stuff, but that computer is running Windows 98 and the outdated Internet Explorer 6.02. Its filtering and anti-virus software have expired, and it has no anti-spyware software.

You step out of the classroom for a moment. When you get back the kids are clustered around the computer, checking out hairstyle websites. But one is actually a link to porn sites, and it loads a Trojan onto the unprotected computer.

Suddenly, pop-ups start appearing — X-rated popups.

You start to panic. You're not supposed to shut the machine and you don't realize you can just shut the monitor. You try to block the screen, but — like normal seventh graders — the kids are curious and pushy.

You run to the teacher's lounge for help. Finally you get some and the crisis ends. But the kids have seen the porn. They tell their parents. The parents tell the school.

You tell the school administrators what happened, but they don't bother (or don't know how) to check the computer for the adware you described. Instead they fire you.

And soon you're arrested and charged with four counts of "risk of injury to a minor, or impairing the morals of a child." You're facing 40 years in prison.

Welcome to the nightmare of Julie Amero, a 40-year-old substitute teacher in Norwich, Conn. That's what she says happened to her at the hands of the technologically illiterate Kelly Middle School, technologically illiterate police, a technologically illiterate prosecutor, and a technologically illiterate jury.

If her life hadn't been effectively destroyed by this farce of justice, it would almost be comical. But it's not.

If you've ever seen a completely unprotected computer suddenly have a pile of adware come to life, it can be a sight to behold. Windows appearing on top of one another pell-mell; closing one only brings more.

(Want to try it for yourself? Turn off all your computer's protection and visit (link removed), the site the kids were checking out when all this started. See how fast your PC is infected. On second thought, don't.)

Weeks later, with leisure time and 20/20 hindsight, officials came up with all the things Amero should have done. Of course, they didn't have to contend with the panic and shock of seeing random pictures popping up on an unfamiliar machine, and of 12-year olds pushing to try to see more.

She should have shut off the computer, they said. But Amero was told specifically not to do that. And, like a lot of people, I suspect, didn't realize she could turn off the monitor...

Wow.40 YEARS!Just Wow.

It's the school's fault.

Heck, I can't even access the forums because the URL contains the word "forum". It's not that hard, and if they can't set up the system themselves, they can hire someone to do it for them.

And knowing school kids I can think of about a dozen ways to bypass the inadequate filters schools tend to use.
Heck, you could bypass the one at my school by routing it through Google (Some... 8 years ago or so) and by using the IP address at College (Until last year...) at Which point I just routed it through a Proxy Ip.
Easy really, so Filters won't do diddly.