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A COURT CASE DOUBLING AS AN OBSCENITY; [5 NORTHWEST CONNECTICUT/SPORTS FINAL
Edition]
RICK GREEN. Hartford Courant. Hartford, Conn.: Jan 30, 2007. pg. A.1
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People:Amero, Julie, Horner, W Herbert
Author(s):RICK GREEN
Document types:COLUMN
Section:MAIN (A)
Publication title:Hartford Courant. Hartford, Conn.: Jan 30, 2007. pg. A.1
Source type:Newspaper
ISSN:10474153
ProQuest document ID:1205741191
Text Word Count584
Document
URL:http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1205741191&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=5763&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Abstract (Document Summary)
[Julie Amero] left the room briefly, and when she returned to the classroom
there were students at the computer. A stream of pop-up porno advertisements
began appearing. Panicking, Amero failed to do the obvious -- pull the plug
on the machine.
Amero, of Windham, was charged with multiple counts of risk of injury to a
minor. On Jan. 5, after a two-day jury trial, Amero was convicted on four
counts.
Michael J. Frechette, the Norwich superintendent at the time of Amero's
arrest, said this was simply a teacher with pornography. "We were just
reacting to the facts."
Full Text (584 words)
(Copyright The Hartford Courant 2007)
To believe that Julie Amero deserves to go to jail for exposing her students
to pornography takes some work.
You have to accept that a pregnant substitute teacher decided that the right
moment to start surfing porn was the Tuesday morning in 2004 when she sat
before a classroom of seventh-graders at Kelly Middle School in Norwich.
You have to believe a police officer with relatively little computer
detective training instead of programming experts around the world.
You must also believe that the Internet security of the Norwich schools
could be penetrated by a part-time teacher described as computer illiterate.
No, this borders on the unbelievable, including the performance of her
lawyer during a two-day trial earlier this month. Here are a few facts:
Pornographic "pop-up" website messages started appearing on the computer
that Amero was using on the morning of Oct. 19, 2004.
For more than a year, Amero, now 40, had worked as a substitute and had
passed background checks. A teacher logged her on to the classroom computer
so that she could e-mail her husband, who was out of town. She was told not
to turn the computer off.
Amero left the room briefly, and when she returned to the classroom there
were students at the computer. A stream of pop-up porno advertisements began
appearing. Panicking, Amero failed to do the obvious -- pull the plug on the
machine.
During the morning, she tried but could not prevent students from viewing
the pop-up ads.
She said that she asked other teachers for help. They declined.
In the days and weeks after, an uproar ensued when parents and
administrators learned what had happened.
Amero, of Windham, was charged with multiple counts of risk of injury to a
minor. On Jan. 5, after a two-day jury trial, Amero was convicted on four
counts.
Her husband, lawyer and supporters describe Amero as barely able to navigate
e-mail.
"It is so far out, I cannot believe it," said W. Herbert Horner, a Montville
computer consultant who testified for the defense, but who, because of an
apparent error by Amero's lawyer, was unable to explain in detail to the
jury what had happened.
Horner told me why the techie blogging world is apoplectic over this case:
Software known as "spyware" had infected the computer in Amero's room.
This malicious software automatically directed the computer that Amero was
using to the porn.
"This machine was open for anything to happen," said Horner, with 40 years
of experience. "The people that write the pop-ups write the code to make it
look as though you deliberately click on it."
Norwich Superintendent Pam Aubin, however, flatly told me "this wasn't a
computer out of control."
"People are complicating this too much. [Amero] had a responsibility to
teach the students. That didn't happen."
Alex Eckelberry, president of Sunbelt Software Inc., a Florida computer
security company, has taken up Amero's cause.
"She was a victim of a barrage of pop-ups that were not initiated by her."
Michael J. Frechette, the Norwich superintendent at the time of Amero's
arrest, said this was simply a teacher with pornography. "We were just
reacting to the facts."
The problem is that all the facts haven't been considered. Now Amero -- who
refused a deal that would have given her probation -- faces a sentence on
March 2 of as much as 40 years.
Does this sound like justice? I can't believe it.
Rick Green's column appears on Tuesdays and Fridays. He can be reached at
rgreen@courant.com
More Like This - Find similar documents
People:Amero, Julie Horner, W Herbert
Author(s):RICK GREEN
Document types:COLUMN
Language:English
Publication title:Hartford Courant
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