Man Jailed After Consulting Apple Genius

Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Guide community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Status
Not open for further replies.

leafman420

Distinguished
Aug 14, 2009
37
0
18,580
Ahhh!!! OK yes he should get whats coming to him, but do we have to sound like a mob. I know he did a very bad thing, it sounds like he will gets whats coming to him. I don't remember where he did half the things you all said he did, but hey who cares there no justice in this country. I got use to it. P.S. I hope he gets 5 years max. As determined by a Judge and a group of his PEERS.
 

smlong

Distinguished
Apr 15, 2006
80
0
18,580
It definitely sounds like an invasion of privacy. The punishment also seems a bit extreme.

I have two young daughters, and if they were ever exploited, I would feel more responsible than someone looking at pictures of them. This case can be likened to drug users being punished severely. Punishing the user does NOTHING to deter the real offenders: the people who proliferate or create the material.

Also, what if Miller were 13 years old himself? Would that be a crime as well? Strictly speaking, yes it would. Everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon in the name of protection, preservation, etc, but it just leads to civil liberties being taken away. If the average Joe is looking at nude pictures of girls he assumes are all over 18 (because they look 20+) and it comes to light that some are 15-16, Joe user should not be punished. But, the law is the law ...
 

Master Exon

Distinguished
Jul 20, 2008
76
0
18,580
[citation][nom]LeJay[/nom]Well... Actually abusing the girls would have been somewhat worse imo.[/citation]
And hence the sarcasm. There is no evidence that he met or abused any of these girls. There is no evidence that he intends to meet or abuse them. Where any of the girls identified? Whatever porn gets him off in the privacy of his home is his own business. 5 years minimum? That is absurd and disproportional. Five years maximum would make a hell lot more sense.
 

bogcotton

Distinguished
Jun 7, 2009
163
0
18,630
[citation][nom]Master Exon[/nom]Whatever porn gets him off in the privacy of his home is his own business.[/citation]

Wtf dude?
 

shadowryche

Distinguished
Apr 10, 2009
22
0
18,560
Wow, just wow. I caught a guy with crap like that on his computer, and he had the same excuse. I'm starting to think, not to trust anyone who "Needs there computer to pay bills." From what I heard the guy I turned in only got 1 year probation.
 

shadowryche

Distinguished
Apr 10, 2009
22
0
18,560
[citation][nom]leafman420[/nom]Ahhh!!! OK yes he should get whats coming to him, but do we have to sound like a mob. I know he did a very bad thing, it sounds like he will gets whats coming to him. I don't remember where he did half the things you all said he did, but hey who cares there no justice in this country. I got use to it. P.S. I hope he gets 5 years max. As determined by a Judge and a group of his PEERS.[/citation]

In many states sentencing is mandated by the state. Often the only hope for a shorter sentence is release by parole for good behavior.
 

ssalim

Distinguished
Sep 29, 2007
383
0
18,930
He is stupid and deserves the punishment for being stupid and for having those pictures. Get a life, man. I'm sorry, I meant get a wife.
 

eyemaster

Distinguished
Apr 28, 2009
396
0
18,930
[citation][nom]xchrissypoox[/nom]They shouldn't publish stories like this that way other stupid pedophiles don't learn what not to do.[/citation]

They'll do it anyway, that's the thing with any crime. They get caught.
 

telim

Distinguished
May 30, 2006
4
0
18,510
Wait wait wait... I agree child porn is awful and disgusting, but everyone here is saying this guy physically abused/molested these girls. He did not. He simply had pictures on his MAC. No where in the article does it say he personally took the pictures.
 

jellico

Distinguished
Apr 17, 2009
412
0
18,930
I've got a real problem with the way we deal with contraband in this country. In this country, possession of contraband is illegal regardless of motive, intent, or even knowledge. If you're caught with drugs, illegal weapons, child porn, you are guilty... period! Here's the problem... drug dealers don't keep their stuff in their own car. They tend to store it a stolen or abandon car. There was a case in northern New Mexico, a few months back, where a guy had his stolen car recovered. He was cleaning out the car and noticed the back seat was loose. When he pulled it up, there were several packages of drugs (cocaine or marijuana, I don't recall). He reported it to the police and they confiscated the drugs. But what if he hadn't discovered it right away. He could have been driving around for months or years with that stuff back there. Then imagine he goes through some sort of traffic checkpoint or a weigh-station and they have a drug sniffing dog there. The guy would be screwed!

Child porn is even worse. If you have it on your computer, you are instantly guilty and instantly a pariah. In most cases, it is well deserved. But there have been several cases where such material was found and the person was innocent. The recent case of the government worker in Florida who got a replacement laptop preloaded with child porn. He was life was utterly destroyed before it was discovered... oppps, the images were on there before he got the laptop. Or what about that poor teenage kid in Arizona. The police kick in his door, take his computer and charge him with possession. His parents had to hire a computer forensic expert, at considerable personal expense, to show that the images they found were the result of a virus infection and were not downloaded directly by anyone in the household.

Think about that, in both cases, these innocent people had to spend a considerable amount of their own money to prove their innocence! Even then, they really never fully get their lives back. Just look at the reaction that most of you had to this story. And don't get me wrong, if the guy is guilty, then by all means he deserves everything you all were saying. But I am really very concerned with how these cases are treated in general. How of many of us are skilled enough with computers that we could plant illegal material on someone's computer in such a way that it would not leave a trace as to how it got there? Now, how many of us could find such material if place there by another person? What if you weren't looking for it because you had no idea it was there in the first place?

Think about it, a guy could be driving around with a sizeable amount of drugs in his car and not even know its there. A modern hard drive is like owning a few hundred square miles of forest land. If someone setup a pot growing operation in an obscure corner of that land, would you ever know it? Do you have any questionable images on any of your drives right now? Are you sure?
 

Nightsilver

Distinguished
May 4, 2007
53
0
18,580
[citation][nom]The_Blood_Raven[/nom]In all seriousness I would prefer the death penalty for this. Any crime involving children like child pornography, rape, or murder should merit the death penalty.[/citation]

TBR speaks the truth. Jail time doesn't work, death is the only effective form of rehabilitation for people like this.
 
G

Guest

Guest
How about presuming innocence until proven guilty? However, if he is guilty, I hope the fucker burns...

All the same, an Apple employee's story being regurgitated by a Tom's writer means nothing, you all are ready to torture and kill the guy on accusations alone...

There will be a cyber-forensics investigation before the guy goes to court, but unfortunately, American judges, lawyers and prosecutors are about as crooked as they come these days, so all we can do is wait for a verdict and HOPE that justice was served, since none of us will ever have first-hand knowledge of how it got there.
 

bounty

Distinguished
Mar 23, 2006
121
0
18,630
I hope there are forensics done here, I'd hate to think you could piss of a "Genius" and he'd plug in his flash drive, copy some images over and ruin you. Or that you could get a virus that among other things, breaks your thumbnails and spams out child porn.
 

Hanin33

Distinguished
Feb 13, 2009
210
0
18,830
the hypocrisy is rife in these comments... let's hope the phenomenon common amongst religious homophobes doesn't apply to those that seem so adamantly against child 'pornography'... otherwise... we have lots and lots of pedophiles amongst us...
 

harry88

Distinguished
May 29, 2009
1
0
18,510
Pete Townsend was busted for having child porn on his computer, but he's famous so we have to beleive him when he says he was doing research.
 

CptTripps

Distinguished
Oct 25, 2006
114
0
18,630
If a guy actively downloads and looks at child porn he would most likely participate given the chance. I have no tolerance for this.

Now, there is the possibilty that while browsing porn sites some kiddy porn images were shown. Even if you close it out right away you may have some temp files stored on your PC. I don't think this is the case as the images were easily found but I would like to think that this is taken into consideration.
 
G

Guest

Guest
"If a guy actively downloads and looks at child porn he would most likely participate given the chance."

People actively downloading or playing violent games would most likely performs those actions in reality if given the chance.

Ass-umption doesn't make for a good judge, jury and executioner.
 

will_chellam

Distinguished
Jun 5, 2007
93
0
18,590
I disagree with people citing invasion of privacy by the mac shop worker.

This guy voluntarily went into the shop and said something is wrong with the way my computer is handling image files - it's a reasonable expectation if not a neccessity that the employee is going to open some image files on the computer to diagnose and fix the problem.

If he'd gone in to the shop for some more RAM than there may be a case.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.