Pap Smear

[John Young]

The NY Times reports today on a leering virus which searches
the Web for machines which might contain porno material,
real or imagined as the virus decides, and then the little shit 
fingers the machine to one of various law enforcement 
agencies in its database. (Excerpt below)

Anybody had this leerer rat their cave or know of a victim?

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http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/11/technology/11VIRU.html

June 11, 2001 

Virus Searches for Pornography

By Roy Furchgott

A new rogue computer program, possibly intended to perform 
a public service, has raised thorny legal questions and seems 
sure to fuel the debate over computer privacy.

The new virus, which is called VBS.Noped.a, searches the 
target's machine for what it suspects may be child pornography 
and reports the names of files to the police. There are no 
reports of police officials acting on such results, and antivirus
software companies say it has not yet been distributed widely 
and is at relatively low risk of damaging computers.

Technically a worm, the virus is of unknown origin and was 
spotted by computer security companies on May 22. It arrives 
as an attachment to an e-mail message titled, "FWD: Help us ALL 
to END ILLEGAL child porn NOW." When a recipient opens the 
attachment, child pornography statutes appear on screen. The
program then searches the user's hard drive for picture files 
that have pornographic-sounding names and then sends an e-mail 
message and a list of suspect files to a law enforcement agency 
picked at random from the program's database.

"Hi," the message sent to the police says: "This is Antipedo2001. 
I have found a PC with known child pornography files on the hard 
drive. I have included a listing below and included a sample for 
your convenience."

The virus also sends out copies of itself to addresses in the 
victim's e-mail address book.

Apart from the program's invasive nature, virus experts question 
the results the program sends out.

Its search software is apt to falsely identify files as containing 
child pornography, said Stephen Trilling, director of research at 
the Symantec Anti-Virus Research Center in Santa Monica, Calif., 
which suggests that the results could cause irreparable harm to 
run-of-the-mill computer owners if the results are acted upon.

While law enforcement agencies cannot search an individual's computer
without a warrant, they can act on a tip. The F.B.I., one of the agencies
on the Noped list, would not say if it had received tips from this virus
program. A Justice Department lawyer said that law enforcement
officials could legally conduct a search based on the tip, but added,
"That's a very different question from `would law enforcement ever
open an investigation based on that information?' "

Perhaps most troubling, legal experts say, is the havoc that the virus
could wreak on the reputation of people with no involvement in child 
pornography. 

"There is no telling how far this information might spread," said 
Stephen J. Davidson, a lawyer and spokesman for the Computer 
Law Association. Local news organizations could report that a 
parent was under investigation as a pedophile, he said, "all 
resulting from an unwarranted and illegal entry to your private 
computer."

...