Cyber Crime Lawyer Blog

Longtime observers of Florida crime and Internet issues may remember the case of Michael Shawn Reichert, a professor at the University of Central Florida who is charged with possession of child pornography. University authorities arrested Reichert, who teaches political science, after computer maintenance employees found the pornography on his work computer. There were 138 images in all, including three videos. This case caught my eye, as an Orlando cyber crime criminal defense attorney, because Reichert claims the pornography was put there by a computer virus. Now, as WESH reported Oct. 25, Reichert’s trial is starting and he is likely to continue using this defense.

According to articles written at the time of Reichert’s 2007 arrest, Reichert brought the images to the attention of the university computer technicians. WFTV reported that Reichert told a computer technician that spyware, a kind of malicious computer program, put the pornography on the machine and he wanted it gone. The technician spotted files with names suggesting that they contained child pornography and turned the computer over to investigators who confirmed it. A spokesman for UCF police told WESH that the pornography “does not look like a fluke” because it was downloaded on many separate occasions. Central Florida Future, UCF’s student newspaper, added that the images had been backed up to a handheld device, with the username “reicher” involved somehow. Reichert faces 138 counts of child pornography possession.

I don’t doubt that some observers think Reichert is lying about the spyware. As a West Palm Beach cyber crime criminal defense lawyer, I’m happy to say that this can be investigated and often proven, with help from a computer forensics expert. Assuming the technicians and investigators did not wipe the computer or its backup, or tamper with it significantly, Reichert can hire an expert to look through the machine for evidence that it really did have spyware, or another malicious program that could have put pornography there. (According to a report from last year, child pornography viewers use such viruses to put the pornography on a third party’s computer, where they can view it without having it on their own machines.) In the past, I have seen a few cases where defendants were able to prove this, for example, by showing that the illegal material was downloaded more quickly than a human being could do it.

Unfortunately, guilty defendants often claim a virus was responsible, so investigators are often inclined not to listen even when the evidence backs the defendant up. Even more unfortunately, not every defendant can afford to hire the experts needed to defend themselves. Everyone accused of a crime in the United States has the right to a fair trial, but there is no right to hire an expert to do the research and give the testimony necessary to prove the defendant’s innocence. This is why it’s so important for defendants to get experienced representation from a Fort Lauderdale cyber crime criminal defense attorney like me. Even before I founded my own law firm, I was fortunate enough to be part of the Cyber Crime Unit of the Miami-Dade State’s Attorney’s office. That means I know how evidence from a computer forensic investigation can turn around a case.

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This post is the fourth in my ongoing series about how parents can protect their children and teenagers from harmful people and things online. I am occasionally asked to speak on this topic from my perspective as an Orlando cyber crime criminal defense attorney. Today, I’d like to discuss pornography -- the kind depicting and intended for adults. (If you’re interested in reading about avoiding the kind of online predator who might be interested in making child pornography, I have a post on that subject here.)

Different parents have different approaches to explaining “the birds and the bees,” but most would agree that it’s better to hear it from a trusted adult -- not from a pornography website. Parents may want to control the messages that pornography might send about sex, or to be able to explain what’s going on so that kids and teens don’t make embarrassing assumptions and mistakes. The bad news is that pornography websites are extremely easy to find even by accident. They can also be very aggressive, popping up windows full of explicit pictures even after you thought you had left the site. Some even install “malware” that can keep pornography advertisements running all the time. The good news is that it’s your computer, and you have a lot of ways to control where it takes your kids.

As with other touchy issues, the best way to start is to be honest with your kids. Explain your concerns, at an age-appropriate level. You should also set down some ground rules about what you do and do not feel comfortable with your child doing. With younger children, you may want to make sure that computer use is always supervised. With older kids, that may not be feasible, but you can tell them to stay away from pornographic sites, or from certain sites that you’d rather they not see. You can also set and enforce time limits. Follow through, when necessary, with penalties such as taking away time online.

You don’t have to catch your kids in the act to see if they have been looking at pornography. You can review Web browsing histories or the browser’s cache to see what they have been up to. A guide to checking browsing history for different kinds of browsers is here. To view a cache, you will have to go into your computer’s file system; download a cache-viewing utility; or, in Firefox, type “about:cache” in the URL bar. For a family computer with multiple users, however, make sure that the kids really are the ones who went to those sites before you confront them. If your kids browse the Web with a mobile device, you may be able to review your bill or look through the device while it’s not in use.

If you don’t believe trust is enough to keep your kids away from porn -- or you’re not willing to take the chance -- you also have a variety of tools that can block content. Some Web browsers give you the option to block specific sites, and some sites, like Google or Flickr, allow you to set levels of content filtering. Your internet service provider (the company you pay for access to the Internet) may also offer a limited filtering service. And of course, there are software packages you can buy, which will give you the option to filter not only pornography and sex-related sites, but also sites with other types of objectionable content. Wikipedia has lists of such software here and here. There’s even filtering software for the iPhone. If you believe your child has found a way around filtering software, you can even take it a step further and purchase monitoring software that keeps track of every keystroke and command to tell you what your child has been doing online.

It’s worth noting that adults who send pornography to children are generally committing crimes. Here in Florida, and in other states, transmitting a sexual image to a minor is itself a crime. As a West Palm Beach cyber crime criminal defense lawyer, I know this can cause problems for adults as well as children, especially if the child pretends to be an adult online Even more importantly, some law enforcement officers say that when adults knowingly send children pornography over the Internet, it can mean they want to open a sexual conversation or a sexual relationship with the child. All of this makes it very important for parents to be honest with their kids about their concerns with online pornography.

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Throughout the past few weeks, I have been running a series about Internet safety and teenagers, from the perspective of an Orlando cyber crime criminal defense attorney. This week, I would like to discuss cyberbullying. Cyberbullying is exactly what it sounds like -- bullying, but online or through technology in some other way. Unfortunately, it has been in the news a lot lately, through cases of teenagers like Megan Meier, Ryan Halligan, Phoebe Prince and Tyler Clementi, who took their own lives after becoming victims of online cruelty or unrelenting harassment. These cases are rare relative to the overall amount of bullying in schools, but every single one of them was a preventable tragedy.

Bullying and other forms of cruelty have always existed, but technology now makes it possible for the bullying to follow kids home. Cyberbullying is a particularly difficult subject for parents and teenagers, because it goes to the heart of the not-quite-adult status that teenagers have. Parents don’t want to see their kids suffer (or become bullies), but kids often don’t want parents involved -- in fact, parental involvement can sometimes make matters worse. As a result, some parents don’t know their kids are being bullied until it’s revealed by accident, or until the teen acts out in some way. That means parents must find other ways to tell if their teens are being bullied. If your kid becomes withdrawn, angry or starts acting out, it could mean something is wrong -- although it could also be normal behavior. Also, look for changes in the way the teen relates to friends and classmates. Has a formerly social teenager stopped going out? Has a friend stopped returning calls? If you have suspicions, you can look at your teenager’s phone bill and social networking interactions.

Even though other people are responsible for their own behavior, there are still some things kids can do to reduce their chances of becoming cyberbullying victims. As with other online behavior, you should ask your teens to be careful about what information they share. Most teenagers have a pretty good idea of what their classmates believe is cool and uncool, and in some cases, it might be wise to keep “uncool” information off the Internet. Teenagers using social media can also use privacy settings to ensure that only the people they choose can see information about their interests or activities. Ask them: Is this information you would be willing to put on a billboard outside your school?

If someone your teens don’t normally socialize with asks to be a friend online, they should consider whether they want to share their information with that person. This could mean denying a friend request, or it could mean accepting it, but placing tight restrictions on what that person can see until the teen knows the new “friend” better. In addition, ask your teenagers to think about the consequences of sharing pictures of themselves that might be embarrassing, including “sexting” pictures and pictures of drug or alcohol abuse as well as simply uncool ones. Even if a picture was only intended for specific people’s eyes, it can easily become public if those people are not trustworthy.

If your teen tells you he or she is a victim of cyberbullying, experts suggest listening and being as supportive as possible. It might be tempting to think teens should handle this on their own, or that this is just a part of growing up, but kids want to know that their parents are on their side. If your teen doesn’t want to talk to you about it, suggest an older relative, clergy member or counselor they might trust. There are also specific actions you can take. Ask your teen if he or she would consider just taking some time away from the Internet, or the specific sites where the bullying is taking place. Use social media sites’ privacy settings to block users who are harassing the teen, and see if your phone company can block calls and texts from bullies.

If you decide to take the bullying to school authorities or others, save the evidence -- emails, texts and social networking posts that you can print out or save to a file. Consider bringing these to the attention of school administrators so they are aware of what’s going on. Bullying at school, or using school computers, can be punished as a violation of school rules. If you know the parents of the cyberbullies, you can also take the evidence to them. Your teen may not want you to do this, but if you believe that he or she is in physical danger, it may be the best choice. If there have already been physical attacks, you may want to take the evidence to the police.

Finally, parents should also intervene if the teen is in the opposite situation -- if he or she is participating in cyberbullying. Kids might believe cruelty is more acceptable or less serious when it’s online -- but you should make it clear that bullying is not okay with you, regardless of how it takes place. Ask your teen how he or she would feel if the situation were reversed. Or, ask whether he or she has done the same things that make the victim a target of bullying. Sometimes, teenagers join a bully because they believe it will help them gain more social acceptance, without thinking about how it might affect the victim. Emphasize to your teen that when someone trusts him or her with personal information or photos, he or she should try to be worthy of that trust. That means deleting embarrassing photos and refusing to share embarrassing personal information. If teens receive messages that are mean or embarrassing, they can always delete those messages or refuse to pass them on. If they are guilty of persistent bullying, consider a serious, meaningful punishment, including one that might embarrass them in front of their friends.

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This is the second post in a planned series of posts about protecting your children online, from themselves as well as from predators and others who could harm them. Media reports make it clear that this is a subject of increasing concern for parents, and I have been fortunate enough to speak a few times, as a West Palm Beach cyber crime criminal defense lawyer, on the subject. The Internet can be a great resource for kids, but it can also pose problems when it’s used incorrectly. This week, I would like to talk about your child and online privacy, an issue that encompasses the dangers posed by adult sexual predators and financial criminals.

Because social media, texting and other forms of chat are popular with teenagers -- but not familiar to most adults -- a lot of parents are concerned about the dangers that these technologies could pose. The good news is that these are not inherently dangerous technologies, any more than a hammer is inherently dangerous. Just as you can use a hammer to build something or destroy something, social media and other online interactions can help or hurt. The bad news is that some adults use these tools as a way to find teenagers who are vulnerable to sexual exploitation, or people whose identities are easy to steal. The key is to help kids develop good “street smarts” online, knowing how to use these tools to protect themselves from people with bad motivations.

As with most things, experts suggest starting by talking to your teenagers about how much they share online. Many social networking websites give their users an opportunity to fill in information like where they live, birthdays, full name and personal interests. Some of this information could be harmless to share, but some of it is personal enough that it could make them targets for predators or financial criminals. For example, filling in an entire date of birth could let predators know that the teen is underage. Ask your kids: would you write this information on a billboard for total strangers to see? If not, they should be very careful about whom they share it with online. This is an opportunity to help your teens develop good people sense and good judgment about other people’s motivations. Parents can also consider setting ground rules about what information is okay to share.

Undoubtedly, some teens are going to resist restrictions on what they can share. In the birth date example, teens might enjoy getting “happy birthday” messages from friends who were reminded of their birthdays by a social networking site. Luckily, many social networking sites offer privacy settings. Facebook, which is currently the most popular social networking site in the United States, gives users the option to fine-tune their privacy settings. You and your teenager can use this tool to eliminate some information entirely and make other information available only to friends, or to friends of friends, or to specific sets of people within the teen’s friends. If they would like to still receive birthday messages, they can delete the year and leave the month and the day online. They can even block specific people or make sure their profiles do not come up in a search.

In addition to carefully choosing what information they fill in on websites, kids should use good judgment about what they share in direct person-to-person chat, texting or email. Again, ask your teen: If someone came up to you on the street and started asking you about yourself, what would you think about that person and his or her motivations? What if you couldn’t see them, so you didn’t know if they were the same person they claim to be? What if they wanted very detailed information about your bank account or the way you look? That’s the situation when a stranger contacts you online. Not every stranger has an ulterior motive, but some of them could be looking for easy targets for identity theft or sexual exploitation. In my experience as an Orlando cyber crime criminal defense attorney, unsophisticated adults and teens can even end up charged with crimes if they share their information with people involved in fraud. When in doubt, kids should share less information, not more.

Finally, you as a parent should know your rights. Under the federal Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, parents must give permission for websites to collect personal information from kids under the age of 13. You should use this as an opportunity to make sure you’re comfortable with the sites your kids are using. If a site is violating the law, you have the right to report it and delete your kids’ accounts.

If your teen is too old for this law, you can still consider setting ground rules about which sites are acceptable, in part by reading privacy policies. Consider posting a list of rules about what is okay to share, and make it clear that there are consequences for breaking them. And remember, you’re the one paying the bill for Internet and phone service. If you don’t believe your teen is following the rules, you can review your phone bill and Web browser history to see for sure. If necessary, you can set your browser to block sites or install software that blocks or tracks what your teen is doing online. Making mistakes is part of being a young adult, but if your teen has run out of chances, technology gives you an opportunity to enforce the rules.

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