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The only thing worse than a computer virus is a computer virus that infects your PC with child pornography. Where does one go to get a kiddie-porn-infested unit serviced? A back-alley repair shop? We certainly don't want to take our dying desktop to the Geek Squad and have them find it looking like a party at the John Wayne Gacy residence. Unfortunately for several innocent American men, they did exactly that and were arrested for child pornography they did not willingly download. The Associated Press profiled one man, Michael Fiola, who lost his job, spent over $250,000, and had to sell off many of his valuables -- including his car -- after he was charged with that heinous crime. Fiola's wife stood by his side through the threats on their lives, the depletion of their life savings, and the yearlong legal defense that ended only when prosecutors admitted the couple could not have been downloading pornography while out on a dinner date.
Fiola's case is hardly the only one -- rumors have persisted for years that hackers were offloading their porn stashes on zombie computers in order to hide the evidence of their own misdeeds. The U.K. Register notes that in 2003 two men were luckily able to prove that a virus had brought in the child porn on their computers, but since viruses usually infect hundreds of thousands of computers, there could be untold numbers of people innocent of these crimes.
