FC: Worm searches for "child porn" filenames, alerts the cops

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

A number of politechnicals have sent this or a similar story along, so here 
it is. Other news coverage of this nasty bit of programming (next up: A 
worm that *deposits* chlid pornography on your hard drive and alerts the 
FBI) is here:

http://www.newscientist.com/dailynews/news.jsp?id=ns9999802
http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2001/05/30/worm_porn010530
http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/166164.html
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200-6077830.html?tag=owv

-Declan

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From: Paul McMasters <Pmcmasters () freedomforum org>
To: "Declan McCullagh (E-mail)" <declan () well com>
Subject: Child porn virus
Date: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 08:45:00 -0400
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Declan,

        Have I just missed it or has there been no Politech or f.c. traffic
on The New York Times article on the virus that searches individual
computers for "child porn" images, etc., then transmits the information to
the F.B.I. and local law enforcement? Is it just me or is this something
really scary? It certainly presents the specter of law enforcement launching
official investigations as a result of warrantless searches. This is
particularly sobering in light of the Attorney General's campaign to stamp
out porn that you wrote about on June 9.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/11/technology/11VIRU.html?ex=993265283&ei=1&en=a134be141a677178

Paul




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