this is outrageous that she is being accused in this manner. anyone who spends time on a computer and understands how easy it is to get malicious porno malware knows that it was not her fault.

i accidentally installed a porno malware on my computer when I opened what looked like a normal greeting card. this "invasion" was buried so deep in my operating systems I couldn't get rid of it. it also spied on me through my search engine. I tried 6 or 7 types of anti-spam softwares and NONE OF THEM worked. In one case, it even made the problem worse, as apparently it was a malware also. FINALLY, i had to reinstall my entire operating system to get rid of all the malware and wormholes in my system.

What the the school administration has done to this woman is a travesty. It could happen to anyone! People need to wake up to the reality of what is going on on the net!

I wish her the best and offer courage to endure.

renee bales, denver, colorado

i feel sorry for the teacher and angry that the school was spared. I've experienced these porn pop ups by just clicking on a free screensaver. These porn pop ups followed me in every website i visit. I have antivirus & antispyware software installed & yet my computer was still invaded, much more with an unprotected computer. These prosecutors & police officer should have asked computer experts and learn from them.

Susan, Mla., Phil.

Its remarkable to me that opinion of cops who are no more computer experts than they are astrophysists have any credibility at all. They could no more write code or analyze code than they could fly to the moon. I have a popup blocker installed on my computer to stop this very thing.

Hey law enforcement, get some real experts professionals to do the computer work. Not one of your own who is tired of working a beat and is a computer expert only in his own mind.

Bill, Fresno, CA

I have been reading about this internet stuff and sexual pop-ups and child porn in the internet and people going to prison just for this stuff coming up on computers they are using. The Federal Mandatory Sentencing guildlines are totally wrong and it has robbed many people of their lives. First and formost the Republican held Congress is responsible for creating these crazy laws with no common sense in the arrests of people. I feel so sorry for this poor teacher who has had her live ruined by all this. So wrong.

Ruth Baker
NC

Ruth, Kannapolis, NC USA

This kind of security should have been updated and increased many, many years ago by our Government. Any PC or many PC's can be controlled by the controller - the individial at the keyboard and at any age as we are aware the 4-year olds start learning and by the time they are 7-8 years old, they are almost wizards. You want to control Credit Card Theft, Pono on the web? use a fingerprinting device that plugs into your PC through the internet to a National Interpol. Your fingerprints must be registered in order to validate age, person.

The technology is out there but nothing is happening.

Now, possibly as the School Teacher mentioned. She sent an email out while others entered the web while she was out of the room. These kids could have gone anywhere since only a dialog box opens and says enter only if you are 18 years or older.
Porno Sites defiined: Spy programs looking for personal identification.
Check for spyware on that pc for advertising. if found, not quilty

Charles P, East Haven, CT

I really feel for this lady. I am having all kinds of pop ups appearing on my computer at random and I don't know why and I don't know how to get them to stop.
I have a firewall installed on my computer and total internet security with pop up blockers all turned on.
So can you tell me why I keep getting these pop ups on my PC ??? I don't know if its malicious malware or spyware thats attached itself to something I have innocently opened when surfing the web. I can assure you that I have never searched for or opened any porn sites of any kind.
So if this can happen to me then I can certainly see how it has happened to this lady, so I hope the courts and her employers can see this. I'm sure it happens to thousands of people unsuspectingly.
If all the protection I have on my PC doesn't stop it then I don't know how the school she works for expected NOT to get such pop ups appearing on their PC which was unsuspectinngly used for innocent purposes.
I hope that she is fully vindicated.

Sue M, Newcastle, UK

In a country where microwaves have to have warnings about not putting pets in to dry them, I'm not surprised by the total stupidity of this case.
Regradless of Ameros training or ability, NO school, or Local Authority in their right mind would allow open access to the internet, the blame lies solely with the management of the school and the authorities in charge of the school.
How will all the parents feel when their children lose out on many hundreds of thousands of dollars that could have been spent on education when Amero is able to sue the arses of them. Stand by for a change in local government Connecticut town of Windham you're screwed.

Twiggy, Leeds, UK

As a supply Teacher to an unfamiliar school (I am assuming this) there should be a protocol installed at the school where all new members of staff are given a walk through the school pros and cons. If the school computers are never switched off who then is responsibil for the maintainance, upgrade, clean up, of the same computers, if the school forgot to pay the Bill (lame excuse, normally contracted out) then they are the ones who are ultimately at fault and, indirectly the education authority in charge of the school. Everyone and I mean everyone at some time has checked out porn on a computer, but at work!!!! and in front of a class of 12 / 13 year olds, I dont think so! Pop ups POP up and on an unprotected computer!!! all the time. I feel that this lady is being made a scape goat for other peoples faults, namely her employers, counter sue your accusers,all of them, through the US legal system for punative damages against your accusers when you are cleared, I would!!!! Then retire!

Gerry Duggan, Ulsan, South Korea

I get the impression that she's a substitute, so she probably wasn't too familar with the computers in the classroom. Also, she is a middle aged woman, so she's probably not family with computers in general! I don't mean to sound sexist (in fact I'm a woman myself), but women of this age group are generally computer illiterate unless they're in a science, business, or technical field. They can send email and that's about it. This railroading job could have easily happened to my mother and possible yours as well! This is scary! Besides, with rare exception, how many women to you know that view porn on the internet??? A women might occasionally view porn (I mean 2 or 3 times a year max - usually only young women are liberated enough to do this by the way), but we'll do it in private (like at night in our homes behind locked doors). Women usually don't get that horny. Anyhow, they never get horny enough to do stupid things like view porn in public (especially not at work).

Tara, CA, CA

I believe that in her desperate attempt to close the pop-ups, could it be that she must have panicked and at that moment did not thinking of switching off the power? In any event, the children would have seen the images and the argument here is not whether they saw it 10 times or 1.. but rather that they did see it. Certainly a travesty of justice that the school can sit aside and allow their own teachers to be prosecuted for something simple that the school should have done (such as having a firewall or spyware). Besides she was not the only person having access to the computer and the computer was not even scanned for viruses. Once again America has managed to amaze me for all the wrong reasons. Ignorance is a crime!

Kenneth Gomes, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (yeah thats right)

When was the American legal system ever interested in Justice.
As long as prisons are profitable the courts will fill them.
The scariest word in American are: "Open the door. It's the police."

Kookie Klown, donkeedump , USA Oregon

Well, this appears to be another example of how the law and lawyers ís behind their time. Yes, it could be a innocent joke by a kid. But the school should take the teacher´s side since their internet security was malfunction. The teacher could loose her job because the school didn´t pay the bill. Tragic!

Johan Öhgren, Östersund, Sweden

Im sorry, but considering the whole treminal stupidity clause... if she cannot operate a p.c. how in gods name can she be teaching children how to use one?

Jonathan, Munich, Germany

Something like that happened to me during the parents visit of the school. I never realized what was happening on some screens I couldn't see. Not one parent said a word at the time, probably because they thought I was doing my best. I was just kindly informed of the problem by an understanding parent a few days later. let's say they considered it as a problem the school had to solve. Just a couple of things. That was 10 years ago...in France.

danzeman, Vannes, France

This is the year 2007 and that school didnt have pop-up blockers? I am also an IT expert and can most certainatly say this is being taken way too far. Without a firewall and a pop-up blocker and students at the unattended computer what do you expect!? When I was a child in IT class in year 7 one of the lads went on to the teachers computer which was projected onto a wall, went on to a few porn sites and put them all behind the word document the teacher was showing us. The teacher was very uncomputer savy and didn't understand how all this porn was on his computer. Instead of taking legal action we all just laughed cause we knew what had happend. My bet is a kid did the same thing and another child who didnt know about the plot told their parents. As soon as this escalated the children who did cause this are far too scared to admit it, I would be scared at that age! Causeing a teacher to lose her job and possibly go to jail!

Well, thats my couple of pence worth.

Chris, Oxford, UK

While murderers and rapists are released after a year or two, the punishment for something so insignificant is unbelievable. I am disgusted. How many people out there understand enough about computers to prevent such things happening? I know of plenty of innocent people who have had their systems affected in this way: it only takes one click from a search engine to what seems to be a harmless Website. Everybody wants somebody's blood for a mistake these days. They'll bring back hanging for stealing a loaf of bread next... possibly while releasing several hundred pedophiles back into society.

Anonymous, Suffolk,

This things happen but for a school not have a firewall installed on her PC is unaccetable. I don't believe the lady did what she's been charged for.
It's unheard off that at this age and time in a supposedly developed country, there is no clearly define security policy and proper securtiy measure to avert such occurence.
The school rather the lady is the guilty party if you ask me.

Ade, Cardiff, UK

I'm so sorry for the USA.

Not too long ago, people used to look up to you regarding technology and science. Now you look more like the laughingstock of the world. To bad innocent people get hurt in the meantime.

Couldn't you just collapse quietly and leave the rest of the world alone?

Angel Ramirez, Maracaibo, Venezuela (hope you know where it is).

Being connected to the computer is like having your front door and windows wide open and allowing the world access to your home. It's outrageous that this women should be found guilty just because she may be ignorant of how to work a computer or not have "covered " the screen as a juror suggested. What a travesty of justice. This could happen to anybody at anytime. Just imagine if the porn were child porn. This woman could be utterey destroyed. How many other cases could happen this way ?. What if an email is sent to you with ilicit porn encripted within it that sits on your computer-or contains a worm that invades your computer and is later discovered. We are all vunerable.

Michael, Liverpool, Australia

As the juror said, if this teacher lacked the iniative to find the electricity socket, then she shouldn't be teaching.

Dr. P.Miller, London,

You could just press and hold Alt + F4 Rachel Werth, you can pull the plug.. no switching off computers there?? so it was a school computer, the school should be punished, turned off the monitor? was another option available, reset? I think someone needs an IT course.... no parental control software is the schools fault simple.

Adam Webb, Milton Keynes, UK

Being a parent I can understand the anger caused by this occuring but I cant believe that in this day and age that something like this hasn't happened more often. Surely the school should have preventative procedures in place if they are making use of the internet. If this lady is being charged for this I sincerely hope she counter files against the school - I mean honestly the whole situation is almost unbelievable. If this had happened in the UK I'm sure the school would have been held accountable from the start - its unreal that they have singled out one person like this to take the blame. Yes she should have switched off the computers but yes the school should have sorted out its online security!! Hopefully lessons will be learnt through this and procedures implemented country-wide!

Candice, Oxford, UK

This is totally insane. That kind of stuff can happen to anyone, and it's blatently the school's fault for not paying up for the software to protect it! Total sympathy for that poor woman. And take note, Thomas - this is a Christian saying this!
Children are exposed to that kind of stuff all the time, unfortunately. Ok so it shouldn't be in the classroom. But what was the school doing leaving it's children - and teachers - open to that stuff?!

Meg, Pembs,

The school is also responbsible partially. for not training the teachers, having no firewall. The teacher cannot be solely blamed.

XYZ, whint, wa, US

American prudishness and prosecutorial zeal run amok.

The school board ducks responsiblity and sets up a poor teacher to take the fall. What a bunch of bums. The prosecutor must be either a "holier-than-thou" evangelical Christian or planning a run for Distric Attorney, or both.

This is what happens when computer illiterate jurors are given responsibility for deciding matters with which they have no business.

Thomas, Atlanta, GA, USA

Mark Lounsbury, the Detective, was the expert witness for
the Prosecution in this case. The area of expertise in question
is basically computer forensics, or the art and science of
getting the truth out of computer hard drives and so forth.

Herb Horner was the expert witness for the Defense, trying
to show that Amero was innocent.

To me, this brings up a bigger question:
" Who are the real experts?" ; the issue of who is a
bona fide expert has come up in many court cases,
requiring experts in medicine, psychology and the
list goes on.

David

David Bernier, Quebec, Canada

This paticular issue occurred in a classroom setting...to me! Fortunately it was in a college classroom and my classmates were more interested in having fun at my expense rather than pursuing legal action. According to the computer dude who came to fix it that particular attack was caused by clicking a link on a popular reference page that some prankster hacked. You don't have to be anyplace dodgy to come across these darned things.

I do think she didn't think clearly and could have responded better to the problem. I also think it's a crying shame that the school didn't bother to keep their firewall and virus protection up-to-date.

Anne Edwards, Austin, TX, US

Overall, it sounds as if that school has a *significant* problem with internet security: the teacher leaves a computer unguarded and kids go onto a hairstyle site - then pornographic popups start appearing? First, what are the teachers doing leaving a computer in a logged-on state when they're not in the room? Second, what is the classroom doing with unfiltered access? "Parental control" software is readily available, and the kind we have - free through our ISP - is absolutely draconian: our younger two kids can see NOTHING unless we preview and OK it. Third, what are the students doing going onto an unsupervised computer with (apparently) no consequence to themselves? Is there no discipline there? No training?

I feel sorry for the teacher, but really... I've been similarly betrayed by my computer, and while the first moment is one of panic, the second moment is the one where you (or at least I) turn off the monitor.

Jamie, West Chester,

Pornography is everywhere. In Los Angeles you can view it on the computers in the public library. (Viewing pornography is the second most common use for their computers). My guess is that whatever Ameros students saw in her class room was tame in comparison to what they found all to easy to view at home on their own PCs. Running a computer without a firewall makes that machine susceptible to outside control by other websites and other computers. The main problem is the schools computer maintenance staff who should be looking after these matters, and yes, paying their bills for software support.

Robert Ishmael, Los Angeles, California, USA

I am finding it very hard to believe that for the whole day no one could have attended her room and either help her switch off the computer or at the very least disable the monitor. This womans inaction is almost criminal in itself. She may not be guilty of inflicting porn, but in todays day and age of computers and her being a teacher she is certainly deficient in her abilities regarding technology.

Sentence:

minimum 10 week IT course

Dean, Melbourne, Australia

This could happen to anyone, it is right. However, that statement only stops at a certain point. In order to get that "malicious software" on your computer, and to get the porn pop-ups in the first place, you must have to have gotten infected with it. Now, this can happen in a majority of different ways, but the most common being visiting a "dodgy" website that installs this for you by itself. This could be anything from porn sites, or warez sites. Both of which the teacher may not be on.

If the school maintain's the computer systems however, and she was in a computer lab or the equivilent, then it is the ICT departments fault in not scanning for this, not hers.

Frank, Bristol, England

This world is becomming pathetic!!
Please will people stop following crowds and start thinking for themselves; what a society we are living in.

It's the school that is guilty, not the teacher. New technology and the justice system falls apart.
Too many nerds and not enough common sence in our society today.

Lord help the future of modern society, it's run by biggests!

Richard, London, UK

The computer must have been on a LAN. So what was the school district's computer technologist doing? NYS has one in every district, responsible for tasks such as blocking objectionable sites. Certainly if NYS has these administrators, CT (a richer state) would. It should not have been possible for the terminal to access such sites Why wasn't the technologist on the ball? Looks as if the wrong person was in court.

Linda, Albany, NY ,

Being from America, I was waiting for this story to show up on the evening news or in my local newspaper (St. Louis). It is March 5th and It hasn't which suggests to me that it is not as big a story as others reading this in the Times Online may think. Forty years is probably the maximum sentencing guideline. More than likely she'll get a slap on the wrist for stupidity in not knowing how to unplug something from a wall.

John, Edwardsville, Illinois, USA

I'm only 17, and my computer has done that same thing too me. No matter what you do, they keep coming up. You have to make sure the pop up blocker and security settings are at the right level, and the school computers, don't give teachers or students the ability to change these. Something could simply get changed without some one realising it, causing the problem at hand. I personally find this whole thing annoying. Please, give the woman a chance, and lok into the situation further before convicting her. I mean, what ever hapened to the "inocent until proven guilty"?? I have yet to see that practiced in the court room these days. Its guilty until proven inocent. You Charge convict, then punish, and while the person is rotting in jail, you investigate, many times, to find that the convicted was infact, inocent. I'm sick of it.

Rachel Werth, Eau Claire, WI

Firstly, 40 years is way too harsh - that's more than some murderers get. Kids run the risk of having porn exposed to them all the time - they can simply turn the TV on late at night. Does anyone get 40 years in jail when that sort of thing happens? Yet the kid is just as damaged. The law should be consistent. It seems probable that the kids searched for porn as a joke whilst the teachers were away, and that sparked the barrage of indecent pop-ups. The police should search the woman's home pc to see if she actually has an interest in porn. If it's clean, that's good for her case.

Tony , Bristol, UK

That is ridiculous! They need to crack down on other more important issues like drugs, yob culture and other issues! 40 years? can't see how you can jusify that sentence...its not law, its common sense!

Jon, Reading/Cardiff, UK

Admittidly she is a bit dim for not covering the screen, but she is guilty of nothing more. The school should have paid for the bill, maybe these are the real culprits.

Doesn't say much for the school when one minute she is a well respected teacher, the next she is cast out into the wilderness. Surely, she should have more support from the school in light of her previous good record. Doesn't say much for the society if we abondon people just when it gets difficult supporting them

Nick, Andover, UK

The teacher has obviously little knowledge of how a computer works 'backstage'. I was once the victim of the same type of invasion ( on my own PC ). I still remember how much it cost to get rid of the EVIL pop-ups. How about showing this woman a bit of compassion ? As Artur from Poland says, 'I thought I lived in a strange country' ...

Maria Helena Fernandes, Odemira, Portugal

The teacher should have covered the screen at the very least and the School should be prosecuted for not having a fire-wall etc.

Michael, Bristol, UK

Mozilla Firefox is excellent for preventing pop-ups! Of course, the school could easily have installed software to prevent students from entering adult sites.
Several pornographic pop-ups are notorious for not wanting to vanish but the thing is they only come on if someone has entered a porn site in the first place. So that's slightly telling!

Susan Abraham, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

It is not good teaching practice to use materials of any kind in a lesson which have not been specifically selected and prepared for that lesson, with the appropriate questions and follow-up also prepared. This means that live broadcasts should never be used in a lesson. End of story.

Edmund Burke, Kingston upon Thames, England

Sounds like a case of hysterical and over protective parents looking for a scapegoat. Poor woman was just doing her job. Bet the Christian association of America are applauding this decision in the safe, delusional little world they think they live in, as another sacrifcial lamb is led to the slaugher. Yes she could have turned off the screen or whatever but its hardly justice to give her an 18 month prison term. Ludicrous law in the first place. How many childeren were 'injured'. Surely they must prove some kind of physical and emotional damage. How do prosecutors sleep at night? Actively claiming she did it on purpose. Was there any history of this. Just seems crazy to me. Liberty and justice for....Whom?

Adam, Lonon, Uk

what worries me is that based on your report she followed school policy by not turning the computer off, and she demonstrated that the prosecution expert witness had neglected some important tests, and she demonstrated that the school did not have basic protection (firewall) in place, and there seems to be no direct evidence to convict her, but she was still convicted. Does your report cover all the material facts?

alastair harris, Derby,

What this really demonstrates is just how out of touch governments and authorities are with the realities of todays technologies.

Go to any one of the P2P sites, which almost all kids with computers use, and type in a few innocuous search words such as 'mum' 'teen' 'toys' etc, and see what turns up.

This teacher might well have been shocked at the pop-ups, which I am sure she was, but the children wouldn't have been. They have seen it all before.

And Nick. It is about as hard as being unnecessarily facetious.

Richard Crow, Warsaw, Poland

Nothing to do with trojans, spyware, malware or firewalls - this is simply an advert that poped up, no way of stopping an advert on a website - just look down the right hand side of this site, and you will see a host of 3rd party adverts.

This is (in my opinion) equal to a teacher being blamed because there was an advert for McDonalds during an educational TV program that was being shown to the class.

Daz, Yorkshire,

Whilst it is debatable whether this woman should be in charge of children, 40 yrs is ridiculous. She could have switched the monitor off, the PC off, turned the monitor to face the wall or cover the screen. If stupidity were against the law, she deserves time but it isn't!

Mike Orme, London,

40 years for being a too dim to turn a monitor off - bit extreme, even in the United States of Paranoia. Anyway why not persecute those responsible for paying the bill to the firewall provider.

Tim, Bury,

The poor woman is quite obviously innocent and the madness that has followed the incident says a lot of deeply disturbing things about modern society. It would be scarcely better in the UK. This is of course a modern day witch hunt, a modern day equivalent of the witch crazes of the 16th and 17th centuries, where innocent people are made a scapegoat, in the proper sense of that term. And as in the witch crazes, reason is abandoned instantly and totally. One can only hope that somewhere along the line, forces of reason in the law save this poor woman. In view of the fact that the school did not pay for a firewall, the right outcome would be for the school authorities to be found culpably negligent and the woman to be awarded very considerable compensation.

Roger Noel Smith, Jyvaskyla, Finland

I think a custodial sentence is wrong, but this woman was obiously too stupid to be in charge of children. As Kerry Livermore said, she had plenty of time to hide the images and didnt. This failure amounts to an almost deliberate act of exposing the children to the images as far as i am concerned.

David Bowall, Redhill, United Kingdom

whilst ageeing that the teacher is guilty of stupidity - if nothing else - it seems to me that the school is equally culpable for not having a firewall due to 'not paying the bill'.

ACC, Brentford, England

It is the school's fault as they should provided sufficiant protection of malicious software.

Sam, Nottingham, England

She will never get 40 years. if she does, then maybe it's time we stoped using pc's so as the legal trade can STOP earning money by creating criminals from blatently innocent tax payers funding this crap.

40 years! For clicking a wrong button. Yes she should have covered the screen, maybe just sack her for incompetence, but PRISON...Never, it's Evil Uncle Sam being oppressive like EVIL UK, when are we slaves going to be free

John, LONDON, uk

I thought that I live in a strange country.

Artur, Wroclaw, Poland

If someone had viewed an adult site in her absence then a Trojan virus could have been sent to the computer which would cause automatic pop ups to adult websites.

Examination of the computer should reveal if this is what has happened.

James, Newcastle, Tyne & Wear

BBC's Click online plugged a totally unprotected computer onto t'internet and within one hour it had been exposed in this manner. It could happen to anyone of us at anytime. There are programmes on the net which can turn off firewalls and Anti virus programmes.

I am suprised that the police officer in this case had not run adaware or spybot on the computer system which would have shown the presence of malware.

Personally I think the law is skewed against the end user. In reality it is Internet servers who enable this to happen, yet they get away scot free. They are enablers who allow people to access the Internet, although it appears that throughout the school there is a complete lack of understanding on how to protect their pupils whilst they are online.

Chris Linthwaite, Beverley, East Yorkshire

My grandson went on a games site I had checked before and it had no problems.. A pop up asked if he would like to enhance the graphics for his computer games. He clicked yes. What 12 year old wouldn't? He went on to play a game, saw no difference, and switched off the PC. When I switched on next day there was an icon of a video camera on the desk top. I clicked on it. It was replaced by the image of a naked woman crossing and uncrossing her legs, which then enlarged to become a screen saver. It also installed a dialler, premium rate £1.50 per minute! I had an awful time trying to remove it. It kept coming back. I finally tracked it down and removed all traces. I then checked on Browser History. He had only been to the one approved Game Site. The pop up appeared. I clicked "yes" and staright away it started to download itself. At least I knew where to find it 2nd time around. I emailed the Website warning them, and got no reply. The Site is now blocked. Lucky I wasn't a teacher.

B.P.Russell, Windsor, England

I've just finished reading John Grisham's "The Innocent Man" (his first non-fiction book) which gives an insight into how the system can work to dispense "justice" when there's no or very flimsy evidence. It is really shocking and should be a warning to "if you've got nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" brigade. This case is another example of justice being dispensed in this way.

Harry Baxter, London, UK

Surely if they were in any way competent, the school would have a block in place to prevent anyone from surfing for porn, making it impossible to view pornographic images or content, even if they wanted to and were actively searching for such. It beggars belief that a school had no system in place to encourage safe surfing, especially in light of their "no turning pc's off" policy.

Irregardless of the guilt or innocence of the teacher, the school principal should be severely reprimanded for not implementing a "safe surfing" policy and for allowing the computers to be connected to the internet without a firewall in place.

Absolute madness..!!!

Tony, Netanya, Israel

It is the school's fault as they should provided sufficiant protection of malicious software.

Sam, Nottingham, England

The school is culpable for not having an appropriate firewall in place. These are not expensive.

If the PC access was not locked such that no one else could access it (and it clearly wasn't if someone else had logged her in and pupils visited a hairstyles site) then there is no case to answer as there is no proof that she and she alone access inappropriate sites.

Patricia, Reading,

the school should have had software installed to prevent pop-ups and the first lesson in training for staff and pupils should have been regarding security and how stop any kind of attack (use of alt-f4 would be a start), although anyone who doesn't know how to switch off a monitor probably should be teaching (not to metion that anyone upset by port probably shouldn't be allowed out).

still, it's america. in tomorrow's story, she'll be suing the school.

jem, london, uk

Part of the problem here is also what appears to be mandatory sentencing. Mandatory sentences may satisfy the bloodlust of the voting public and are a handy political tool, however in cases like this they remove the vital discretion of the presiding judge.

Even if the teacher is guilty, a 40 year prison sentence is ludicrously disproportionate compared to any crime she may have permitted.

James C, London,

I know of a teacher who was covering a class and opted to show the children how to open a hotmail account. In doing this several of the children spelt hotmail incorrectly and you can imagine the rest. The lady in the news is being made an example of.

Laura Cook, Cork, Ireland

Aah yes ---- the 'home of the free'

John, London,

Stupidity is not a criminal offence... but why did the prosecution claim she was deliberately surfing for porn during the class... surely the children would have seen her surfing if this was the case, and they would have been able to provide evidence.
I think the school is culpable though... they obviously knew about such issues, because they used to have a firewall, but failed to pay the bill, so that there as none... and what an incentive to pay the bill, and prevent reocurrence!... and as the pupils had unattended access, who is to say that they did not visit an inappropriate site, as well as a hairdressing one... could this be a case of a teenagers embarrassment at surfing somewhere, is going to cost an innocent woman her freedom?. or a case of a guilt woman, seeking straws to grab?.. without hearing ALL the evidence, we can only speculate.

Julian Pearson, Sawston, UK

It could not happen to anyone. She had all day to turn the computer off, throw a coat over it, or get advice. She did none of these things, so should take her medicine.

kerry livermore, London, England,

I think the case boils down not to her being an unwitting victim of malware, but not being competent enough to deal with a medium she should have been using to teach with. She says she didn't know how to turn the computer off: presumably she couldn't figure out how to turn the monitor off or close the browser either. if she really couldn't figure that out, I doubt she would have had the competency to send an email! It seems as though she just didn't care about it enough to even go see someone about it. However, the sentence seems a lot when you consider the sentences for some other offences, and I think the school has a lot to answer for in terms of IT and internet training.

Gaz, London, UK

It could of happened to anyone, she is unlucky, the internet is 75% porn, so sometimes these things happen, my main concern is the stupidity of the teacher, leaving the children on her unrestricted internet? whilst she was out of the room!? 40 years?? too much? I think her job is in serious jeopardy however, for leaving the children with the computer unattended,

Adam Webb, Milton Keynes, UK

Surely the monitor had an on/off switch ?

CWW, Ipswich, UK

It could happen to anyone. My husband and I were searching for heavy equipment and came across the wrong site. Not only did it cause pop ups that didn't stop for that day but for days to follow. He and I never went to those kind of sites before and had to buy software to stop the problem. I could not imagine how I would react if I were a teacher with students in range of viewing the computer. I too probably would have paniced. To sentence someone for internet porn pop ups is like making her responsible for the sites themselves. They are very sneeky and heartless. Those kind of sites don't care who views them or if they send a virus or if they flood an inocent persons computer who wasn't even looking for their product, if you can call it that. At the age 12 the students are old enough to understand that it could be a mistake. Unless she made the students watch or tried to do someting worse I don't see the case. Besides the students shouldn't have been allowed on an unsecured site much less a faculty members computer. The internet is a dangerous place for any minor and some adults especially without firewall protection.

Christina, Kissimmee, FL

Remember this is the USA - you can extradited from Britain without any evidence to face random charges. I feel sorry for her, but as for Justice & Liberty, I fear that she will be hung up to dry.

James, Cambridge,

Internet porn pop-ups cost this teacher her job and her freedom
Tim
I honestly pity the sentence. I see no justification of the pop up and sacking the users. The pop in like Volvos, Toyota and nudity are written by some who want to sell the commodity. Some are good some are bad. The school ought to control the pop ups or ignore this totally. The students did not report?

Firozali A. Mulla MBA PhD, Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania

Talk about circumstantial evidence. They couldn't prove that she deliberately visited the site but she was prosecuted anyway.

It must be embarrassing for the school to have to admit that they effectively had no protection in place.

Mary, London, England

Amero, you are full of excuses. Just pull the plug.

Joseph Lee, Toronto, Canada

This is sheer hypocrisy in full-blast action!

Actually this could happen to anybody. It's quite natural to get shocked if you are a teacher and suddenly lots of dirty pictures appear to cause you trouble. I can't understand people blaming her for not having the cool to do something inmediatly. That's unfair, she isn't expected to keep a throw-your-coat-over-if-anything-else-fails policy... it sounds ridiculous.

One could equally well suit the websites' developers, the software company that packages this lame web browser, the people that take these pictures, or even the people who's in them.

By the way, will the kids need special support to get over this? I don't think so.

Manolo Sobrino, Valencia, Spain

Americans, eh? Yet again the sledgehammer is introduced to the walnut. 40 years in prison would be appropriate sentencing for the purpotrators of (illegal) internet pornography. However, this person is obviously not involved in anything of that ilk. When a war-mongering and religious society (who manafacture most of the world's legal pornography) decrees what justice means within it's own given laws, the results are horribly similar in the USA as they would be in a country ruled by Islamic law. If our world was rid of all ridiculous, bankrupt and terminally useless religions, which all of them are, then we, as a race would stand a far better chance of survival.

Robert, Tamworth, England

Why did the school let the computer system unprotected? Any place where children can have access to a computer should have a firewall or some sort of protection to guard against popups and spam.

Also, two students were at the computer with no permanent teacher in sight (apparently, Ms. Amero was not the permanent teacher). If the permanent teacher was IN the room when Ms. Amero left, where had she gone?

Katheryne, Hawthorne, CA (United States)

If for no other reason, she should be prosecuted for terminal stupidity in not knowing how to turn a computer monitor off, Press one button and then call the technical support department, how hard is it?!?

Nick, Potters Bar, UK

But this is not a remarkable situation. In the UK there have been countless cases where unsolicited pop-ups have led to convictions for possession of indecent images of children.

Harvey, Fareham,

Every time I read about this case I feel I'm being jerked around a bit more. It just doesn't make sense. From the valid point that she only had to throw a coat over the computer, to the fact that the school says they never had a problem with pop-ups on that computer before or since, to the odd sites she visited on school's time during class. This just doesn't feel right. Maybe she's getting material for a million dollar book and TV deal. That would make some sense out of all this.

Kit Young, santa monica, ca usa

This is a shameful miscarriage of justice. Why should she be sentenced to 18 months (or 20 years) for not putting a coat over the screen? That is not what she was accused of. nor is she trained to deal with this situation - though in reality teachers do need to be trained to deal with chldren seeing porn images as the interent is rife with them and many children see this sort of thing.

Jonathan - hi tech worker, Tel-Aviv, Israel

It's pornograph now, interesting later and porno again later in life. Do we buy filters or wait. Neither, we follow the social services and have a live witch hunt with children [Scottish Isles circa 2000+]
There's more to this than meets the eye Dr.Watson

davies, Derby, UK

Woah, woah woah. Fraiia, Lystrup, Denmark says "These are 12 year old American girls, if they are normal then many have reached puberty and also been exposed to and experimented with sex already." No way is that normal for 12 yr old girls!!! (Maybe in your country?) Of course they know about sex, but having sex? I don't think so.

I don't think the teacher should be charged for anything but stupidity. Not knowing how to turn off the monitor? My 89 year old grandmother knows how to turn off a computer monitor! She barely has any computer education, but she could figure that out.

Elissa, U.S.,

The problem is american elected prosecutors who are uncommonly vicious as recent cases have shown. Convicting the innocent to obtain nortoriety seems endemic. Some american juries would convict a han sandwich.

DONALD KENNEDY, PRINCE GEORGE, CANADA

Impossible to say if she's guilty but the school should have top-level security on its computers, that means anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti pop-ups etc. It's all available and should be installed and updated daily. To do otherwise is the criminal offense.

Eugene, Bruno, Czech Republic

Obviously, the teacher lacked judgment in not covering or turning off the computer monitor. The question that must be asked is... "Why did she not seek out help from administration or other staff?"

On the other hand, the primary responsibility of protecting students from pornography, etc. lies in the hands of the school. It is they who must provide adequate protection from unsuitable sites on all computers within the school. Unfortunately, pop-ups have become an increasing problem. However, I downloaded a pop-up blocker on my computer and it works just fine!

Schools can no longer stay in the dark, rather they have the responsibility to become computer savvy and ensure that appropriate protection is put in place.

J. Ranchoux, Kelowna, Canada

What really amazes me is that THIS got to court, this is something that proves the theory that as a society "advances", so do their twisted minds.

Mark, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Couldn't she have just turned the screen off? Or stuck a blanket over it or something?

She's guilty of daftness and a lack of common sense, but we can't prosecute people for that, or the gaols would be full to bursting; and as we know, in the UK it takes twenty million years to build a new prison...

Ruslan Kuybishev, Cirencester, England

Isn't it about time we started to find ways of prosecuting those who perpetually disseminate porn via the internet, rather than using one woman's mistake (or otherwise) as a scapegoat for the real problem? This is just one incident of many which shows how vulnerable we all are to those who seek to infiltrate our minds and our homes with indecent and highly explicit images. Instead of wasting time on individual cases such as this, which are not clear cut, it's surely better to spend such effort and time on tracking down those who are placing such images on the internet in the first place.

Denise Pfeiffer, Leicester, UK

The money, technology and resources used in this case and even more so if this poor woman is given a prison sentence should be directed at the people responsible for the pop ups in the first place. I don't see how a case can be brought against her when the school hadn't paid for a firewall. I teach in a school where all lessons are computer based and the internet is regularly used. If we want this for our kids education more needs to be done to protect the staff who deliver it and recognise the problems it can bring without blowing it out of proportion. This could happen to me tommorrow!!!

Anne, bradford, UK

Linda is spot on. Does it occur to anyone that, since the image was in the browser cache, the source IP and registration info. is known and the DA could prosecute the party responsible for the offending pop-up? Of course not. It's corporate marketing vs real people. No contest.

She's technically ignorant because filters like these have left only stupid people wanting to teach. I know I'm afraid to even speak to a child in the US. It's a vicious cycle and it's how empires crash. Unfortunately that can take a long while and cause a lot of collateral damage.

Think it can't happen to you? The template has always been the "War on Drugs". If that's alive and well where you live (Quebec, pourquoi?) this madness is not far off.

And the Windows architecture invites attacks. If these things are really such critical issues, then the school provided an unsafe workplace and Windows is an unsafe product. Of course suing MS for breaking the law is not possible for an individual.

Thomas Elby, Ft. Worth, Texas

Why on earth were children online during school hours looking at a site for hairstyles of all things? When many school districts can only dream of computers for proper educational use, this seems like an incredibly frivolous waste of a resource.

Lisa, London,

Well, if you had to put up with an abusive nun in grade school, here's your chance...

Haroon Jahed, Leeds (Kent), UK

Just how far IS Norwich CT from Salem MA? This 'witch hunt' - the latest variety of which George Bush's facist GOP 'religious fund-a-mental-ists' perpetrate - would surely be overturned given a retrial before a jury knowledgeable of The Internet, with 'expert witnesses' , such as Mr. Eckelberry.
The 'expert' police officer never made a search of the computer's 'history' files (lack of evidence) and his erasing these files amounts to 'destruction of evidence' (a felony).
That prosecuters offered this 'deal' also causes concern they knew they hadn't sufficient evidence to convict - unless the jury consisted solely of televangelists' irrational followers.
Clicking on the wrong pixel can produce the same results and some Net marketers need only your IP address to implant applications on your 'desktop' without your ever venturing onto The Net - given lack of a 'firewall' as the school admits.

Larry, Middletown, USA/NY

It is bizarre, to say the least, that this teacher didn't cover or unplug the computer or ask for help. There's certainly more to this story.

Richard Simmons, Savannah, Georgia

The pictures were running all day and she didnt think to turn off the screen or the computer or cover the sceen, and so allowed the class to view porn. Guilty as charged.

.

John, Chester, England

A President has admitted sexual activity with an intern ; another president is waged an illegal war; others in his administration lied deceived ; others tried to lie to the UN- in no case is there a scintilla of charges for war crimes or breaches of the Court of Human Rights
- and this unfortunate teacher has to rely on public donations to fight her case in a case in which she goes to court allready a victim of web-hacking ; a victim of a technology in which she is in all probability an innocent abroad .
Where is all this about the land of the Free - and all men being equal.This charge is a farce and a travesty.It is a witch hunt against an easy target. ; a modern day inquisition in front of the Grand Masters of Americana -
Shame .

don mac namara, galway,

I was recently seeking some background information of the official website of the Royal Institution of British Architects when I was suddenly confronted by an explicit porographic entry that had apparently been planted in the middle of the section. Since I was at work I was a little worried that this would appear on my computer record so I asked a colleague to repeat the access and the same entry came up. I informed the RIBA and they managed to remove the item within a few minutes. It shows that these things happen.

Malcolm Stuart, Banwell, North Somerset

I think what this really demonstrates is just how out of touch governments and official bodies are with the realities of todays technology. They really do live on a different planet.

Richard Crow, Warsaw, Poland

These 12 year olds probably know more about sex than the teacher (a small town American 40 year old) this teacher was likely to have been shocked by it but I doubt if the girls were. (PopUps lol).

These are 12 year old American girls, if they are normal then many have reached puberty and also been exposed to and experimented with sex already. There have been plenty of studies that show that the key to healthy sexuality and a lower teen pregnancy rate is good sex education. They have obviously not had any and are unlikely to get any from the so by now would have found out for themselves.

This hysterical, stupid reaction is driven by many factors and will only have a detrimental effect on all involved, the teacher the girls and the United States of America, as it tears itself to pieces. This is a symptom of a deeply ingrained sickness and there is no "curing" it, this disease will run its course and is terminal.

Fraiia, Lystrup, Denmark

40 years? I knew the justice system needed reform but this is ludicrous! Julie Amero has m,y full backing on this case. It has happened to me too I've been goning on clean sites and had pornographic images blasted across my screen for no readily apparent reason! Also it was said to be happening all day, Come on jury, take a hint. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Even if she is guilty (which I seriously doubt) 40 years is to harsh a sentance for something over which she had no control, which was not her fault and caused no apparent physical or psychological harm to the pupils!

Henry Watkinson, Winchester,

Very happy NOT to be American...

Pare, Quebec, Canada

I think the world is jumping to conclusions on this. I have seen similar outcries against legal cases here in the US when the world did not get the full story, and if they had, they would have concluded differently. Do you think we have the full story here? Were you there at the trial? Do you have any clue about the teacher's attitudes or comments to the students that day? No. You are making up your mind before you get the whole story. Just because the teacher is 40 years old and a woman does not mean she can't be guilty of improper behaviour. We have had too many middle aged female teacher sex scandals recently who were otherwise "good citizens" not to know better

sylvia, atlanta, GA, USA

Yet another example of the relentless post-millennial persecution of the middle classes by Western governments. It's not just the US and UK, it's Ireland as well. Life here is very scary and people are too afraid to speak up. Real criminals go free, yet hare-brained cases pop up (pardon the pun) in newspapers constantly. The facts of this case are irrelevant. The aim is to instil fear, anxiety and paranoia and undermine rationality and logic. We must fight it, by trusting our own sense of reason and ability to think and refuse to ever abandon this.

Linda McEvoy, Dublin, Ireland

I find the idea of this case coming to court at all bizarre and disturbing, reminding me of the hypocritical shock horror of the 'nipple' incident at the superbowl. Anyone who goes online understands that there is a risk of exposure to these sort of images. How about a class discussion on the rights and wrongs of pornography, and how to protect your pc!

Peter, Algarve, Portugal

This is unfair! I have had those pop-ups come up on my computer and they are a pain-in-theneck, but I now have a great security program to help combat it. Did the school pay for a security program to help protect ALL the computers in the school from something like this happening?? Sounds like they didn't so I think that the school is to blame!!

Sapphrina, Southport, Florida USA

This is insane. Seeing pornography should not be a crime I mean do we really think that 14 year olds do not look at it on the internet anyway? (especially boys). Also, even if this was distasteful the worst that should happen is that the teacher should get a warning and the school should make their online security better so that it doesn't happen again. 18 months let alone 40 years is totally ridiculous! It's stories like this that turn me off America.

Matty J Jones, Maesteg, Wales

Complete and utter lunacy. Good job that we can rely on American's being sensible on the jury. oh No!

Tom, London, UK

Horrible.
However also lets have some sense of proportion, she could get up to 40 years because a kid saw a picture of a naked women!!!
In the meantime rapists and murders are getting let out of jail early since prisons are full of people on soft drugs crimes, now they're going to fill them all with people in for 40 yrs for not even child porn but a picture or two of a naked women! (Most kids will have seen worse on the net themselves!).
Pleease some common sense is in order. Slap the school on the wrist for not having popup blockers or firewall (or the good sense to use Macs!!!) slap the teacher for technical stupidity for not pulling plug or switching monitor off!

IJ, Miri, Malaysia

The saddest aspect of this case is that if the images had been of graphic violence, the furor would have been minimal. Horrific scenes of death and mutilation do not seem to worry the "Christian" right in America half as much as the sin of sex. In my opinion violence is the real pornography and yet parents allow their children to watch all the horror that is piped through the cinema and television screen. No wonder people kill each other.

Richard Evans, Richmond , Va, USA

To Elisabeth,

It is a society of primitiveness and cowardice. This is a typical example of lack of leadership in an increasingly dumb society.
The mentally inadequate prosecutors should never be allowed to handle any legal case let alone this one. You don’t need to be smart or equipped with many brain cells at all to realise that you are wasting court time and the legal system over such a stupid incident. Instead of employing their efforts in controlling their uncontrollable crime levels ranging from murderers, rapists and most hideous corporate criminals they pursue a respectable mature teacher for something that happens to all of us in the cyber world.

It does make me wonder if the judge presiding over such a matter deserves to be in the legal system at all. Sadly though, those so-called legal professionals are true representatives of morally and ethically bankrupt society that America plunged the Western world in.

S. Adams, Sydney, Australia

Beware ! what America does today we do tomorrow thus it has always been. In spite of being in Europe for decades we are as far removed from the rest of Europe as we were prior to entry, as Mr. Blow says, it wouldn't have caused a ripple there. It amazes me that children are alowed to be exposed to scenes of horrific violence in films and video games with limbs being ripped off etc. etc. and most of it originates in the States, but cover their eyes if there's a naked body around.

David Elvidge, Huddersfield, England

How can someone be charged up to 40 years in prison for allowing a child to see porn, when a proven murderer can get away with half that? This poor woman has already lst her jobs and reputation, surely she doesn't need another 40 years in prison to pay for one mistake?

Jessica Venn, Hertford, UK

This is unfair! I have had those pop-ups come up on my computer and they are a pain-in-theneck, but I now have a great security program to help combat it. Did the school pay for a security program to help protect ALL the computers in the school from something like this happening?? Sounds like they didn't so I think that the school is to blame!!

Sapphrina, Southport, Florida USA

Teachers are now reluctant ( with reason) to take children on Outdoor Activity holidays. Many teachers could refuse to use computers( again with reason) if this case were proven. I should add that I find the case, as presented in the ariticle, to be very weak and bordering on implausible.

neil, birmingham, UK

To Mr. Paul Connor, you clearly have NOT read the article. Conecticut is on the same continent as you.

This woman knows nothing about computers. She did not want to damage it by switching it off or by overheating it. The coat would be more dangerous than switching it off. She panicked. If you have ever seen pop-up screens take over your PC , it's an annoying experience to the experienced user and utterly bewildering to the novice. She has been convivted ofr something she did not do by a jury that is clearly as ignorant of PCs as she is.

Corin Keiler-Lloyd, Wolverhampton, England

I understand it was against school policy to turn off the computer. However, how technically illiterate must you be if you can't (at least) turn off the monitor?

Leah, Barrington, Canada

I think you all Americans are forgetting what true democracy and ethical rules stand by. Although I lived in London for three years and saw and read about similiar situations where the law shadows simple "logic". It´s a world problem!!! Pop up´s???... Sexy pop up´s? Who hasn´t been through them..millions..of users. It was an accident. If even the company where i work ( grephic design) has a very scrict and tight net access, how is it possible that a this school does not have a firewall working or any protection software???? WE SHOULD BLAME THE SCHOOL. IT´S ABSURD.

Filipe Von Mayer, Lisbon, Portugal

I'm a computer programmer with years of experience of website work, popups are hard to block at the best of times, it happens to me frequently and I take several precautions, the programmers will always find a way to make the popups work. I think the way this poor lady has been treated is atrocious, this is a case that should never have gone to court in the first place. I can understand her sense of panic when it happened, it happened to me once in a busy office, literally dozens of browser windows opened, I could not close them down quickly enough to catch up, then there was a deathly silence behind me, and I turned to see several ladies standing behind me with a birthday cake for the man on the desk next to me, and they had all gone pale and the looks I got from them suggested that I would need a police escort to get out of the building alive. Luckily I managed to pull the plug on the pc before I got lynched. This kind of thing can happen to us all, I wish the poor lady luck.

Mike, London, England

After reading this article could I be blamed for thinking the British are totally insane? Between fathers removed from sitting beside their own children on your jets for fear of molestation and innocent victims convicted for defending themselves, I think I see what happens when the safety-Nazi culture of Europe is mixed with a dynamic economy and polity with the wherewithal to realize its darkest dreams. God help you all.

Paul Connor, Toronto, Canada

I'm a professional web developer and it's obvious to me that the prosecution is either deliberately ignoring what is common knowledge in the industry or negligently unaware of it. Pornography is responsible for most of the development in internet technology as it was making huge amounts of money online long before anything else. Porn sites will use any method available to display adverts and direct visitors to them including active code that can alter the browser settings to change the home page, install toolbars, diable pop-up blockers etc. Mark Lounsbury is either not fully representing the facts or is a policeman without specialist knowledge who has been assigned to "computer crimes". Yes, Julie Amero could have unplugged it etc but that is not the same as actively exposing children to pornographic content. If the computer is not set up to protect against this, which the lack of a firewall implies, it is wide open to this sort of thing. In any legal system with presumption of innocence until proven otherwise there is insufficient evidence to convict the computer user.

Stel, Hemel Hempstead, England

Companies offering pornographic services should be banned. The negativity caused indirectly to men and women from this unreality seems to be worsening.

Ade, Chester, uk

I teach and I had a pop up come up when I was searching for a site to show a class of 14/15yr old students a 1914 map of Europe using an interactive whiteboard. (the screen is about 3m x 1.5)

Fortunately, they just laughed as I scrambled to turn the thing off. However, I cannot believe that she didn't turn the screen off and report it. I would question her competence but it should have never made court. The school was obviously to blame for not having protection. It's a little like a teacher being sued for a student getting a splinter from a chair.

Kloxile, KL, Malaysia

What a stupid case.
Anybody can have porn web sites popping up, especially if it is a windows PC.
There are "adult content" filters, but like spam filters they can be bypassed, even by children!
And even if there were passwords, in Windows thay are so easily bypassed. I have never yet found a windows PC that I couldn't break into and recover data, or even add something, like a keyboard sniffer to grab all the passwords.
The local Law Enforcement Officers want 1/ Telling off in "good old English Engineering Language" 2/ Retraining in basic IT, and the school officials likewise retrained to give them some limited comprehension of the real Internet World.

Mike Orton, Harlech, Wales, UK

she could have screened the computer or turned it off. at the mains switch . how can she not know how to turn off a computer. she could turn one on. if she used her sense which being a teacher she should have, she could have put something in front of the screen or at least asked for help from the head or sent a note to the head via a responsible pupil. that the images came on was not the only issue but what she did about it.

ursula riches , LLANELLI, uk

We are all open to pop ups, however in this case a supply teacher who in my eyes is not responsible for the computers not having a fire wall or pop up blockers on it. If anyone should be in the court room it should be the school for not ensuring these aids to help us were not present. I have both these aids on my home computer so where is the schools responsibility in all of this. As for the police if they can not determine if it was a click or a website then they should dismiss this case. Can our school teacher then sue the school for negligence?

Susan Pemberton, Oldham, England

its funny how everyone's comments are along the same lines. being a brit nowadays its terrifying to think that our legal system and societal tendancies are heading down this road where its almost illegal to leave your house without doing a health and safety check. i have recently moved to Czech Republic, where people take responsibility for their own actions and do not live in the blame cul,ture where someone is constantly looking for you to trip up so they can make sure you fall harder. The case against Mrs Amero is ridiculous and adds to the long list of why one would no longer have any desire to even visit the USA.

Fraser Watson, Prague,

I'm deeply shocked by this story. The idea that a respectable middle-aged woman could have been convicted on such flimsy evidence is frightening. This business with the popups could happen to anyone - indeed, it's happened to me once. What sort of society has America become?

Elisabeth, London,

Is the legal inadequacy of the school in not having taken their own preventives, plus the unlawful inadequacy of the police, not a legal point of law ? Such as negligence ?
Or is this just going to be unlawfully politically used, to help further gain government control of the Internet ?

P Ronald, Cardiff, UK

Didn't she know where the "off" button was.

I realise that it was school policy not to switch computers off (why?) but there are times when one's initiative has to used. It's probably school policy not to leave the building during lesson time as well but I doubt the woman would have kept her class inside if the place had caught fire.

JonathanL, Newcastle , UK

This will only result in teachers refusing to have internet accessible computers in the classroom in order to prevent themselves from being placed in a similar situation. This woman should win her case and then sue the education authority for not protecting her from seeing such images by neglecting to pay for a firewall. Surely they had a duty of care to their staff and pupils and should shoulder much of the blame for tis incident? If a company failed to provide safety protection because it hadn't paid the bills and then a member of the public was hurt when a staff member used equipment without the protection, wouldn't the company be responsible for negligence?

michele, Wales,

presumably it is cheaper to blame Julie Amero rather than risk the school being sued

Tina, London,

As Alex E. said, not checking the computer for malware is an enormous failure of the forensic system. Not having a firewall protecting the school network is frightening. Allowing other people to have access to a system logged on as a named user is a another policy failure on the part of the local education establishment.

Shane, Dudley, UK

It seems extraordinary that the possibility that this might have been a pupil-originated prank appears to have been over-ridden by the idea that a teacher would do this deliberately.

We seem to have an inversion of the concept of common sense such that it's astonishing that anyone would wish to enter a profession where Risk Assessments to take account of the most unlikely outcomes to everyday procedures have become mandatory to the degree of interfering with or preventing work in good faith , if repute, probity ,career and liberty are not to be jeopardised.

Presumably confiscation of hand drawn indecent images passed along the the back row of the class in years gone by would nowadays be considered possession of pornography in the presence of minors.

dr venables preller, Warminster, UK

America is full of puritans...thye will start hangin people for witchcraft again soon.

Travis, Perth, Australia

I am so grateful to be a European. I, however am fearful of being British. In mainland Europe this incident would result in a shrug from parents and the odd titter from children over the following days. But in England I can see the same paranoia seeping into the establishment. It is only a matter of time before I elect to move.....

Philip Blow, Cambridge,

Why didn't she just turn the monitor off & call in IT people?!

Betty Williams, Shrewsbury, Shropshire

Many people in the USA would agree with the other comments expressed here, supporting Julie Amero and deriding her conviction. All countries must decide the degree to which application of the law should be moderated by common sense. "Common sense" is in reality just another name for popular prejudice, and in America moderation of the law by popular prejudice has led to much social injustice (e.g.,one set of rules for white people and another set of rules for black people). Because of this, and because the USA has very contentious cultural wars raging--in which the common sense of one side seems like lunacy to the other--we tend to apply laws inflexibly. Unfortunately, it can produce legal tragedy...

Arthur Wilton, Los Angeles, CA

Why dont we just relax a little about this pornography business ... If we cut away all the hysteria and social taboos what exactly did the children see ... Two mamals simulating the act of reproduction .. no different to what they probably have all seen a thousand times on the natural history channels .... big deal !

andy James, Lyon, France

This has nothing to do with Mrs Amero and everything to do with the US Vulture style legal System who have spotted an opportunity to make some hard cash, with Mrs Amero as the bait. No doubt the parents of the children who were exposed to the images, will be building their trauma cases as I write.....

George, Baku, Azerbaijan

I used to think USA was the best and fairest and most progressive Western Nation on the Planet, things like this just confirm what most of us have realised in the last few years that the US is the worst Western Nation on the planet in the forementioned areas !!

I sure hope you guys can restore the Great American Dream.

This Woman is Innocent and the system is guilty ! Your legal system wants to send someone to jail for minors seeing porn on her computer that wasnt her fault in the first place yet television exposes children to the sights of death and War daily and no one raises an eyebrow!

Ask yourself what is worse, Kids seeing some Pornography or seeing say Saddam Hung ??

Time for a social revolution folks!

Marco, Victoria, Australia

Nobody is going after all the news directors who have shown the execution of Sadaam Hussein on tv - something which is real violence and can really effect children. But America is so afraid of sexuality and nude bodies, that it will put someone in prison! Julie, as long as you live in the USA, you are in prison anyway.

Clark, Noank, Connecticut

just have to laugh.
this is a typical case for the shape the u.s. is in.
if this was to happen here in germany or france, students, teacher and parents would laugh it off, and thatg's all that there is to it.
pop ups in 2004 where as common as rain falling down.
just recently have browsers been enabled to block popups.
sorry for the teacher,sorry for the students and sorry for a redcioulos justice system like in the u.s..
it is geeeting worse by the day.

michael, Mainz, Germany

It could only happen in America. Your kids can be mown down by a gun crazed nut while sitting in a school classroom and all that happens is 'soul searching' followed by a Hollywood script to make a cynical buck. But if a porn pop-up gets onto a computer monitor, all hell breaks loose and a supply teacher is threatened with a prison sentence that is longer than 'life' for murder.

Angus McFarlane, Bucharest, Romania

In my eyes all of them are completely helpless, not only the poor teacher, but also the school and the prosecutor. Is that what happened really such a catastrophy - in the 21th century - that they can't do anything but fingerpointing to each other? They could, for example, demonstrate the pupils how difficult it is nowadays to fight against pornography, even for those grown-ups who as professionals should be able to protect children and to learn from cases like that.

Simone, Cologne, Germany

This could only happen in America. Anywhere else in the world, everybody involved would have laughed it off.

Itzenplitz, London,

She knew enough about the school computer policy to NOT shut them down, what about the policy to usher the children out and alert the Principal immediately? The fact the issue has gone this far seems ridiculous. Who was responsible for the Firewall, where are they in all of this?

Sharon O'Connell, Adelaide, Australia

The teacher should have switched off the monitor -- but by default, the blame should be placed on the school. Their policies confuse me: the computers are left on, but they do not keep their firewalls up to date, and do not provide basic computer training to their teachers. This was a situation that was just asking for trouble.

Ben, Binghamton,

I think that this is the fault of the school as well... not because they were negligent in keeping spyware off of their systems, but because they had hired a teacher who wasn't competent enough to even know how to shut off a computer monitor. This is, after all, the 21st century. She should have known how to shut the monitor off, to be sure, but it was even dumber of the school board to hire her to teach in a room with a computer without making sure she knew how to use it first. If this was not necessary for her to teach the class, then it was stupid for them to tell her not to turn it off just because she wouldn't know enough about how to get the system back up and working.

Mark, Vancouver, Canada

The art of making a mountain out of a molehill. As a parent wouldnt you just shrug your shoulders and if not laugh it off at least not want to make a big deal of it. Cant imagine it being more disturbing or more pornographic than the Saddam hanging they were showing on national news a few weeks ago. American justice seems on a par with its foriegn policy, lots of collateral damage. I wish her all the best.

Al, Third rock from the Sun,

Before I got wise to the parental control stuff, firewalls, anti-virus tools and the like, I let my 7 year old daughter loose on Google. She was interested to find a French equivalent of 'Jackie' or whatever, typed in 'girl magazine'....guess the rest.

Mark Williams, Louveciennes, France

Hmmm I don't understand why the lack of a firewall is "crucial".

Firewalls don't stop pop ups.

william davies, paris, france

While there are many ways to protect a school computer from unwanted popups, schools tend to be way behind on technical know-how. Teachers are rarely competent to configure computers, and those who run networks for the schools are generally not very strong on security.

First, Windows is less susceptible to malware and viruses than Linux (and other UNIX variants) and Mac OS. The reason Windows gets the bad reputation is because 99% of those who create malware and viruses are UNIX users who have a religious hatred against anything Microsoft. I am a software developer, and believe me, Linux, other UNIX flavors, and MacOS are somewhat easier to hack into than Windows.

The poster who suggested schools use LINUX didn't botehr to add that Linux, like all UNIX variants, is cryptic, hard to use, blows up when even minor software components are upgraded, and like Mac OS, there isn't that much software made for it. Schools need to provide better computer facilities.

Jeff Jones, Waleska, GA

I've worked with computers and software since the Radio Shack TRS80, Commodore 64, etc. Even with a major anti-virus company I've received the kind of pop-up garbage that Julie experienced in the classroom. (Simply by selecting a foreign flag that I wanted to purchase at a discount price).

It looks like Julie got stuck with a "Jury of her peers." She was ignorant with IT work. (Ignorant does NOT mean stupid!.. she just didn't know IT). Then, the jury was convinced by a police IT person who didn't do the basics with the proper software tools in the investigation.

I know that each side in a jury trial gets to kick off a certain number of potentiol jurors... so did the prosecutor dump potential jurors that were computer savvy? Did the defense have expert witnesses to protect Julie?

I wish her all the luck with our Judicial system...

Rick, Oakdale, USA

The comments by the Juror reflect the classic example of hindsight, but when you are surrounded by children, operating an unfamiliar computer, determine to ' get back to normal' and in a strange enviroment..

The lack of comments from the children or the fact that no child is listed as questioned, how do we know that this is not a sick prank?.

Not paying for protecting your computers, your staf and the childreen, the head should