The case of Michael Fiola resurfaced recently in the wake of an investigation by the Associated Press into how viruses can download child pornography into the hard drives of innocent computer users.
Michael Fiola Charged with Possessing Child Pornography
Fiola, a former firefighter with no criminal record, was working for the Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents as an investigator. In November 2006, Fiola was issued a laptop by his employer for use on the job. A few months later, IT state officials noticed that the amount of material that was downloaded to his computer was about four times the average. The hard drive was examined and found to contain child pornography images. Fiola was immediately fired and in August 2007 he was criminally charged.
Forensic Investigation Can Determine Source of Ilegally Downloaded Activity
Fiola denied any knowledge of the illegal files that were found on his laptop. He raised the defense that is common for pedophiles to raise - he had no idea how the images of children got there; it must have been a virus. This defense has been stated to be akin to “the dog ate my homework” defense. But, as Fiola’s lawyer later pointed out, sometimes the dog does actually eat it.
Fiola spent approximately a quarter of a million dollars defending himself. Although the state’s experts were satisfied that Michael Fiola had downloaded the illegal material, a forensic investigator hired by the defense disagreed. Tami Loehrs determined that the child pornography sites that were visited by Fiola’s computer were done so at a rate of 40 sites per minute. No human being could download so many cites in that time period. Loehrs also found that the antivirus software protection on the computer that was issued to Fiola was either not working or not properly installed. It was virtually nonexistent.
The prosecutors reexamined the hard drive after Loehrs showed them her findings and they then announced that they were unable to prove that Fiola downloaded the illegal files. On June 10, 2008, the criminal charges against him were formally dropped. But not before Fiola lost his job, his friends, received death threats, went heavily into debt and he and his wife suffered serious health problems.
Chances are Rare That Virus Will Download Child Pornography
Computer experts agree that the chances of someone downloading child pornography onto the hard drive of an innocent person are minimal. Computer hackers with the ability to do this are usually motivated by financial gain and there is no payoff for such an act. It could always be done by someone who thinks it’s a good practical joke or by someone who wants to take revenge against the innocent recipient.
There is always a chance that a pedophile will store illegal material on someone else’s computer. The child pornography files can then be viewed whenever the computer of the innocent person is online. But forensic investigators point out that when this happens there is usually some sort of trail left by the pedophile that traces the images back to their computer.
How to Avoid Being Victimized
Experts agree that the best way to avoid having illegal material surreptitiously downloaded on your computer is to have up to date antivirus and spyware software and to perform frequent scans to detect malware. Computer users are also warned that child pornography materials can be planted when legal porn sites are visited or when illegally attempting to download video games or music. Opening attachments or following links on spam emails can also lead to child pornography files.
A good forensic investigator should be able to determine whether or not a computer user intentionally downloaded illegal files or is simply a victim. But as Michael Fiola found it, there is a heavy price to pay for that investigation.
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