Girl's MP3 player came preloaded with porn (Wal-Mart)

AP via Houston Chronicle ^ | 12/28/07

[trumandogz]

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. — A father gave his 10-year-old daughter a Christmas present that would make Santa blush.

Now Daryl Hill wants to know why an MP3 video player he bought at a Wal-Mart in Sparta was preloaded with pornography and explicit songs.

Hill bought three of the players as Christmas presents for his children. He said one of the devices had apparently been returned to the store from a previous owner who loaded sex clips and songs with lyrics about using drugs.

"Within 10 minutes, my daughter was crying," Hill said Thursday. "I wish I could take the thoughts and images out of her head."

Hill questioned why Wal-Mart Stores Inc. would sell used merchandise as new, which he said violates its own policies.

A company spokesman said in an e-mail to WSMV-TV of Nashville that stores are not supposed to return opened packages to the sales floor and that the matter was under investigation.

Hill said he declined Wal-Mart's offer to replace the MP3 player. He said he has already bought his daughter a new one and is hanging onto the controversial one until he talks to a lawyer.

[Rick_Michael]

Must have been a return....

[mnehring]

He said he has already bought his daughter a new one and is hanging onto the controversial one until he talks to a lawyer.

Hmmmmm... I wonder if it really was used or if this is like the finger in the Wendy's Chili incident?

[trumandogz]

This could be a scam and daddy is running to a lawyer but if not Wal-Mart will have to pay for offending the sensibilities of that poor little girl in Tennessee.

[trumandogz]

"Within 10 minutes, my daughter was crying," Hill said Thursday. "I wish I could take the thoughts and images out of her head."

Sounds like the kid looked at the porn for ten minutes and then began to cry.

[trumandogz]

Does Wal-Mart sell iPods or is this some other brand of MP3 Player?

[mnehring]

They do. If it is an iPod, then it will be easy to tell who downloaded what and when because the iPods add a lot of metadata to downloads.

[OrangeDaisy]

Don’t most 10 year olds need help to set up their iPod? You have to download iTunes (unless someone else in the house already uses it), attach the iPod to the computer, and then buy music / movies or download them from the computer. Seems like this would require parental involvement. Did the little girl just turn on the iPod and there was stuff on it? Why didn’t her parents notice?

[Spktyr]

Doubt it’s an iPod, or the media would have called it tht.

My guess? It’s a Zune.

[mnehring]

Nope, every ten year old I know actually help the adults set stuff like that up.

[trumandogz]

This very well could be a scam.

Have someone go buy an iPod with cash, take it home, download porn, mark the package, return it to Wal-Mart.

Go back to Wal-Mart and buy the very same iPod and give it to your kid for Christmas.

In any case, Wal-Mart screwed-up by putting the MP3 player back on the shelf.

[trumandogz]

Either Apple lawyers or Microsoft lawyers told the AP to keep their name out or the article or else.

[Gay State Conservative]

Question #1...was it a return? If it was,can you tell when a particular video or audio track was loaded into it? If the guy tries to sue Wal Mart’s likely to demand that the Dad’s computer is examined as the possible source of the porn. I’ve read that when Wal Mart’s sued they fight the suit tooth and nail....every single time.

[Spktyr]

Apple generally doesn’t bother with this sort of thing - witness the recent “I bought an iPod from Target and all that was in the box was some rocks” incidents.

Microsoft, on the other hand...

[Spktyr]

If it’s an iPod, yes, you can tell. I’m reasonably sure you can tell on a Zune. If it was something like a Creative or Archos player, not so sure.

[trumandogz]

The man would be an idiot to use his own computer to do this.

[Eye of Unk]

Well duh, Walmart has for years taken merchandise back, they give it only a minor inspection and repackage it to resell. Especially electronic items, and I steer way clear of after christmas sales because almost everything is returns, if I wanted used I would go to the Salvation Army.

Always check what you buy is in the original wrap and not “re-taped” when you buy from Walmart.

[tflabo]

Mmmmmm...gives new definition to MP3.

Movie Porn 3XXX

[SoldierDad]

Wallmart sells IPods, and several other brands of MP3 players with screens.

[Gay State Conservative]

The man would be an idiot to use his own computer to do this.

The guy's quoted as having said that within ten minutes his daughter was in tears...and that he wished he could remove the images from her mind.I wonder why a girl of that age would be "in tears".Stunned,yes....confused,yes....asking her parents "what are these people doing?",yes...but in tears? That quote suggests to me that he might not be the brightest bulb on the tree and that this could well be a scam.

[pepsionice]

I’m pretty sure the Wal-Mart lawyer is already asking for access to his computer...and the guy is shocked that they would test his truthfulness. I’m pretty sure that a expert can tell when it was loaded...which will be matched against his receipt. I’m guessing dad downloaded the stuff and will be facing jail-time and a Wal-Mart civil suite very shortly. He doesn’t even know the pain of facing Wal-Mart...he can’t beat the machine.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Bad things come in threes.....

[BerryDingle]

Did the little girl just turn on the iPod and there was stuff on it? Why didn’t her parents notice?

Exactly my thoughts. Sounds to me like the father bought that for his daughter and knew nothing about how to operate it. I would never dream of doing that with my children, as they are more electronic savvy than I am, and I would most likely buy them something they would be disappointed with. If I bought them something they specifically point out, then I would supervise the installation of it and stop it immediately if something like that showed up. Unfortunately, his lawyer will overlook this and make him look like a good parent for caring instead of a bad parent that knee jerks, and probably win.

[ASA Vet]

Search?

[antiRepublicrat]

This could be a scam and daddy is running to a lawyer but if not Wal-Mart will have to pay for offending the sensibilities of that poor little girl in Tennessee.

Possibly a scam. But porn can only "offend the sensibilities" of adults. Any adult who say porn "hurt" them just by seeing it once really needs to call the whaaaambulance to take them to get a spine.

But porn can hurt children like this girl. It may have just preempted any positive education about sex and love her parents were going to give her. It's going to take some work to clean up after this (if it's true).

[trumandogz]

i searched under mp3 which yielded no results.

I sorry if I offended your sensibilities.

[Squawk 8888]

Sounds like the kid looked at the porn for ten minutes and then began to cry.

She probably started crying when he took the player away ;-)

[stuartcr]

That would be very hard to prove. WalMart will probably pay him off.

[Phantom Lord]

WalMart will probably pay him off.

Doesn't Wal-Mart have a "no settling" policy and they fight nearly all in court.

[usslsm51]

Exactly!

[the_devils_advocate_666]

We probably need to see some of the evidence.

now running from this thread and hiding

[mnehring]

Wouldn’t be hard to prove if it was an iPod, the metadata included with all downloaded songs and files include date and time of downloaded and registration information of the computer used to download.

[mysterio]

I think Walmart sucks. That being said, this is not their fault.

[Wolfie]

Just a tip: The FR search engine won’t find anything 3 characters or less.

[6SJ7]

I cry 10 minutes after entering a Wal-Mart.

[WOBBLY BOB]

I found some chili and a finger in my MP3 player.

[b4its2late]

He said he has already bought his daughter a new one and is hanging onto the controversial one until he talks to a lawyer.

Why of course! Someone has to pay!

[b4its2late]

I dropped my MP3 player on my lap and got severe burns!

[ASA Vet]

I have no sensibilities, so don’t sweat the small stuff.

[SkyDancer]

I bought a Kodak digital camera from Wally’s World, got it home and the plastic inner wrapper looked a bit tired, like it was crushed several times - no software CD. Took it back, got a replacement and all was there. Obviously this was a return also ... have to be careful regardless of what they say.

[stuartcr]

I don’t know.

[stuartcr]

Don’t know about Ipods.

[Spktyr]

Just saw a spot on this on the news - the player in question is an RCA Opal and NOT an iPod or Zune.

[trumandogz]

Just saw a spot on this on the news - the player in question is an RCA Opal and NOT an iPod or Zune.

Serves the kid right for having a cheap skate dad that would not by her the iPod.