Posted on 12/06/2005 6:06:10 PM PST by Serious Capitalist
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- A nationally known motivational speaker is facing child pornography charges. Police in Arkansas arrested Michael Fortino -- a man who lives in Pittsburgh, but travels the world. Fortino's Web site has been shut down, but a cached version of it showcases him as a motivational speaker. He was apparently in Arkansas to give one of those speeches when he was arrested.
"For every one time somebody does something wrong, it takes four rights just to break even," said Fortino on a clip on his Web site. Now, police have charged him with three counts of possessing child pornography. Police said Fortino took his computer to a Best Buy store, in Fayetteville, Ark., to be repaired. Store technicians found several pictures of children engaged in sexual acts on the computer hard drive, officials said. Former President Bill Clinton once praised Fortino, and President George W. Bush has called him a role model for future generations. Fortino and his wife live in a 9,000-square-foot home on the North Side. It's known as the "mayor's mansion" because it was built back in the 1890s for the man who was then the mayor of what was called Allegheny City -- now the North Side. Neighbors and friends said they were surprised to learn of the charges against him. "That's a big shock. You would have never known that about the guy," said neighbor Sonny Johnson. Fortino has been released on bond, and will be arraigned later this month. Channel 4 Action News tried to contact Fortino, but he did not return calls.
That does put a crimp in his holiday schedule doesn't it?
Who knows, at this point, how the porn got onto his computer? Did he know it was there? Did he download it, or maybe one of his kids? Did the computer tech plant it there because he thinks the guy's a jerk?
Even if he is declared "not guilty" in court, the charges alone have destroyed his life.
After all that, if he is guilty, then his punishment was earned.
I would hope that this fellow was feeling quite guilty in regards to his crimes.
For him, this may have been a Confession rather than just a confession.
I knew a professional interrogator some years ago. He told me that most people (regular folks anyway) want to confess, you just have to find the right circumstances to let them.
That seemed to make sense, to me anyway.
This is infuriating. The flippant attitude to which you are AUTOMATICALLY assigning blame to the technicians is despicable. Try http://www.knwa.com or perhaps some other local news station's website.
BETTER YET... Why not READ the frikken PRESS RELEASE FROM THE ARRESTING POLICE DEPARTMENT. It is public freaking record now.
These people did THE RIGHT THING. And they don't go looking for this filth, they don't go looking for anything except what they're told to. If they happen across something that SHOULDN'T be there, they can only do what they must.
It isn't a technician's fault that some joker's computer goes down due to (insert unfortunate computer crippling incident here) and is asked to fix it. If in the course of fixing the problem the technician happens across something horrendously illegal, again this is NOT the technician's fault.
Instead of lashing out at the technicians who were merely doing their JOB, and in the course of doing their job, did THE RIGHT THING, why not do a bit of research.
If the man is innocent (which, read the press release, he is NOT), then by all means he should be aquitted, HOWEVER. Even if he were innocent, good could come of this because the download location of that trash WILL be there (trust me, if it got on there, then HOW it got there is ALSO known), and (assuming it's hosted in an area where the US could do something about it) it WILL be taken down, and those responsible for hosting it WILL be taken down.
These people should be viewed, at the very least, as people simply trying to do what's right. At best, heroes. Not slandered as privacy invading malicious frame-artists.
/rant OFF
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Oh for Christ's sake there IS NO TRUE DATA SECURITY IF YOU HAVE PHYSICAL ACCESS TO A MACHINE.
Go ahead, encrypt your files, password protect them, depend on Windows *laff* to keep them safe. Whatever, if someone needs/wants to get them, has the know how, and has physical access to the machine there IS NO SECURITY. Period. End of story.
As for erasing data. Impossible. There is NO WAY to eradicate teh data on the magnetic platters in a hard drive. Sure you can garble it nicely by rewriting over it until time runs out, but it's not completely gone, and with enough time (and effort, though practicality DOES kick in at some point) the information can be recovered. The only REAL way to destroy the information is to melt down the disks (and/or otherwise physically destroy them).
As for the images coming in through 'spam e-mails'.... suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure....
Guess what? All that stuff goes to STANDARD FOLDERS. Your computer holds it's temporary files in SET PLACES. They're called "Environment Variables".
I threw that in to silence all you "But my temp files don't go to the default places!". Bottom line is, if it's a TEMP file, that is EASY to find out. And where the file came from... IS EASY to find out. This is why computer crime is SO EASY to prosecute. There IS a trail, and it's tough as all get out to erase your tracks. Even if you know what you're doing, if you've got something to hide, you'd better develop a hightened sense of awareness (paranoia) or you're going to get nailed faster than you can say "The virus did it!".
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Indeed. That pretty much goes along with what I said. You aren't anonymous online, no matter how much of an illusion you think you have because of the veil of anonymity the internet provides.
Bottom line is everything ever done on a computer is documentable. Period. End of story.
If someone has the know-how, they may be able to cause practicality to become an issue, however most people DO NOT possess this knowledge.
I'm not sure what sickens me more, the fact that he's out on 5k bond, or the fact that some people would sooner crucify the individuals whom were simply doing their job than do just the tinyiest amount of checking on something to find out what really happened.
Apparently people in computer repair stores have been trained to inspect hard drives for porn and other illicit materials when customers bring them in. How soon will it be before they start arresting you for having unlicensed music files or software?
Think about this. If somebody didn't like you and wanted to see you get in trouble, they would put some child porn files on your computer. Next time you have your computer fixed, you might find yourself in jail and your reputation (and life) ruined. That's a scary thought.
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie.Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
/rant ON
Spoken like a person whom is truly ignorant of the circumstances. Persons in computer repair are not 'trained' to search out this information...
Consider the following.
Person A is a technician.
Person B is in need of technical assistance.
Person C is an outsider.
Person B indicates there is 'mission critical' information on their computer and it MUST be backed-up. Person A says "Hey, no problem. Do you need everything backed up, or just certain files?" Person B responds with "Just get everything, I don't want to lose anything important, and I don't remember where I saved everything." Person A begins the task, keeping a log file (as any good technician would).
Person C says "Hey! Log file! Why are you logging this?!"
Well Person C goes on ranting about privacy violations, snooping, and other such nonsense when the reality is this.
Person B expects everything to be backed up. Person A is going to attempt that. Person A (for practicality, time, and just plain productivity reasons) uses some type of program to copy the large amount of information (in literally tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands) of files. Person A, however, needs to report back to Person B anything which is NOT backed up (perhaps there is a bad sector on the HDD, or it's going bad, or they just have corrupt data) so that Person B can be sure their 'mission critical' information is saved. If something that IS 'mission critical' is NOT saved, then Person B has forewarning about it. As opposed to going to that next board meeting with the flow charts in hand of recent stock performance, then bringing it up on the projector only to find out that *gasp!* "Invalid file type. The format appears valid, however the data table is unrecognized." (or other such unrecoverable error). If Person B can be prepared for it, Person B can get (insert name of suitable assistant type here) to e-mail them a copy of (insert 'mission critical' information here).
Invasion of provacy? Not at all. Simply doing your job, and doing it WELL. How would you feel if your computer crashed, and you ABSOLUTELY needed information off of it (think perhaps family reunion pictures, or home movies, invoices, etc. Things that are irreplaceable if you don't have copies) and you made it abundantly clear that the information HAD to be backed up, and when it was done you asked if they were able to get anything and you were told "We're sorry, but we don't know. See, we aren't allowed to verify any type of data integrity, or really even that we copied anything. There might be something on that stack of DVDs we burned, then again, there might not. It could be just a bunch of random bits spread across the great optical fields."
You'd be pretty ticked off. I know I would.
As an aside, the fact that I wouldn't be taking my computer to have information backed up to a repair shop is irrelevant. Though, if all 3 of my computers were down, and I had no immediate way of getting them back up (say, I don't have the necessary parts, and for whatever reason cannot get them in a timely fashion) then yes I'd be taking them to someone to have them backed up.
It is irrelevant because I don't need to do that to understand the position they are in. And considering ANYONE who requests someone save their information invariably asks "So, what'd you get?" You have to have an answer for them.
I say again, don't crucify the techs for doing a good job. Technicians get scalded for all computer problems. It isn't OUR fault that users can't stay off of porn sites, or that they click "Yes" or "OK" to EVERYTHING that pops up, or that they use inferior ISP's, or that they REFUSE to PROPERLY protect themselves from Viruses/Spyware/Malware, or that Sony releases root-kits. These things are NOT our fault. Stop blaming us for them. And don't you DARE try and paint us as "The Bad Guys" when in the course of doing our job, someone gets in trouble.
I cannot use the analogy I was going to because of the "Please no violence" bit about posts. But the next time a Police officer snags a violent criminal, why don't you tell them they're wrong? Check yourselves. The technicians aren't at fault here, but a grossly distorted view of reality most certainly is.
/rant OFF
>>>Spoken like a person whom is truly ignorant of the circumstances. <<<
Spoken like a person who's exercise program consists of jumping to conclusions...truly ignorant of another person's knowledge.
Oh for Pete's sake. Think about what you are SAYING.
First off, you're still accusing the technicians of wrong-doing. How ironic.
Second. IF someone WERE to do something as atrocious as what you're suggesting... "Think about this. If somebody didn't like you and wanted to see you get in trouble, they would put some child porn files on your computer. Next time you have your computer fixed, you might find yourself in jail and your reputation (and life) ruined. That's a scary thought." it could be EASILY traced. THEY have to get it from somewhere. It has to get on your computer SOMEHOW. Things would not match up during the investigation. Eventually it would come out that you were framed, and the true villain would get their face owned, and everyone would see YOU as a victim in all of it as well.
I've been in this field for roughly a decade. I did this for the Army. If you want to point fingers at dangerous things, point them at the Army. You'd be amazed what can be done with e-mail.
But like I said, even then... There is always a trail. And it's not that hard to follow.
There you go again, jumping to a false conclusion...I accused no one of nothing, other than the wazoo aperture who possessed the kiddie porn to begin with. You assume way too much. Stop it. It's unbecoming.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.