Computer Ignorance – You Can’t Afford to Not Pay Attention
People must realize that they can no longer hold the attitude that says…
I Don’t Know Anything About Computers.
I am on a personal crusade to wake people up to the fact that they must know something more about the computers they use other than turning it on, surfing the web, typing and sending emails.
Just take the case of Connecticut substitute teacher Julie Amero whose life was ruined by computer ignorance.
Not just her ignorance, but the ignorance of the school district she worked for.
According to the Hartford Courant, Amero, 41, was arrested for years ago after a stream of pop-up pornography ran on her computer and was seen by students.
A new trial was ordered for the teacher because the prosecutors and their expert didn’t know what they were talking about when it came to computer technology.
Prosecutors who were ignorant of how spyware and viruses work on a computer charged Amero with intentionally causing the porn to pop-up on the computer her classroom.
Computer experts from around the country came to the teachers defense saying that the computer had been infected by spyware.
It was also learned that the school districts systems administration had not updated the anti-virus and other software that would have prevented spyware from infecting the school districts computers, including Amero’s.
Prosecutors charged Amero even though police never conducted an investigation of the computer’s hard drive and relied on a detective with “limited computer experience” the Courant reports.
Experts for Amero say that the computer was obviously overtaken by spyware.
In this case, the prosecutors were ignorant and so was the teacher who didn’t know that the computer spyware and anti-virus software was out of date and not running on the computer in her classroom.
With a little more understanding of computers, the teacher may have been able to detect that her computer was not properly secured and she would have been more aware of where she was surfing on the Internet.
This is why I am constantly urging people to understand some basic principals of computer maintenance and safe computing practices.
Bad things can happen to people who are not paying attention to what is going on in the environment of their computer and the Internet.