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The defense for a Nebraska City man accused of using LimeWire to download child pornography includes explanations about viruses that can make zombie computers and malicious software that can infect an unprotected harddrive with embarrassing material.
Attorney Steven Lefler said there are a number of explanations for how unwanted pornography may find its way to a computer, and said the files found on a computer allegedly controlled by Shannon Slater, 40, were unnoticed or unwelcomed.
“It's possible for another human being from another part of the country to download their child pornography on your computer and you don't even know it,” Lefler said.
Lefler told the Otoe County jury that there are even some companies that sell internet security software. If you don't buy the software for $120, he said, they will send you pornography or Viagra ads or something that is embarrassing.
In addition, he said, people may have child pornography material under misleading names. Users of file sharing programs, such as LimeWire, may think they are downloading a file about basketball, but end up with something improper.
Lefler said the obvious thing to do is to delete the file when you do not want to be in possession of it, but the file remains on the computer in an area referred to in court Tuesday as “unallocated space.”
Lefler told the jury he does not know how the illegal pornographic files got on the computer, but it was not due to the actions of Slater.
“Yes, in the past, he is embarrassed that he looked at adult porn, but he did not want child pornography, and, if he would see it, he deleted it,” Lefler said.
Otoe County Attorney David Partsch said Slater had control over the computer that Nebraska State Patrol investigators tracked to Nebraska City and the images it contained were no accident.
“He was searching for those files and downloading them to his computer, where he had control over them,” he said.
Investigators with the State Patrol's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force are expected to testify that the laptop found in Slater's bedroom contained hundreds of pornographic videos and photographs.
At a hearing Wednesday, Partsch said he intends to present evidence that Slater accessed LimeWire 77 times between Aug. 2 of 2009 and Feb. 2, 2010.
He said hundreds of files were found on the computer, including 109 in LimeWire's "incomplete" folder.
Investigators said even if downloads to Slater's hard drive were not complete, they may still be available to others to download because LimeWire software could use portions of a file from many computers to deliver a video to a single user.
Of 223 images on the computer, Partsch said, the names of 190 suggested child pornography.
The defense for a Nebraska City man accused of using LimeWire to download child pornography includes explanations about viruses that can make zombie computers and malicious software that can infect an unprotected harddrive with embarrassing material.
Attorney Steven Lefler said there are a number of explanations for how unwanted pornography may find its way to a computer, and said the files found on a computer allegedly controlled by Shannon Slater, 40, were unnoticed or unwelcomed.
“It's possible for another human being from another part of the country to download their child pornography on your computer and you don't even know it,” Lefler said.
Lefler told the Otoe County jury that there are even some companies that sell internet security software. If you don't buy the software for $120, he said, they will send you pornography or Viagra ads or something that is embarrassing.
In addition, he said, people may have child pornography material under misleading names. Users of file sharing programs, such as LimeWire, may think they are downloading a file about basketball, but end up with something improper.
Lefler said the obvious thing to do is to delete the file when you do not want to be in possession of it, but the file remains on the computer in an area referred to in court Tuesday as “unallocated space.”
Lefler told the jury he does not know how the illegal pornographic files got on the computer, but it was not due to the actions of Slater.
“Yes, in the past, he is embarrassed that he looked at adult porn, but he did not want child pornography, and, if he would see it, he deleted it,” Lefler said.
Otoe County Attorney David Partsch said Slater had control over the computer that Nebraska State Patrol investigators tracked to Nebraska City and the images it contained were no accident.
“He was searching for those files and downloading them to his computer, where he had control over them,” he said.
Investigators with the State Patrol's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force are expected to testify that the laptop found in Slater's bedroom contained hundreds of pornographic videos and photographs.
At a hearing Wednesday, Partsch said he intends to present evidence that Slater accessed LimeWire 77 times between Aug. 2 of 2009 and Feb. 2, 2010.
He said hundreds of files were found on the computer, including 109 in LimeWire's "incomplete" folder.
Investigators said even if downloads to Slater's hard drive were not complete, they may still be available to others to download because LimeWire software could use portions of a file from many computers to deliver a video to a single user.
Of 223 images on the computer, Partsch said, the names of 190 suggested child pornography.
