BREAKING NEWS: Julie Amero is now free and her ordeal is now over!

I haven’t got the time to go into this situation full so please click on the links below that are covering this story:

• Sunbelt Blog: BREAKING — The Julie Amero horror is over
• Security Garden: Julie Amero — Finally Free!

More will be added as the story develops and more blog about it. We do have a dedicated blog category covering this story which has a few useful blog articles and links that explain the story from day one:

• Security Cadets >> Julie Amero

Our NewsBot got a sniff of this story with our blog feeds which you can find here. However we have mirrorerd this article in the forum for all your discussions. Please make use of it and tell us your opinions of this news.

The Julie Amero case was probably the stand-out case over recent years about computer security. Many bloggers, including me, watched the case develop with great interest. Even with the recent events of a new trial. But like many people in the same field as me, we always wonder how we can prevent such a thing. If not in the first place but for the future.

What happened to Julie could easily be you! Cases like this could happen again. So let’s enter something that may prevent future cases, The Julie Group.

This group/blog brings many experts together from a wide range;

“Our purpose here is twofold: First, to bring attention to those situations where injustice is being done through the misuse or misunderstanding of computers and computer forensics; and second, to prevent future injustice wherever we are able.”

I recommend everyone to bookmark it & read what some of the contributors have to say. If you have a suggestion or comment about this, let us know so we can pass it on.

Ok so I can blabble on a bit and sometimes be a tad annoying. Taking that into account I will let “quotes” do the work in this article. Plus I am mega-tired right now!

“NEW LONDON — A New London Superior court judge this morning granted a defense request seeking a new trial for Julie Amero, the former Norwich middle school substitute teacher convicted of exposing her middle school students to Internet porn.” – Norwich Bulletin

… and …

“The new trial ordered by Superior Court Judge Hillary B. Strackbein comes after a campaign on Amero’s behalf by computer security experts around the country, who offered evidence showing that Amero’s computer was taken over by malicious “spyware” that caused a rapid fire sequence of pornographic “pop-up” windows to appear on the screen.”

“In setting aside the guilty verdict, Strackbein ruled that the witness the state presented as a computer expert, a Norwich police detective, provided “erroneous” testimony about the classroom computer.”

“The jury may have relied, at least in part, on that false information,” said Strackbein.” – courant.com

… So yeah some great news here and I can probably blab on for a bit, but I think those articles and quotes really tell you the story. Something good may be happening in regards to this. What do you think about this decision? Tell us here and also tell the world and Digg it over at Digg.com.

Update … Links are coming in thick and fast as you can imagine so here are just a few:

• SecurityFix
• Video outside the courts today
• TheDay.com
• SunBelts’s Alex Eckelberry’s comments
• … And many more

Well it appears the sentencing in the Julie Amero case has been postponed again! It’s already been postponed at least once or twice;-

“Sentencing was postponed today for Julie Amero, the former substitute teacher convicted of exposing seventh-grade students at Kelly Middle School in Norwich to pornographic images on her classroom computer.”

“Originally scheduled for Friday (this Friday) in Norwich Superior Court, sentencing is now set for June 6 in New London Superior Court. It is unclear at this time at who requested the postponement.” – Norwich Bulletin

We have a dedicated Julie Amero topic for you to chip in with your two cents, on our forum.

I don’t know whether to eat my hat or be happy with this as it’s going on for what seems forever. The Julie Amero case has been rescheduled to May 18th, next month. But enough of me read about it here. And discuss it here in more detail.

At least it is good new:

Norwich Bulletin report:

“The former Norwich substitute teacher convicted of exposing her seventh-grade students to Internet porn is getting extra time to bolster her defense team.

Superior Court Judge Hillary Strackbein agreed Monday, court documents show, to postpone Friday’s sentencing for Julie Amero, 40, the Windham woman convicted last month on four counts of risk of injury to a minor. Her sentencing will take place March 29 in Norwich Superior Court, where she faces 40 years in prison.”

This is probably the best decision made during this trial. Let us know what you think or comment about it here.

“The jury believed that, no matter how pornography got on a school computer, substitute teacher Julie Amero didn’t do enough to protect students from it. The full trial transcript is available below in the Amero special section.”

A load of crap rolled into one I think on that quotation but read the full trial transcript here. This just makes my blood boil. If it does yours, tell us here.

It’s true. Things are drying out. Have we won the war? Doubt it! Is it all going to kick of? You bet! But in the meantime I have gathered some articles of interest mainly because I’m too lazy to even make an article right now and rather busy with other projects.

• Experiments in Temporary Happiness: Media Player Serves up YouTube Videos
• Chris Boyd’s opinion on the Julie Amero case
• Windows Vista bookmarks
• DDoS attack on CastleCops … Gaaaaah
• DirectRevenue and their deep pockets!
• Phishing targets Party Poker
• Malicious Website / Malicious Code: Crimeware, Trojan Horse Bo

Some good articles there. Hopefully when things die down here I can start blogging again. Have fun! And stay safe!