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Viruses Secretly Downloading Child Pornography

Malware and viruses have a lot of tricks up their sleeves -- from stealing passwords and harvesting credit card information, to simply destroying data and crashing PCs. But of all those nasty abilities, the worst and most confounding is the ability to secretly load a PC with child pornography.

It's difficult to understand the motives for dumping boatloads of child pornography on the hard drives of unsuspecting Web users. It is possible, though, for pedophiles to secretly store their highly illegal collections on other people's PCs, view them remotely, and thus avoid incriminating themselves. Another possibility is that the programs are designed simply to wreak havoc on the reputations of others, framing them as collectors of underage filth. The first publicly recognized case of such an infection, in 2003, involved a British man who was arrested on child pornography charges, only to be cleared later when it was determined that a virus loaded the illegal content on his PC.

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Cell Phones

Some T-Mobile Users See Nude Strangers on Their Profile Pages


T-Mobile is apparently offering a scintillating ('Titillating' would have been far too easy and predictable.) new feature for people with online accounts: pics of naked girls. The Consumerist is reporting that when T&A- T-Mobile subscriber "Andrew" signed in to his account to check a bill payment recently, a picture of an unfamiliar, topless female appeared on his profile page, within his MobileLife photo album.

Andrew also claims that when he signed in again later, yet more nudie shots appeared. After the Consumerist broke Andrew's shocking story, the site was flooded with still more reports of even raunchier images appearing on T-Mobile profile pages. When asked for a comment, a T-Mobile spokesperson told the Consumerist that the company is investigating the incidents, which it claims are "not common."

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Video Games, Celebrities

Lil' Wayne's Xbox Is Much Cooler Than Yours


Despite the spectacular bling, the hardcore tats, and the intimidating, unflinching glares, hip-hop stars can geek out just like the rest of us. In its most recent focus on 'Celebrity Nerds,' Engadget discovered that Lil' Wayne, in an interview with Gamertag Radio, revealed a little tidbit that will make him the envy of Xbox owners everywhere.

During the gathering, the star admitted to owning a tricked-out Xbox that has movies, every game from "A to Z," and -- amazingly -- porn (Show us the way, Lil' Wayne!). One of the guys in the room, right on cue, chimed in with, "That's a real 'X' box." You got that right; it's probably perfect for Wayne's tour bus. Now, that rigged-up NES, duct-taped to a black and white TV in our creepy band van, just seems even more incredibly lame. [From: Gamertag Radio, via Engadget]

Web

Irish Factory Workers Fired Over Porn, Picket Pizza Plant

For some reason, people will risk total embarrassment and unemployment to watch porn at work. Of all the places we'd rather not think about people thinking sexy thoughts, a factory that makes pizzas has to be near the top.

According to the Leinster Leader, three employees at the Green Isle Foods plant in Naas, Ireland were fired at the end of September for "improper use of the company's IT system, including the spreading of adult material." A representative of the workers told the Belfast Telegraph that, in truth, they were not booted for porn, but because they had received a confidential company e-mail that was sent by mistake. Now, 35 workers are picketing the plant in protest, and the company last week refused an invitation to discuss this mess with the Technical, Engineering and Electrical Union.

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Computers, Web

National Science Foundation Hit by Internet Porn Scandal


At the taxpayer-funded National Science Foundation (NSF), investigations of employees' inappropriate use of Internet pornography have skyrocketed over the past year, The Washington Times reports. According to foundation records obtained by the Times, out of 10 closed misconduct investigations last year, seven involved online pornography. The NSF, with over 1,200 employees and an endowment listed last year around $6 billion, is a public institution designed to dole out grants to universities and research institutions for an array of scientific endeavors. Unfortunately, this spike in employee misbehavior diverted the NSF from its primary duties of grant fraud investigation, and has cost taxpayers, as well.

One official, for example, spent 331 days on porn sites, chatting with nude or scantily clad women, sparking an investigation that cost taxpayers anywhere between $13,800 and $58,000, alone. Before resigning after being exposed, the official attempted to explain away his frisky forays by claiming he was only chatting with these poor, disadvantaged (and, by total coincidence, naked) girls because he wanted to help them make a little money, so they could "help their parents," the investigation report explains.

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iPod, iPhone

Porn Stars Go Mobile in New iPhone Apps

The day of celebration has arrived for porn-loving iPhone owners. Sultry stars Sunny Leone and Aria Giovanni have officially made their Apple-approved iPhone app debuts, according to CNET. The apps, courtesy of GrindHouse Mobile, feature photos, blogs, and videos, but, in news certain to crush the hopes of adolescents everywhere, reportedly contain no actual nudity.

GrindHouse had to compromise its initial, too-"hot" vision so that the apps could meet Apple standards, but a GrindHouse spokesperson promised in a press release that the content would still be "compelling and user friendly." Updated premium versions, which are currently seeking approval, would provide more "interactive features," allowing fans to actually communicate with the stars. The porn-on-the-go creators are also in the process of developing an app that celebrates the adult talents of 'The Girls of Erotica.com.'

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Web

'Seksi' Buttons Celebrate and Denigrate E-Mail Porn Spam

Sure, e-mail ads about male enhancement and buxom Russian lasses are incredibly annoying, and even dangerous. But some humor can definitely be found in the horribly misspelled words and the inevitable butchering of grammar.

To help spin those inbox blights into a positive, hilarious phenomenon, Seksi Spam Buttons is offering a variety of "wearable pinback buttons featuring the comically mangled subject lines from porn-site spam." Some of the available pins get pretty raunchy, but even the tame ones (like "Nice Graet Leegs") should amuse the most ardent spam haters.

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Web

City Web Site Lists Services: Sewer, Police, Schools, Porn...

Governments and the Internet go together like water and vinegar. When world leaders aren't accidentally posting sensitive information about their country's nuclear sites, or "losing" hundreds of e-mails connected to an ongoing legal investigation, they're often breaking video-sharing sites, or blocking services like RSS altogether. One branch of the U.S. government was even without Internet access until 2008. (Although, judging from the aforementioned instances of complete buffoonery, it might be better that way.)

Now, Germans have their own tale of an embarrassing government mishap publicly posted on the Internet. According to Reuters, the official site for the city of Gelsenkirchen temporarily listed pornography as one of the services provided by the local administration. Of course, the whole thing started as a simple mistake when an employee, compiling a list of services, thought there was a chance that brothel owners -- when looking up information about the city's sex tax -- might search for 'pornography.'

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Web, Social Networking

Off-Color Spam Plagues Twitter, Scares Away Older Folks


With its growing number of users, Twitter has also seen a tremendous rise in spam. We've written before about the low-lifes that create fake accounts, rife with nude pictures and links that will infect your computer with all kinds of viruses. It doesn't take a genius to realize that rampant spam is a problem for a Web site, and particularly a social networking site.

But a columnist at Business Week writes that spam might be an even larger concern for Twitter than most folks think. The theory is this: since Twitter's users tend to be slightly older, they're more likely to be offended by links to porn. In turn, they just might stop using the micro-blogging site. The writer, Sarah Lacy, uses the example of her mother-in-law, who recently joined the Twitter-verse. This poor old lady told Lacy that she "felt so violated" when one of her 'followers' turned out to be nothing more than a fake account whose page was riddled with pornographic images.

Sure, spam is a problem that plagues many sites, even Facebook. But, as Lacy writes (and we completely agree), alerting Twitter to spam is "too cumbersome a process." To report spam, you have to follow an account, called 'spam' of course, copy the URL in question, and message a complaint. Most folks just won't go to that much trouble, and honestly, who can blame them? One thing's for sure, Twitter had better figure this one out quick. Or else, there will be no users left on the site aside from suspiciously under-dressed ones named 'Jasmine' and 'Kelli.' [From: Business Week]

Web

Swedish Government Funds Artsy 'Feminist' Porno for Gals




To the easily flustered: avert your eyes. Swedish director Mia Engberg has produced 12 short films that she dubs, as oxymoronic as it sounds, 'feminist porn,' the AFP reports. Artsy, with slow close-ups of men and women, lots of laughter and 'unsexy' imagery like hugging, 'Dirty Diaries' -- as the series is called -- hopes to celebrate sexuality, not please men. Enterprising, and not without controversy.

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Web

High School and Porn Site Have Similar Web Addresses


A Florida high school is having serious problems with its Web presence, and it has nothing to do with viruses, spam, or hackers. Both PaceHighSchool.net and PaceHighSchool.com are working perfectly fine; unfortunately, one address is for a public Florida high school and the other is for a hardcore porno site.

Pace High School shares a domain name with a site owned by PimpRoll, the only difference being the '.net' and '.com.' Teachers and parents are terrified for their kids, and frustrated when they find themselves on the porn site PaceHighSchool.com. (The high school students, on the other hand, have probably been joking about it for months.)

Pace High School Principal Frank Lay told the NWF Daily News, "We found out about this site a couple of weeks ago and there is nothing we can do."

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Web

Why Many Don't Upgrade Their Firefox: Porn Collections

Even though Firefox 3.0 set a Guinness World Record back in 2008 for the most downloads in a 24-hour period, there were, apparently, still people hesitant to upgrade from the previous version. According to Download Squad, Firefox personnel have been sending questionnaires to users who declined to make the switch in order to figure out why.

Results revealed that people who stuck with 2.0 did so for one primary reason -- to keep their Web activities private and hidden. The upgraded 3.0 version included a text-match feature, which automatically brought up corresponding bookmarked sites as a user entered letters into the address bar.

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Web

'Porn' a Top Search Result for Kids, Study Finds


Nobody is surprised anymore that "sex" and "porn" are always in the top ten search terms. So why is it news that kids are routinely searching out the naughty stuff online, as well?

According to Symantec, which used its OnlineFamily.Norton service to track 3.5 million kids' searches anonymously, "sex" and "porn" are respectively the fourth and sixth most popular search terms among younger browsers. "YouTube" and "Google" came in as number one and two, respectively. (Though we're not sure why you'd have to search for a search engine.) Overall, kids' search terms didn't look all that different from those of adults, with the exception of the name "Fred," a popular YouTube performer, who came in at number nine.

Marian Merritt, Symantec's Internet safety advocate, summed up our feelings pretty well when she told the BBC, "I think we have all gotten over our shock that the Internet has porn."

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Web

Plots Disappearing From Porn, Thanks to Short Online Attention Spans

Whether you overindulge in it or find it morally repulsive, the pornography industry and technology have a very, well, intimate relationship. When the world was deciding between VHS and Betamax, the adult industry chose VHS, and everyone listened. Hopefully, this trend doesn't cross over into content, because, as the New York Times reports, the Web is destroying the creativity behind pornography.

Two notable things: Yes, there apparently is creativity involved in porn, and secondly, since users find their attention spans shrinking, if the story doesn't pick up in the first minute, watchers move on. Vivid Entertainment's co-chairman Steven Hirsch tells the Times that, "On the Internet, the average attention span is three to five minutes. We have to cater to that." So, there goes the loose plots that made classics like 'Deep Throat' and 'Debbie Does Dallas' mainstream crossovers.

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Audio/Video, Web

Mormon University Lifts Three-Year YouTube Ban

Regardless of your spiritual or religious beliefs, it's impossible to contest that we live in the 21st Century, where we are constantly bombarded with information and multimedia. With that in mind, the conservative, morally minded Brigham Young University (BYU) Friday lifted a three-year ban on YouTube, the AP reports. The video-sharing network, according to university spokeswoman Carri Jenkins, has relevant educational applications and students are missing out.

BYU, a Mormon school, requires that its students sign a moral code of conduct, pledging that they will stay committed to the ideals of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It also reserves the right to eliminate anything on campus that goes against the Church's tenets, including media that may feature 'unfit' or 'pornographic' imagery.

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