Even if you never visit an illegal pornography website, malicious software viruses can get you in trouble with authorities.
Some viruses can remotely access child pornography, and download images and videos onto your computer, according to computer experts.
A recent Associated Press investigation found cases in which innocent people have been branded as pedophiles after their co-workers or loved ones stumbled upon child porn placed on a PC through a virus.
"It ruined my life and my wife's life," Michael Fiola said, after a virus programmed to visit 40 child porn sites per minute infected his computer.
Charges against Fiola were eventually dropped.
Computer experts say it’s important for users to be aware of what's on their computers and protect their systems.
"It could definitely get someone who isn't guilty in a lot of trouble," computer specialist Andy Clauss said. He helps people get rid of viruses at his company, ABC Computers Plus.
"It's hard to prove that it wasn't you that went to these sites," Clauss said.
At any moment, about 20 million of the estimated 1 billion Internet-connected PCs worldwide are infected with viruses that could give hackers full control, according to security software maker F-Secure Corp. Computers often get infected when people open e-mail attachments from unknown sources or visit a malicious Web page.
Pedophiles can tap viruses in several ways. The simplest is to force someone else's computer to surf child porn sites, collecting images along the way. Or a computer can be made into a warehouse for pictures and videos that can be viewed remotely when the PC is online.
"They're kind of like locusts that descend on a cornfield: They eat up everything in sight and they move on to the next cornfield," says Eric Goldman, academic director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University. Goldman has represented Web companies that discovered child pornographers were abusing their legitimate services.
But pedophiles need not be involved: Child porn can land on a computer in a sick prank or an attempt to frame the PC's owner.
Investigators say if it lands on your computer, it can land you behing bars.
"If it shows up on your computer or your cell phone, you can be charged with maintaining and posessing pornographic materials, and that is a crime," Apache Junction Police Capt. Thomas Kelly said.
