MATCH.com Strikes Again - Woman Raped on First Date

A woman who was brutally beaten and raped on a first date with a man she met on Match.com has testified about how she faced additional humiliation from defense attorneys who tried to use her Google searches as evidence against her.

Jennifer Bennett was 23-years-old when she was attacked in the apartment of Thomas Bray, a 37-year-old anesthesiologist, and she decided to go public following the attack in hopes of encouraging other sexual assault victims to report their attacks.

Though she expected to be questioned by police and interrogated by Bray's prominent attorney, she did not expect that they would try to use her own Google searches against her in an attempt to diminish the seriousness of the attack.

According to The Oregonian, Bray's lawyers ordered Ms Bennett to turn over her Google searches because they wanted to show that around the time of the February 2011 attack, Ms Bennett searched for the definition of rape. Defense attorneys believed that this would help support Bray's story that their sexual was rough but consensual, and Ms Bennett regretted it after the fact so she was looking for a way to argue her way out of it.

Victims advocates, however, decried the move. Meg Garvin, director of the National Crime Victim Law Institute said 'it's subjecting them to re-victimization by the system'. The filing for the search results was the first of its kind in Oregon, and though the both the county judge ruled that the order was justified and the state supreme court ruled that too much time had passed to appeal, the district attorney did not comply with the order.

Google also refused to turn over their user’s information as protected by the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act unless she agreed, which she did not. In the end, Ms Bennett didn’t turn over her searches or her journals, but the sympathetic judge did not react with a contempt of court charge.‘I chose not to because I didn't think it was fair or correct,’ Ms Bennett told The Oregonian.

Instead of penalizing the victim, the jury sentenced Bray to spend the next 25 years in jail as he was found guilty of rape, sodomy, strangulation and assault.He was also facing charges that stem back to an alleged sexual assault of a prior girlfriend, but her claims were dismissed since the judge found them to be less valid because she continued to date him after the incident took place.

He will also have to pay a $112,000 fine, and $50,000 of that money will go the Ms Bennett, who moved to Oregon just months before the attack after accepting a job as a research chemist at Western Washington University.

Aside from the unusual invasion into Ms Bennett’s privacy, the story of the attack is becoming a disturbingly familiar trend as there have been many instances of sexual assaults during dates that came to fruition via online dating sites.

In Ms Bennett’s case, she met Bray at a drink at a bistro in downtown Bend, and they then went together to Bray’s condo which was directly across the street for a glass of wine.  Very soon after entering the condo, Ms Bennett was beaten, raped, and strangled until she passed out. She said that the abuse took place over the course of several hours.

After reporting the crime to police, she suffered scrutiny from both internet trolls and local news reporters, who published the police report and highlighted her bra size. She has since moved to Seattle.

‘Yes, I was raped. It doesn't make me a bad person. I didn't make poor choices. I was not the criminal,’ she told The Oregonian.  (Bray’s sentencing is) the one nugget that I could hold on to through all of this-- that a dangerous criminal will be off the streets.’

original article found here

Complete Privacy Does NOT Exist

Arguing that technology has ensured that "complete privacy does not exist," Google contends that a Pennsylvania family has no legal grounds to sue the search giant for publishing photos of their home on its popular "Street View" mapping feature.

Responding to an invasion of privacy lawsuit filed by Aaron and Christine Boring, Google has countered that the couple "live in a residential community in the twenty-first-century United States, where every step upon private property is not deemed by law to be an actionable trespass."

In a motion to dismiss the Borings's federal complaint, Google's six-lawyer team asserts that,

"Today's satellite-image technology means that even in today's desert, complete privacy does not exist. In any event, Plaintiffs live far from the desert and are far from hermits."

An excerpt from Google's U.S. District Court motion can be found below. The company asserts that the images of the Borings's Pittsburgh-area residence were "unremarkable photos of the exterior of their home," and were taken during a "brief entry upon their driveway."

In their lawsuit, the Borings charged that a Google vehicle -- outfitted with a panoramic camera on its roof -- drove down a private road to take images of their Oakridge Lane home.

In its dismissal motion, Google noted that it intends to prove that there was "no clearly marked 'Private Road' sign at the beginning" of the Borings's street. Google removed its "Street View" photos of the Boring residence and swimming pool after the couple filed its lawsuit in April.

READ THE REST HERE

Man Gets 18 Years in Prison for Internet Harassment

By Kat Asharya

A Minnesota (USA) hacker received 18-years in jail for cyber-harassment against his neighbors, demonstrating the chaos that hacking can cause on a personal level.

Barry Ardolf, 46-year-old angered his neighbors, Matt and Bethany Kostolnik, after kissing their young son. Ardolf then allegedly hacked into the Kostolniks' Wi-Fi router and hijacked e-mail accounts to frame them for child pornography, sexual harassment and professional misconduct.

"Barry Ardolf has demonstrated by his conduct that he is a dangerous man. When he became angry at his neighbors, he vented his anger in a bizarre and calculated campaign of terror against them," said prosecutor Timothy Rank in a court filing. "And he did not wage this campaign in the light of day, but rather used his computer hacking skills to strike at his victims while hiding in the shadows."

For example, Ardolf created a fake MySpace page for the husband, where he posted a picture of young teens engaged in sexual activity. He then e-mailed child porn to Kostolnik's co-workers at a law firm using Kostolnik's e-mail account, in addition to sending flirtatious messages to women in Kostolnik's office.

However, Ardolf pushed too far when he used the Kostolnik accounts to send a message threatening Vice President Joe Biden, which drew the involvement of the Secret Service and FBI. Working with packet sniffers installed by Kostolnik's law firm on its network, the federal agencies pinpointed Ardolf.

The FBI got a search warrant for Ardolf's house and computer, where they found large amounts of evidence, including hacking manuals and data copied from the Kostolnik's computers. They also found handwritten notes laying out Ardolf's detailed revenge plans, as well as messages for the family.

"I told you about a year ago that you should be very afraid. I can destroy you at will, you sorry-ass excuse for a human," one letter said.

Ardolf's campaign of cyber-intimidation may be small in scale in comparison to the spate of hacker intrusions into corporations and government websites over recent months, but it is a reminder of how deeply entrenched technology is with everyday life, and how more and more consumers must be vigilant against security threats.

"Over months and months, he inflicted unfathomable psychic damage, making the victims feel vulnerable in their own home, while avoiding detection," said Rank.

In addition to the 18-year prison sentence, Ardolf, who had no previous criminal record, forfeited his house and computer gear. Further investigation revealed he also hijacked the Wi-Fi networks of other neighbors and harassed them as well. He eventually pleaded guilty to identity theft and two child pornography accusations carrying lifetime sex-offender registration requirements.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE