Maine Police Investigate Facebook Porn Virus

HARTLAND, Maine—Responding to a complaint by a 13-year-old Somerset Valley Middle School student that a pornographic image had found its way onto her Facebook page, Maine police launched an investigation that determined a virus was to blame. According to the Bangor Daily News, the unnamed girl told the school’s resource officer for the Newport Police Department during a presentation Monday about the Facebook post. The officer, Chris McCrillis, then contacted the Maine State police computer crimes laboratory, which said similar viruses had been reported. “A pornographic image had been forwarded from a Facebook account to a student’s Facebook account,” McCrillis said Tuesday. “It turned out to be a virus that Facebook is trying to get a grip on. It’s something that got out of control.” He added that the virus cannot be deleted, and that the only way to get rid of it permanently is to deactivate and then reactivate the Facebook account. McCrillis also contacted the owner of the Facebook account responsible for forwarding the virus to the girl. He told the Bangor News, “We were able to determine it was not intentional. It went to all of the user’s friends.” The officer also offered the following advice. “Be wary of what you are clicking on,” he said. But it’s unclear what clicking on unknown links has to do with this situation, in which a porn video was allegedly sent to an unsuspecting account via a virus propagated by a Facebook friend. If it really is as tenacious a virus as described, however, more reports of its existence should surface before long.