IP Address Typo Leads to Couple Being Accused of Child Porn

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A simple typo in an IP address led to a Kansas couple being wrongly accused of child pornography. If you’ve ever seen the movie Brazil, then you know what the unfortunately named Brian and Sarah Doom have been through.

It all started when Brian and Sarah Doom’s Internet Service Provider (ISP), Cox Communications (also known as cox.net) provided investigators with the wrong information for who was connected to the end of a particular IP address. Oh, the subpoena served on Cox had the right IP address, but apparently when an employee at Cox looked up the information for investigators, they typoed the IP address, entering an IP address which was not actually the IP address listed on the subpoena, but which instead had been used by Brian and Sarah Doom.

The next thing the Dooms knew, the police were knocking at their door, and before you could say “But you’ve made a mistake”, Brian and Sarah Doom found themselves on the business end of an “aggressive interrogation”.

Oops.

As may be expected, the Dooms are now suing Cox for a host of things, including invasion of privacy, breach of contract, defamation of character, and outrageous conduct.

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Showing himself to be a master of understatement, the Dooms’ attorney, Craig Shultz said that “These are good people who were accused of crimes that sickened them. Their neighbors saw the police show up and take them away. It destroyed their week.”

Said a Cox spokesperson, “Cox did make a mistake, and we are sorry for that action. But due to the pending lawsuit, we are prevented from commenting further.”

It’s ok, you’ve really already said enough.

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4 thoughts on “IP Address Typo Leads to Couple Being Accused of Child Porn

  1. something along this nature happened to me. Does any one know of any available resources that can help me.

  2. It’s too bad all these idiots in the world just can’t resist ruining the lives of innocent people. May they ALL burn in Hell!

  3. Mistake, eh? Defamation of character, slander come to mind. Nothing that beating a couple of Cox Network executives with logging chains wouldn’t cure as an example of what to expect if you really mess up something so life destroying. Ruined their week, eh. If you were single, 40ish and male, consider your life over to the extent that you might just as well commit suicide because you will never escape the stigma if such a mistake is made.

  4. As a fellow Kansan, I hope they go after the government also. Where are the checks for validity and accuracy?

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