Author's Note: By the time you read this, many of you will have already seen the January 12, 2007 episode of ABC's 20/20 about Matt Bandy. If so, some of the information will be familiar, but at the same time no television broadcast can give you the depth of detail we are offering you on this website. The best way to help prevent this type of situation from happening to you or someone you love is to look at our How You Can Help section (none of which is a request for money!) and also, if you're a blogger or website owner, to talk about it online.

Your home computer could, as you're reading this, contain child pornography or other illegal material placed there by criminals who have turned your computer into a "zombie" which they control at their whim. And under the laws of many states, and federal legislation being pushed hard in Congress, you could go to jail for what is found on your computer, even if you didn't put it there.

This is not the Twilight Zone. This is the real deal. I'm a former Army counter-intelligence operative and investigative reporter. I have 25 years of experience in crisis management public relations. I know how to tell when a source is truthful, when a story has journalistic merit, and when a client is trying to do the right thing versus attempting any sort of cover-up.

The reason I know that our home computers are all at high risk is a kid named Matt Bandy. A kid accused of a horrible crime he didn't commit, and which he didn't have to tell you about at all. Let me tell you Matt's story.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

At 6 am on Thursday morning, December 16, 2004, Matt — then age 16 — was getting ready to go to school, as was his younger sister. His mom, Jeanne, was coming down the stairs when she saw shadowy figures coming up their walk, to the Bandy's front door, where they started pounding.

"This is the police, open up!"

After the officers showed their IDs to Jeanne through the window, she let them in.

"There were about ten police. They made me and my kids go outside where we huddled together, frightened. The police asked if we had any guns in the house and I said we didn't own any. They asked if there was anyone else in the house and I told them yes, my husband, Greg, who was asleep upstairs with earplugs in. They pulled Greg (an emergency room physician) out of bed at gunpoint."

Eventually, the police made it clear to The Bandys that they had a search warrant for their home. The lead detective from the Police Department said that child pornography had allegedly been uploaded to a specific Yahoo Group from an IP address (a unique identifying code) associated with The Bandys' computer. Yahoo apparently reports such events to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which then passes the information on to law enforcement serving the region from which the images seem to originate. "Seem" being the operative word, as you'll come to understand later in this article.

Jeanne and Greg had no idea what the detective was talking about, but Matt ruefully admitted that he had participated in a Yahoo Group for the purpose of viewing Playboy-like adult images. He was asked what username he had employed and he provided that information, which was apparently similar to — but not the same as — the name the police said had been used to upload child porn. He adamantly denied ever viewing images that in any way could be construed as child pornography.

An officer from the local County Attorney's office set about conducting a preliminary examination of two computers in The Bandy's home, only one of which was connected to the Internet. To their shock and dismay, on the Internet-connected computer, he reported that he found a number of child porn images and traces of the email address used to upload the pics.