CHICAGO -- Members of a Chicago family are trying to get a
warning out after they said a computer they bought as a child's
gift turned out to be laden with pornography.
Rick and Joy Donaldson had something special planned this Christmas
for their 13-year-old son, Simeon: a new computer.
"On Christmas Day we set it up, hit Internet Explorer and the first
thing to pop up was a porn site," Rick Donaldson said. "That was a
shocker."
Joy Donaldson said what appeared was child pornography. The
Donaldsons said they had to yell for their son to stay out of the
room.
Rick Donaldson said he purchased the computer from a Comp USA store
in Skokie, Ill. It was a floor model Donaldson bought at a
discount, but the father never imagined that such content would be
on the computer. He
said the URL that appeared wasn't just pornographic, but racist,
too.
"It was very frustrating," Joy Donaldson said.
As the Donaldsons tried to close the window, another popped open,
inviting them to e-mail the site to a friend.
The Donaldsons packed up the computer and returned it. The store
cleaned it up and offered a $100 voucher.
Comp USA said it is common practice for the store to erase hard
drives. A store representative said this was "very rare and we're
very apologetic."
Donaldson said he wanted to warn other families to be on the
lookout.
"Our message to parents is that something like this can happen and
make sure you're the fist one to look at it," he said.
Chicago TV station WMAQ reached out to other retailers to see what
their policies were. Most stores contacted had similar policies,
and said they would review them.
