A paedophile in England has just been sentenced to ten years' jail for 'grooming' victims through their computers. One of his alarming tricks involved controlling their computers from his own. He spread his activities widely: one victim was in Manitoba. He could do frightening things: he could move their cursor, open files and programs and open their cd-rom drawer, for example. He used this skill to intimidate his victims.

Just how easy was this to do, once he had the e-mail addresses? How would he set about it? (I'm not asking for instructions ). The child protection investigator was impressed and thought this a very sophisticated piece of work. Was it?

Actually, this is pretty easy to do. Lots of companies use this software to spot-check or fix errors or spy on what their employees are doing. Some companies are so large they give this to a remote location or even help desks overseas to fix problems. No trick at all, really.