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Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield

Florida State Shooting Details; Latest on Bill Cosby Rape Allegations; Fergison Bracing for Grand Jury Decision; Russians Hack Webcams

Aired November 20, 2014 - 12:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN REPORTER: They said within the next coming hours, students who may have left their belonging inside that library will be able to come in and retrieve it.

And, Ashleigh, just a little while ago, I spoke to somebody who was in there. She said the irony was that she was studying for a class about why school shootings happen. She has an exam on that or she had the exam on that today, when she said she heard the gunshots, she thought it was a joke, she ran out, she said she's just lucky to be alive and her thoughts and prayers with everyone who went the -- who went through that ordeal with her.

Ashleigh?

ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN HOST: That is unbelievable. She was studying school shootings...

VALENCIA: Yes.

BANFIELD: ... when one actually broke out where she was. Oh, Nick, that is just...

VALENCIA: Yes.

BANFIELD: ... Nick Valencia, live for us. Keep us updated on the conditions of everyone. By the way, Nick, are the other students OK? I know they survived, are they OK?

VALENCIA: Yes. We know one is in critical condition right now. One was treated and released, another is in stable condition. So two still hospitalized but, you know, when I'd mentioned that girl, you know, there are still people that are still visibly shaken. They're showing up here at the crime scene, tears in their eyes, you know, visibly hand shaking. So this is a -- has been a traumatic experience for everyone who witnessed it, Ashleigh, for sure.

BANFIELD: Nick Valencia, live for us in Tallahassee doing the job. Good reporting. Thank you for that, Nick.

I'm going to take you now to another story that we've been following, the accusations against Committee on Bill Cosby. In recent days, a number of women have come forward accusing him of sexually assaulting them. He has never been charged. Through all of these turmoil, Cosby's wife, Camille has been by his side and supporting him. Ahead, a closer look at her and their 50-year marriage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: Actor and comedian Bill Cosby is facing more salacious allegations today of making unwanted physical advances against young women.

Carla Ferrigno, who is the wife of actor Lou Ferrigno, is now telling CNN that she was 18-years-old and in Cosby's Beverly Hills home back in 1967 when he alleged grabbed and forcibly kissed her on the mouth when no one was around. She said she had no intention of taking legal action against Cosby but once her story told, "To put a nail in his coffin." Despite repeated denials by Cosby's attorneys, the rising volume of the accusations, it is now taking a toll.

NBC has scrubbed plans for a brand new Cosby sitcom, Netflix has put on hold a comedy special that was planned for later this month and TV Land quietly removed the reruns of the Cosby show from its lineup.

At least six women have now come forward publically in recent days. Some had gone public nearly a decade ago. Others like Ferrigno are just now speaking out. All of the alleged assaults took place over a 20-year-period, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. Cosby himself has been very tight-lipped about this.

Case in point, when the Associated Press asked about the allegations, the actor not only refused to comment, he went a lot further. He insisted that the brief exchange between the reporter and him be stricken completely from the interview. Let's take a look at how it happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL COSBY, ACTOR AND COMEDIAN: Now, can I get something from you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's that?

COSBY: That none of that will be shown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't promise that myself, but you didn't say anything.

COSBY: I know I didn't say anything but I'm asking your integrity that since I didn't want to say anything but I did answer you in terms of I don't want to say anything of what value would it have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: You probably know that the woman who is sitting right beside Bill Cosby was his wife Camille. And she's been mentioned so many times in his standup routines that a lot of fans probably feel like they know her. Yet she has managed to stay pretty much out of the spotlight for most of his storied career. That is until now.

Because now everyone is wondering how does this formidable woman sit into this disturbing picture of a married woman -- a woman married to an alleged serial rapist, again, an alleged serial rapist. Did she know? Did she suspect what might have been happening?

Blue Telusma, writes for the theGrio.com, a website focused on news about African-Americans and she has written an editorial about Camille Cosby that appears on CNN.com as well.

Blue, thanks so much for being with me. I'm sure that you are probably -- I'm sure you were looking at that interview. I was so dumbstruck watching the body language, not only of Mr. Cosby but of Mrs. Cosby as well. The tight-lipped stoses [ph], I think is how you described it.

BLUE TELUSMA, WRITER FOR THEGRIO.COM: Exactly.

BANFIELD: What do you make of Camille Cosby who is like the real life Claire Huxtable. She is brilliant and educated and beautiful and articulate and she's like a leader among women. What do you make of this relationship?

TELUSMA: I'm devastated. Camille Cosby is a woman that I've been modeled myself after since I was a little girl. Claire Huxtable inspired so many of us to want to be classy and educated but still have wonderful families and be vulnerable and to be whole human beings. And when you saw Camille Cosby on that interview with Oprah that happened about 14 years ago, she was clearly Claire Huxtable.

She was poised. She was beautiful. She was classy. Even Oprah seemed a bit star struck by her and so I've always kept an eye on here and their relationship and I've watched her and Bill spend what -- $70 million and donate it to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. They've also made a social responsibility in educational platform whenever you hear Camille Cosby speak, she's always speaking about social responsibility.

So it's really difficult to reconcile that image next to these allegations and not feel that she must be devastated too. I'm devastated as a fan of hers and so I can imagine what she must feel as a woman having to stand next to this man while the media is pretty much having a field day with his legacy.

BANFIELD: Right. And let's remind our viewers, she is doctor.

TELUSMA: Doctor.

BANFIELD: Camille. She is -- yes. This is a woman who dropped out of college to support her husband's career at age 19 and then went back after five children...

TELUSMA: Yes.

BANFIELD: ... to get her masters and then a doctoral degree.

I want to read something that you wrote about what she said when she was asked about why she -- whether she -- was or wasn't content to just settle from being the wife a famous entertainer. And this is what she said to you and this is what you've quoted in -- she' said in that you've quoted in your piece. "I don't know exactly what it was, except that for me, integrity is

important. For me, friendships are important, family is important, and it is a blessing if we can have monetary benefits. That's wonderful, and I love it. But I have to have the security of people who really care about me, and me about them. I want to be surrounded by people who have integrity."

This is really...

TELUSMA: Yes.

BANFIELD: ... hard to reconcile given...

TELUSMA: Integrity.

BANFIELD: ... the circumstance that -- yes, I mean listen, there are no proof -- there's no proof, there are no charges, but there are so many women with such a similar story over so many years. This is really hard to put this in perspective. And then...

TELUSMA: Can we examine that word integrity though -- integrity by definition means that you are incorruptible. It means that you have a value system that you hold fast to, and no one can move you from that.

And so, that word in particular and her choice of that world is the thing that I'm grappling with the most because I'm wondering which value system is she actually becoming devoted to? We, as woman, know that you can love somebody and be so devoted to them that you turn a blind eye or don't find yourself seeing the parts of them that everybody else is seeing.

(CROSSTALK)

BANFIELD: What does she owe to us? I mean, honestly, what does any women owe to anybody else when they're not same (inaudible) person...

TELUSMA: Yes.

BANFIELD: They've done nothing wrong. And to that, I want to read something else that you wrote, I think it's so pointed and telling.

"In a world that asks you to be a mother, a wife, a businesswoman, an alluring sexual being women grapple with finding the balance between respecting themselves and prioritizing their relationship. While many say...

TELUSMA: Yes.

BANFIELD: ... they would leave a spouse who cheats, experts estimate that approximately 50 percent to 75 percent of couples rocked by an affair actually do end up staying together." What is that about women who are strong and powerful and leaders that make it's really hard to make executive decisions about your relationship?

TELUSMA: Because we wanted all and we tend to be nurturers who want to put our family first. We want to put our work first. And I know that Camille has -- they got marries 1964. It is now 2014. That is 50 years, a half of century that she's devoted to this man to loving him, to propping him up, to helping him with his career. She has been his muse and his adviser.

And so when you devoted that much time in someone, it has to be difficult to say maybe something is off here. And I'm not going to speculate about if the allegations are true or not, but, I do know that I don't believe that she's co-conspirator but people can lie to themselves. And I don't think even the smartest woman is not exempt from that, that's human nature that when you love somebody, you want to see them in the best light.

And I'm curious as to what her story is. And I think that if she ever stepped out of her wall of silence and actually came and spoke to us. What it's been like to be his wife for all this years because we know he cheated. That's not an allegation. He admitted that he cheated on her.

BANFIELD: He admitted it. Sure. Yes.

TELUSMA: So, even that is hard enough to deal with that kind of betrayal. So, depending on how much she's betrayed her over the years. I think it would be powerful to (inaudible) to hear about how she has managed to remain so poised in the face of this. And we don't know if she's suffering in silence.

She could be smiling on television. She could be looking like none of this bothers her, and then crying real tears at night. And I think that...

BANFIELD: Yes.

TELUSMA: ... humanistic lens that we tend to not give to celebrities. That would...

BANFIELD: Yes.

TELUSMA: ... the intention of the piece to that -- Camille Cosby is a real woman and real woman might not cry in public but they all have feelings. And I know that this must hurt her.

BANFIELD: I have to cut it there. But it's great reading, great writing. Blue Telusma...

TELUSMA: Thank you.

BANFIELD: ... thank you so much. Nice to meet you on the airwave.

TELUSMA: Have a great day.

BANFIELD: All right. You too.

TELUSMA: All right, bye.

BANFIELD: I want to take you to Ferguson Missouri next where a grand jury is deciding whether to indict a police officer in a shooting death of an unarmed teenager and we could be near hours away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: In Ferguson, Missouri, the grand jury looking into the shooting death of unarmed teenager Michael Brown maybe about to wrap up. What's yet to be known is that that panel preparing to meet tomorrow, might be actually meeting for its final session. And if so, a decision on whether to indict Officer Darren Wilson or not could be made and announced the same day.

The expectation is for 48-hour heads up before the decision is announced. So, could we know as earliest Sunday? No matter what the grand jury decides, street demonstrations are almost a forgone conclusion.

Our Stephanie Elam is live now in Ferguson. And you've been taking the pulse of the community and I'm just sort of wondering if they feel any growing angst at all.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh Ashleigh, people here just want this to be over with, they wanted to be done. They want to move forward as a town.

Now, as far as that decision whatever is made from it, if it does come down to the fact that they make a decision on Friday, then we'll likely will find out the same day. We'll likely found out on Sunday.

One other point to keep in mind about Sunday is we're suppose to have driving rain, we're getting it all here in Ferguson as far weather this week. It's been freezing, it's going to warm up the 50s, and then pouring rain, and I can tell you, I've been here before when the rain has been pouring, that did not stop them. I think that the protesters I spoke with are very adamant about the fact that it is going to be necessary for them to be out there on the street, out there making it heard because most of the people I'd spoken to, Ashleigh, do not believe that Darren Wilson will be indicted when we find out the decision the grand jury's made.

BANFIELD: What was that? Is that thunder?

ELAM: Those are the jet fighters that are based here...

BANFIELD: OK.

ELAM: ... in St. Louis. So, every now and then they come around so sorry about that.

BANFIELD: All of the sudden, I thought, you were just in the worst of weather, I've seen you taking...

ELAM: Fighter jets.

BANFIELD: OK. All right. Stephanie, thank you for your good work out there, you got another couple of days that you have to stick it out.

ELAM: Right.

BANFIELD: Stephanie Elam reporting live for us.

By the way the Missouri -- the Ferguson, Missouri police chief is going to be a guest live on my colleague Errol Barnett's program OutFront, so be sure you tune in 7:00 p.m. Eastern for that, probably some very poignant things to be said about what to coming next several days.

Now, to a story about a very real threat to your privacy. Do you have one of those webcas setup at your house for, you know, security, you're looking at your baby, or your nanny or anything like that, because there is a real chance that some guy on the other side of the globe can actually be looking at it too, right along side you. And actually millions of people could look at it on a website, hacking into your webcam.

I'm going to tell you all about it next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BANFIELD: So, if you have one of those video baby monitors or maybe a security camera on the outside or even inside of your home, there's a very weird chance that you could be broadcasting your very private images on a very public Russian website. (inaudible) just kind of sick folks, a website streaming video from thousands of private webcams all around the world, webcams that use default passwords or maybe no even logging codes at all.

The site's database shows listings for more than 4000 cameras right here in the good old U.S. of A.

I want to bring in CNN's Money Tech Correspondent Laurie Segal who's been following the story closely, and CNN's Legal Analyst Paul Callan who is sure to tell us what we recourse we have in all of this.

First of all weird.

LAURIE SEGAL, CNN MONEY TECH CORRESPONDENT: Sure.

BANFIELD: Second of all, there that many people who can be hacked so easily and then just broadcast for the world to see?

SEGAL: I mean I hate the to be bearer of bad news but when I saw this, I thought, of course, this is going to happen because I covered hackers in this community for a long time, and they have always said how vulnerable we are when it comes to this, and when it comes to internet-connected cameras, people don't seem to understand that you have this default passwords and you set it up, you've no idea that online -- there are these hacker forums that have all of the login information for these default passwords. So, it's up to the manufacturer to, you know, prompt you to change it but it also up to you...

BANFIELD: To do it. SEGAL: ... to change your password because I don't think people realize how vulnerable they are I mean we're looking at images on a child's bedroom for God's sake. People don't realize that it so easy.

I had a hackers show me this, Ashleigh. It took him two minutes to get in and he did -- he's an ethical (ph) hacker, it took him two minutes to get into his friend's computer into her living room.

BANFIELD: So my recourse if I have a camera at home is immediately to go to -- and if I don't understand it, call the Geek Squad or call somebody...

SEGAL: Yes.

BANFIELD: ... and figure out how to password protect any of my of any of my cameras. And the -- by the way, did you say they have GPS coordinates attached to this live images just so, that the freaks can find out where you are at any moment?

SEGAL: The point of websites, you know it was beyond voyeurs (ph) and it's to show that there's a major problem and they show that their GPS coordinates, they show a lot of information it's unbelievable.

BANFIELD: What are my rights, Paul?

PAUL CALLAN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well you know this is another one of those examples where the law is having a tough time keeping up with the technology. We have federal laws that say if you gain unauthorized access to a computer network with the purpose of taking information, and a video feed would be information, that can be a felony under federal law and under state law. And you remember they Tyler Clementi case, that tragic suicide of the Rutgers student who stuff, you know, webcam pictures were broadcast without his permission, criminal under New Jersey law.

But what Laurie has stumbled upon in this story is something very, very different. This is sort of a publically accessible network and as a matter of fact I just downloaded the app of one of the companies...

BANFIELD: So, they're not breaking any laws?

CALLAN: No, they're not breaking any laws.

BANFIELD: It's our fault.

CALLAN: It's your fault for not changing the password but who would think to change the password on a nanny cam, who even knows it has a password.

BANFIELD: I don't even know and you know what, it probably says password. I mean the password's probably password on a lot of these too.

So, if some creepy (inaudible), who wants to look all that stuff. Laurie Segal, Paul Callan, thank you both. I do appreciate it. Thank

you for watching everyone. By the way my colleague, Wolf Blitzer starts right after this quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)