Here's how this works:
The link below will take you to a page that has a pop-up. It also has a few links. The pop-up is a document called, ingeniously, popup.html and simply reads, "This is a pop-up."
There is also a link to that page -- popup.html -- that you can click.
According to testimony by Mark Lounsbury, the computer crimes officer for the Norwich Police Department, if a page is viewed as a result of clicking it, the link will change color. But if it's the result of a pop=up, it will not change color.
That's easy enough to prove.
1. Your browser MUST allow pop-ups not only for the demo to work, but for you to see the result.
2. Click the link below to the pop-up test page.
3. Besides the page itself, a popup will appear that reads "This is a pop-up." It's a file called "popup.html."
4. On that page there's also a link to the popup.html file. It is blue because you haven't 'followed' it yet. Do NOT click it. Instead...
5. Reload the page. If Officer Lounsbury is correct, that link to the popup.html file will still be blue ("not followed"). But if it's purple ("followed") it means he's incorrect -- that your browser does not distinguish between manually followed links and pop-ups.
To be clear: If, when you reload the pop-up test page the link to popup.html is purple, Officer Lounsburys' testimony is factually inaccurate. If it remains blue, his testimony is correct and Julie Amero must have clicked those links.
Let's go: