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Alleged WebTV 911 hacker charged with cyberterrorism
Kevin Poulsen, SecurityFocus 2004-02-26

FBI agents arrested a Louisiana man last week for allegedly tricking a handful of MSN TV users into running a malicious e-mail attachment that reprogrammed their set-top boxes to dial 9-1-1 emergency response.

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Alleged WebTV 911 hacker charged with cyberterrorism 2004-02-29
Joe Hegarty <jmh005 (at) supanet (dot) com [email concealed]>
Dem puter users be terrorists Ma 2004-03-01
Anonymous
P.A.T.R.I.O.T. 2004-03-02
Anonymous
Alleged WebTV 911 hacker charged with cyberterrorism 2004-03-02
Anonymous (1 replies)
What he did was not intended to cause anything like an explosion, kill anyone (directly) or hold anyone hostage. It was a few calls to 911 after some people he didnt like got infected with his malware..

Personally, I think yes he should be punished and indirectly he MAY have caused someones death if the emergency services failed to respond in time to another enquiry, although I think you give the emergency services too much credit.

I think one question I want answered here is , if you all believe what he did was so wrong and he should be arrested and charged for "cyberterrorism". Would you still say that if you had children, one of them made a fake 911 call, they got arrested and charged with being a terrorist ?

In any case people should be punished for this type of crime, cyber or not.. But when I look at a hacker creating a script to infect a few 99% computer illiterate people, or a kid making a prank phone call, I don't feel like screaming "Terrorist!". I leave that for the people who place explosive devices in city streets and kill innocent people, they are terrorists.

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Link to this comment: http://www.securityfocus.com/comments/articles/8136/25255#25255
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