Kournikova virus kiddie gets 150 hours community service

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

Forwarded by: Nelson Murilo <nelson () pangeia com br>

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/21910.html

Kournikova virus kiddie gets 150 hours community service
By Robert Blincoe
Posted: 27/09/2001 at 15:30 GMT

The author of the Anna Kournikova virus has been sentenced to 150
hours community service - or 75 days in jail if he fancies that
option.

The sentence is a good deal lighter than the prosecutors called for.
They wanted Jan de Wit, aged 20 of Sneek, Netherlands, to get
240-hours community service.

De Wit was tried in Leeuwarden, Netherlands. He was charged with
spreading data into a computer network, with the intention of causing
damage. The charges carried a maximum sentence of four years in prison
and a fine of 100,000 guilders ($41,300).

He denied any intent to cause damage but the court didn't agree. IDG
reports that the verdict stated de Wit "was not a layman in the field
of computer viruses. He works in a computer store and collected
viruses - about 7,200, according to himself. The defendant must have
been very aware of the consequences of his acts. The virus he spread
was a hindrance, causing worry and annoyance among Internet users
worldwide."

The court confiscated de Wit's CD-ROM virus collection.

To press for a lengthier sentence the FBI submitted evidence to the
Dutch court, suggesting that $166,000 in damages was caused by the
worm, based on reports of damage from 55 firms. However the court felt
the FBI report didn't give enough details, and also felt that de Wit's
position as a first-time offender who gave himself up was in his
favour.



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