Sex predator-nabbing US hacker sentenced to prison
A US Internet vigilante who created a computer virus to attack media outlets publishing embarrassing articles about him was sentenced Friday to two years in prison.
Bruce Raisley, 48, was found guilty in federal court in Camden, New Jersey, last September of creating a malicious program designed to cause damage to Internet sites.
The unusual case began when the computer programmer fell out with former colleagues at an NBC television show called "To Catch a Predator," which featured the organization Perverted Justice in its attempts to uncover pedophiles.
The group's founder embarrassed Raisley by luring him in a faked online romance to leave his wife for a fictitious woman named "Holly."
The episode was picked up in two media articles, including one in Rolling Stone, which examined the sting against Raisley and the work of Perverted Justice in general.
Raisley then fought back by creating a "botnet" of some 100,000 virus-infected computers which attacked any website posting one of the two articles mentioning his case. The virus created denial of service attacks, shutting down those websites.
"In total, those websites suffered damages in excess of $100,000 in lost revenues and mitigation," the US attorney's office for New Jersey said.
(c) 2011 AFP
