DATE=6/29/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=PHILIPPINES / LOVE BUG INDICTMENT (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-263883
BYLINE=ALISHA RYU
DATELINE=HONG KONG
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Philippines authorities have filed criminal
charges against the computer programming student
suspected of unleashing the "I LOVE YOU" computer
virus on the world last month. VOA's Alisha Ryu has
the details from our Asia News Center in Hong Kong.
TEXT: Investigators say 23 year-old Onel de Guzman
faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if he is
found guilty of releasing one of the most destructive
computer viruses ever created.
On May 4th, the so-called "ILOVEYOU" virus infected
thousands of computers worldwide, overloading e-mail
systems and causing an estimated 10 billion dollars in
damage to businesses.
Officials at the National Bureau of Investigation had
to delay formally indicting Mr. de Guzman until the
Philippines government passed laws governing cyber
crime. The country had no legal protections in place
until last week.
But investigators say Mr. de Guzman cannot be
retroactively charged under the new law. Instead he
will be charged with theft and violation of a law that
covers credit card fraud.
Mr. De Guzman was arrested on May 8th after Internet
service providers traced the virus to a telephone line
in his apartment. Agents seized 17 computer
diskettes, telephones and computer accessories but
found no computer or modem.
Mr. de Guzman has told investigators that he may have
released the virus by accident but has refused to say
whether he created it. He failed to graduate earlier
this year from a Philippines computer college after
professors rejected his thesis proposal for a program
to steal Internet passwords - a feature of the so-
called Love Bug virus. (Signed)
NEB/AR/JO/TVM/KL
29-Jun-2000 07:25 AM EDT (29-Jun-2000 1125 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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