US hacker charged with attacking Aljazeera
US federal prosecutors have charged a web designer with intercepting e-mail and content from Aljazeera’s website and re-routing it for two days to a “Let Freedom Ring” page he devised.
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The prosecution’s filing did not |
John William Racine II, also known as John Buffo, was charged on Wednesday with one count each of unlawful interception of an electronic communication and wire fraud.
The 24-year-old is expected to plead guilty at his arraignment on Monday, said a US attorney’s spokesman.
The charges were filed on Monday. Racine was charged for discovering a password that allowed him to re-route visitors to Aljazeera’s website to his own site.
It contained an American flag in the shape of the continental United States and the words, “Let Freedom Ring”.
The prosecution alleged that from 25 to 27 March Racine re-directed about 300 Aljazeera website e-mails to his e-mail account.
Authorities say Racine was able to access the Aljazeera password by posing as the networking contact for the television station’s account and communicating with Network Solutions Inc. by faxing requests with a forged signature and fake identification.
Hackers crippled Aljazeera’s wesbite during the US-led war against Iraq in March, keeping the site down for several days.