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Al-Jazeera hack sees LA web designer sentenced
'Let freedom ring'... the TV station and con a password out of an employee

By Reuters

Published: Friday 14 November 2003

A Los Angeles resident has been fined and sentenced to community service for hacking into the website of satellite TV network Al-Jazeera during the war in Iraq and rerouting visitors to a page featuring an American flag and the words 'let freedom ring'.

At a sentencing hearing on Wednesday, US District Judge Howard Matz told web designer John William Racine II: "I don't think of you as an evil person... but this was a crime. It wasn't just a childish prank."

Matz sentenced Racine, 24, to 1,000 hours of community service and a $2,000 fine. Racine, also known as John Buffo, vowed to the judge that he would never do such a thing again.

Prosecutors said the Qatar-based Arabic television broadcaster did not respond to US government inquiries about whether the hacking caused it any financial losses.

Racine posed as an Al-Jazeera employee to get a password to the network's site, then redirected visitors to a page he created that showed an American flag shaped like a US map and the patriotic motto, court documents said.

In June, Racine pleaded guilty to wire fraud and unlawful interception of an electronic communication.