CURIOSITY killed the cat. And it landed a young Chinese
undergraduate in serious trouble, which may even jeopardise his
scholarship.
Zhao Ke, 21, who had scored 4As, two distinctions and a merit for
three 'S' papers - extra tough subjects reserved for top students -
in his A levels in 2006, was curious about his classmates'
results.
He went back to his alma mater - Raffles Junior College - on March
23 last year to surf the Internet, as his school computer account
was still active.
Zhao, who sat for his A Levels on a Singapore Chinese Chamber of
Commerce scholarship, had received his results earlier that month,
but wanted to find out how his classmates had fared. Curiosity
drove him to hack into the RJC's computer network.
Now an undergraduate on a National University of Singapore
scholarship, Zhao, who is pursuing a double degree in electrical
engineering and economics, pleaded guilty on Thursday to two
charges under the Computer Misuse Act - one for unauthorised
access, and one for unauthorised data modification. Ten other
charges will be taken into consideration when he is sentenced next
Tuesday.
Zhao admitted he downloaded a password-cracking program, which he
used to uncover the password of one of the school's computer lab
technicians. He then downloaded another program that would allow
him to gain access to files stored on other computers connected to
the network.
He was in the process of copying data from one of his teacher's
computers when a lab technician discovered what was happening and
confronted him. The school called the police.
Zhao, who was first charged on Sept 15, can be fined up to $15,000,
and jailed for up to five years.
His lawyer, Mr Manoj Nandwani, is hopeful that Zhao will escape
jail term with a probation, since he had committed his offences
'out of curiosity'.
Those convicted on computer-related offences have traditionally
been jailed. Only a 17-year-old wireless-moocher, Tan Jia Luo, was
placed on probation.
In court on Thursday, a resigned but cheerful Zhao, who was dressed
in a T-shirt, jeans and basketball sneakers, said he owed his
freedom now to The Straits Times as his classmates and friends had
bailed him out of jail after reading about his predicament from the
newspaper.
His parents are still in China, and he had initially been unable to
raise the $8,000 bail.
The Chinese Embassy has also hired Mr Nandwani to represent Zhao
after reading about his problems in the media. Zhou said he would
have to foot the legal fees of $2,500, from the tuition lessons he
has been given.
Will he get a lesser sentence becos he is a Scholar?
