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SCMP Reporter

A COMPUTER hacker who raided the networks of educational establishments and the Internet lost an appeal against his sentence yesterday.

  Ray Chen, 25, was the first person to be convicted under anti-hacking legislation introduced in April 1993.

  He was found guilty of obtaining unauthorised access to computer systems on three occasions.

  Magistrate Alan Wright - now a District Court deputy judge - fined him $30,000 on April 28 at Eastern Court.

  Alan Hoo QC, for the defence, said the fine was excessive.

  He said the magistrate was wrong to impose a sentence of general deterrence on a first offender in this type of crime.

  Mr Hoo urged the court to grant an absolute discharge or reduce Chen's penalty so the Rehabilitation of Offenders' Ordinance would be brought into effect.

  This would allow Chen's conviction to be spent after a number of years.

  His fingerprints, which are held by the Commissioner of Police, could also be returned if he was discharged.

  Mr Justice Gall told the court he agreed with the magistrate that Chen's activities warranted a significant sentence.

  'This is a case where in my view the magistrate was entitled to step outside the usual bounds,' he said.

  Mr Justice Gall added it was inappropriate to reduce the fine to a level at which the ordinance would come into effect.

  Chen used the name Buster Bunny to raid computers at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from his bedroom at his parents' Taikoo Shing flat.

  He then used their systems to explore the worldwide Internet. Computer security managers eventually detected him and tipped off police.

  The offences were committed on August 31, September 27 and October 8 last year.

  Chen was the first person to be convicted under Section 27A of the Telecommunications Ordinance, which carried a maximum fine of $20,000.

  The magistrate imposed a $10,000 fine for each of the charges.

  He also ordered Chen to pay $15,000 costs.



Hacker's sentence upheld