Teen 'computer king' arrested over Internet pop song piracy

A 14-year-old schoolboy known to his classmates as the 'computer king' has been arrested for setting up a Web site that allowed the illegal downloading of more than 300 pop songs.

The Form Two student was arrested after his two-month-old Web site attracted more than 40,000 visitors, the head of the Customs Intellectual Property Investigation (Operations) Group, Ben Ho Kai-hoi, said yesterday.

An investigator said the boy's bedroom at his Lai Chi Kok home was like a 'mini computer kingdom' with four computers and up to 30 computer books. The teenager, an only child, is the youngest person to be arrested in Hong Kong for an Internet piracy offence.

Mr Ho said: 'The Web site offered free downloading of pop songs and also provided chat room services for visitors to communicate. He also tried to make free games and cartoons on the Web site.

'The Web site is up to commercial standard and professionally designed. It was designed and set up by the student himself. The computer knowledge he applied was learned at school and by reading computer books.

'The schoolboy is very keen on computer education and he has spent a lot of time on the computer. His computer knowledge is much better than his peer group. He is known as 'computer king' or 'computer whiz kid' by his schoolmates.'

The boy's parents, who have little knowledge of computers, told investigators that after school their son spent most of his time in his bedroom playing on his computer.