A labour officer who hacked into his department's Web site and littered it with expletives that were seen by visitors to an exhibition was ordered to serve 180 hours community service yesterday. But Lee Ka-wo, 34, was spared from paying the Labour Department $295,695 in compensation, the sum it had spent on investigating the incident and upgrading the Web site's server. Lee had denied four charges of criminal damage and 20 counts of accessing a computer with dishonest intent on two occasions between April and September last year, but was convicted of all charges in Eastern Court on August 14. The court had heard Lee was in charge of two Labour Department employment and guidance centres in Mongkok and Shau Kei Wan and was responsible for updating the department's two Web site home pages. On September 6 last year during a Labour Department careers exhibition at Grand Century Place, Mongkok, an assistant labour officer noticed one of the computers was not working properly. When he restarted the computer and called up the department's Web site in view of exhibition visitors, he found it littered with expletives. Later the same day, a newspaper reporter also saw the expletives after she logged on to the site. She then contacted police. Following an investigation, Lee was arrested by the Commercial Crime Bureau. He admitted defacing the Web site but said he had only wanted to test its security - a claim dismissed by Magistrate William Ng Sing-wai as 'unimaginably queer'. Barrister Kelvin Wong, for Lee, told the court the defendant had not received any monetary gain from the offences and was under great stress. Mr Ng refused the prosecution's application for a compensation order on the basis that the expenses incurred by the department were not solely a result of Lee's offences. Mr Ng took into account that Lee's performance at work was highly regarded and sentenced him to 180 hours community service.
