I was slandered, says teen hacker

A teenager who hacked into a Bebo site says she did it because she felt she was being slandered.

The Hastings teen, 19, has been granted diversion by police for the criminal charge of hacking into a schoolgirl's social networking website - an offence punishable by up to seven years in jail.

Diversion means that the teenager has admitted her guilt but will not have a criminal conviction if she complies with conditions imposed by police.

She was prosecuted last month after Rachel Boyte, 16, tried to log on to her Bebo and Hotmail pages and was denied access.

Rachel contacted police and a charge was laid under the Crimes Act, which prohibits intentionally or recklessly damaging a computer system or accessing a computer without authorisation.

The hacker's mother said her daughter was upset by the incident and warned others to be vigilant when using networking websites.

"She just wants the whole thing to go away.

"I think people will be able to figure out what happened here."

She would not discuss details, but it appeared that her daughter's actions were prompted by something written on the Bebo site.

Rachel, who knows the hacker, said there was nothing about the teen on her Bebo site.

She said the 19-year-old had hacked into her Bebo site and destroyed it because the teen's boyfriend, who was Rachel's former boyfriend, regularly looked at the site.

Rachel's father, Neil, has also laid a complaint about the way police handled the case. He was upset that the family had not been kept informed.

Police national e-crime manager Maarten Kleintjes said slander was no excuse for hacking into a website, but hurtful words could be grounds for a civil case.

"It's the same as if someone wrote slanderously in the newspaper about me," Mr Kleintjes said.

"I can't break into the newspaper offices and change things around. You just can't do that.

"You can't take the law into your own hands in the physical world, just as you can't in the electronic world."

Netsafe executive director Martin Cocker said it was quite common for young people to guess passwords to access someone else's social networking websites and make modifications.

"I was surprised the charge was laid, not because it wasn't unlawful - it was - but because it's so common."

Most website administrators were very responsive to removing offensive comments if alerted, Mr Cocker said.

"If someone writes something slanderous about you, the option of taking a civil action is open to you.

"It's not an easy or cheap course of action, and most kids aren't going to take one against another kid.

"There just isn't the money available."

- © Fairfax NZ News