A Los Angeles-area man has been fined and sentenced to community service for hacking into the Web site of satellite TV network Al Jazeera during the US-led war in Iraq and rerouting visitors to a page featuring an American flag and the motto "Let Freedom Ring."
At a sentencing hearing on Wednesday, US District Judge Howard Matz told Web designer John William Racine II: "I don't think of you as an evil person . . . but this was a crime. It wasn't just a childish prank."
The judge sentenced Racine (24) to 1,000 hours of community service and a $2,000 fine. Racine, also known as John Buffo, vowed to the judge that he would never do such a thing again.
Prosecutors said the Qatar-based Arabic television broadcaster did not respond to US government inquiries about whether the hacking caused it any financial losses.
Racine posed as an Al Jazeera employee to get a password to the network's site, (http://www.aljazeera.net), then redirected visitors to a page he created that showed an American flag shaped like a U.S. map and the patriotic motto, court documents said.
In June, Racine pleaded guilty to wire fraud and unlawful interception of an electronic communication.