David Jeansonne, 44, of Metairie, Louisiana, pleaded guilty in
February to two charges of intentionally damaging protected
computers and causing a threat to public safety.
According to prosecutors, Jeansonne admitted that he had sent an
e-mail with an attachment to approximately 20 subscribers of the
WebTV (now known as
MSN
TV
) service in
July 2002. The message claimed that the attachment was a harmless
computer program that, when executed, changed the display colours
seen by the WebTV user on the television screen.
However, said prosecutors, the attachment actually contained a
hidden computer script that reset the dial-in telephone number in
the user's WebTV box to 9-1-1. Accordingly, the next time the user
attempted to log in to WebTV, the computer dialled the emergency
services instead of the local modem telephone number supplied to
the user by WebTV to access its servers in Santa Clara.
This prompted unnecessary emergency police dispatches at
numerous locations around the country, with at least 10 WebTV users
reporting that the local police either called or visited their
residences in response to the unnecessary 9-1-1 calls.
According to Reuters, Jeansonne was sentenced on Monday to six
months in prison, followed by an additional six months home
detention. Jeansonne must also pay Microsoft more than $27,100 in
damages.
