He once volunteered in technical support for America Online. Now a teen who hacked into AOL's computers and replaced their programs with his is going to live without his own computer for five years - by court order. He's also going to jail for a year.
Jay Satiro had pleaded guilty to computer tampering at AOL, which meant he violated terms of an earlier probation for using bogus money orders to pay for computer equipment he bought on the Internet.
The 19-year-old's attacks on AOL computers cost the firm $50,000 in repairs, though AOL won't say how he got access or what total effect it had. Satiro's Internet service provider had detected the attacks and traced them to his computers, then notified authorities.
Satiro had once worked as a tech support volunteer at AOL, says the Associated Press, but he used his AOL knowledge to his hacking advantage, according to prosecutors in the case. His own attorney described him as suffering depression and social phobia.
After he's released from jail, he will be allowed only school or work computer access - and only outside his home. And because his mother, who works for IBM, must have a computer at home, the court gave his probation officer license to make random checks to be sure there's no computer in his room or that he's not using his mother's computer, the AP says.
