A youth was recently slapped with a S$6,000 fine for surfing the Internet illegally using his cousin's Internet account.

Mohamed Ali Hanafiah Abdul Wahap, 21, a former polytechnic student, had been asked by his uncle to assist in testing a "cybercamera" in the uncle's computer. As a result, the youth came to know about the Internet account user name and password belonging to his uncle's daughter, Mariyam Ahshim, 22, a cousin of Mohamed Ali. He later used the information to surf the Internet and obtained access to an Internet Relay Chat service.

Mohamed Ali's unauthorised use of his cousin's account before being discovered, which spanned from June 1998 to November 1999, accumulated telephone bills amounting to S$1,458. He has since paid back his cousin.

Mohamed Ali pleaded guilty to a total of six charges of using a computer service illegally, and was fined S$6,000 by the district court on 12 June 2000. 12 other similar charges were considered in sentencing the youth, now working as a programmer with an IT firm. His main line of mitigation was that he was an Internet addict who succumbed to temptation. Apparently, the incident has resulted in the severing of ties between the two families involved.

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