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 MSNTV) 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.
