Lee Ashurst

Lee Ashurst was arrested in mid-2000 after allegedly hacking into the monopoly Internet service provider for the United Arab Emirates, Etisalat.

Accusation

Ashurst was of British nationality, and apparently was employed as either a networking engineer or a computer programmer at the time of the arrest, he was subsequently fired by his employer. He was accused of either working alone, or being a part of an international group of hackers. At the time of his arrest there were no laws against computer crimes.

Defense

Lee Ashurst & his legal defense team claimed that he was being used as a scapegoat by the nation's ISP, "Etisalat", to cover for its inability to provide reliable Internet services to the country. He was accused of cutting off the Internet services for the entire country for a period of over 3 weeks.

After being scheduled for a court appearance, Lee Ashurst was found guilty of breaching a 1991 law of misuse of Etisalat equipment and services, which carried a maximum of 6 months in jail or a fine of up to 10,000 dirhams. He was fined $2,700 (£1,900) for the hack, and was found not guilty on charges relating to opening other people's e-mail.

During the legal proceedings, Ashurst set up a website to tell his side of the story. It has since been deleted, and an archive of the site shows him as saying the following:

"Six days later I was publicly described as being sick in the head, the main cause of the Internet disruptions, as being part of an international ring of hackers and furthermore compared with the creators of the “Lovebug” virus. Knowing what I know, I can say with conviction that I am not sick in the head, I am not a malicious person and I am not the reason for their Internet problems."

"Even though I know I am innocent of all the charges, the headline "faces 10 years in jail if convicted" is a line I will never forget. After all, was I not already publicly convicted?"

"I am not the computer whiz they depicted me to be, in fact I only really worked in a computer related job in a construction company for the last year. I had a reasonable income, a car and a room in a company apartment"

In retaliation for losing his job, company car, and apartment due to Etisalat's allegations, he countered their accusations by launching a defamation and damages lawsuit against the state run ISP, the exact outcome of his legal action is still unknown.

The incident was especially embarrassing for Dubai, as it positions itself as an Internet hub of the Middle-Eastern region, also in the same year, the Internet freezone, Dubai Internet City was opened.

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1416975.stm BBC: Briton guilty of Dubai hacking]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/806798.stm BBC: Dubai 'hacker' denies all]
* [http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,37401,00.html Wired: Was Arab ISP Hack Illegal?]
* [http://www.etisalat.ae Official website of Etisalat]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20010205054800/supportlee.4mg.com/myside.htm Lee Ashursts side of the story]