14 DAY TRIAL // A computer programmer, who used an 100,000-strong botnet to launch attacks against media websites, was convicted today on one count of distributing a malicious computer program.
The troubles began for Bruce Raisley, 49, of Kansas City, after he broke ties with a volunteer organization called Perverted Justice, some years ago.
The outfit, who's members posed as minors in Internet chatrooms in order to out pedophiles, used to collaborate with an NBC television show called "To Catch a Predator."
Raisley left the organization at one point because he felt that things were going too far and laws were being broken, something which he was vocal about.
That didn't fall well with the group's founder, Xavier Von Erck, who decided to take revenge on Raisley by embarrassing him in front of the entire world.
Von Erck posed as a woman named "Holly" and began an Internet relationship with Raisley, who quickly fell in love with her. One day, when she asked him to leave his wife, he agreed.
Perverted Justice volunteers took a picture of the programmmer waiting for Holly at the airport with a bouquet of flowers and posted it on the Internet, along with intimate chat logs between the two.
Several publications, including Radar and Rolling Stone, later ran stories about Von Erck, his vigilante group and what they did to Raisley.
Upset that he couldn't delete the embarrassing stories from the Internet, Raisley devised a plan to attack all websites hosting the articles.
First, he infected around 100,000 computers with a virus, which he controlled in what is known as a botnet.
Then he used the botnet to flood the sites of various media outlets with bogus requests until they became unresponsive.
A jury found Raisley guilty after a six-day trial and he faces a maximum sentence of ten years in jail and a fine of up to $250,000.
"It's a truly sad story, with neither Raisley or Von Erck emerging from proceedings smelling of roses. Hopefully it will act as a cautionary tale for others that becoming an internet vigilante is never a good idea," commented Graham Cluley, a senior technology consultant at Sophos.