Indonesia Arrests Man for Broadcasting Porn on Billboard

Indonesian police said Wednesday that a man they arrested for broadcasting pornography on an electronic billboard in the country's capital gained access to the system after it displayed its log-on credentials.

Jakarta Police Chief Muhammad Iriawan said the suspect, 24-year-old Samudera Al Hakam Ralial, admitted he hacked the IT system of the billboard operator but claims that the broadcast of the porn movie was accidental.

Eleven people, including employees of the company responsible for the billboard, were questioned after the movie was displayed for a few minutes on the giant video screen in southern Jakarta just after last week's Friday prayers in the Muslim-majority country.

Twitter in social media-mad Indonesia was set alight by the incident. Many users posted clips of the billboard as it displayed a Japanese porn movie to passing traffic.

Iriawan said Samudera had passed by the billboard earlier in the day and saw it was displaying user credentials and other information, which he recorded with a photograph. He then logged in to system from his office.

According to Iriawan, Samudera said he didn't realize a pornographic website he viewed was uploaded to the billboard.

Iriawan has said that the perpetrator could be charged under either the Electronic Transaction Law, which carries a maximum prison sentence of six years and a fine of 1 billion rupiah ($77,000), or the Pornography Law, which carries a prison sentence of up to 12 years.