Philippines says lacks law to arrest virus suspect

[William Knowles <wk () C4I ORG>]

http://news.excite.com/news/r/000507/23/tech-virus-love-philippines

By Sharon Buan

MANILA, May 8 (Reuters) - The Philippines has yet to arrest the
suspected creator of the "Love Bug" computer virus because it lacks
laws that deal with computer crime, a senior police officer said on
Monday.

"We have no laws on this," National Bureau of Investigation chief
Federico Opinion told reporters. "We have to research."

Newspapers also said this was the first time the Bureau had
investigated a case of computer crime and that a lack of experience
may have hamstrung detectives.

Opinion said the Bureau was trying to persuade a judge to issue a
warrant to search the house of the suspect, who is believed to be a
woman living in a Manila suburb.

"It's not that easy...you have to convince the judge. We are collating
evidence," he said.

The "Love Bug," the most virulent computer virus ever created,
penetrated millions of computers last week, including those of the
Pentagon, the CIA and the British parliament.

It was quickly traced back to the Philippines and the Bureau began
surveillance of the suspect, a young computer student from a middle
class family, on Saturday.

COULD HAVE ERASED EVIDENCE

Detectives had earlier said the suspect was a 23-year-old man, while a
Bureau official also said it was possible the current suspect might
not be responsible for the computer attack.

"It was only (her) computer used to launch the virus that was traced
but anybody could use that computer," the official said.

"The user here is invisible, it could be anybody. The difference is
that the person we have identified is the registered owner 4 of that
computer."

The official also said that given the massive international publicity
over the case the suspect could by now have erased evidence from the
computer.

The Washington Post newspaper said the U.S. Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) had traced the virus to the Philippines through a
fairly obvious electronic trail and was ready to seize computers used
in the attack once it got permission.

FBI agents were assisting the Philippines in the investigation, said
Nelson Bartolome, head of the NBI's anti-fraud and computer crimes
division.

"They are providing us with technical expertise on computers. They
will help analyse the seized evidence, if ever we get it," Bartolome
told Reuters.

In Sweden, a computer expert said on Saturday he believed an
18-year-old German exchange student in Australia was responsible for
the virus.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) said on Sunday they had been given no
firm evidence to back up the allegation.


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