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American College of Physicians’ Website Hacked by North Carolina Businessman

Federal court on October 16, 2006 charged a businessman from North Carolina for illegally accessing the Website of American College of Physicians (ACP).

US Attorney office in Philadelphia said that's William Bailey Junior of Charlotte was pleaded guilty for hacking into the membership information of 80,000 members from the site of the professional society that is based in Philadelphia.

The ACP website contained the following restriction on its use. A viewer had to read this warning before getting access to the membership database:
As per an accusation in May, Bailey Jr. exploits the accounts of legal members of society to access database from January to May 2005. His motive behind these acts was commercial benefit and his own financial profit. Organization's site has clearly mentioned that doing so was illegal and prohibited.

The Website of ACP has the following limitations on its utilization. A visitor had to go through the warning before accessing the database of membership: The "member connection" of any other listings or data cannot be downloaded, duplicated, republished or resold, in part or complete for any purpose. Using "member connection" to make any independent collection or data files is prohibited. If you accept these terms and conditions, then indicate your acceptance and agreement by clicking on " I accept" below.

Pat Meehan, US Attorney said that as accusation asserts, Bailey was not a member of ACP. So he could not access database & download information. He ignored stop indications and law. Meehan also informed that ACP called FBI at once and cooperated in the investigation.

An official of the organization said that the case started when the group came to know about the increased activity on Website. It was then notified to FBI. The official said that some group members got mails and emails from unknown sources.

The US Attorney Office said that Bailey Jr. ran a firm, called dr-411.com that sold doctors' contact information. Cheryl Ann Krause, Bailey's attorney, said that he has accepted his crime and has sent an apology to ACP. Krause compared the stolen information with listings in the phone directory. A directory has only names, phone numbers, addresses and e-mail Ids. The information that has been stolen did not comprise any social security numbers or credit-card details.

Related article: America Online ICQ Compromised

» SPAMfighter News - 10/20/2006

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