Alleged KPU hacker gets web support
Evi Mariani, Jakarta
A simple "Free Dani Movement" message greets the visitors to the newly created website www.kecoak.or.id.
The website (its name means cockroach) created by members of the cyber community, is the forum for Internet users to vote on whether to free alleged hacker Dani Firmansyah.
Dani, 25, has been detained at the Jakarta Police Headquarters since April 22 charged with illegally entering and defacing the General Elections Commission (KPU) website on April 17.
The work of the final-year student at the School of International Relations of the University of Muhammadiyah in Yogyakarta made headlines after he changed the names of political parties on the site into silly ones, including the "Green Underwear Party", "Bottled Water Party" and the "Please Don't Be Angry Party".
In his statements to police, Dani said he was only trying to test the security of the Rp 152 billion (US$17.8 million) state- of-the-art KPU website and its data center.
Dani, who nicknamed himself "schizophrenic" or "xnuxer", was known on the web as a frequent writer of articles and e-mails on information technology security.
In one of his e-mails to an IT mailing list on April 22 a few hours before the arrest, he said the KPU should have hired an independent IT team to improve its security system, which he said was frail.
Writing as an observer, Dani defended the hacker of KPU website, then already on the police's wanted list, saying: "I believe the hacker was only trying to warn the KPU. Actually, the KPU should thank the hacker for showing them the website was vulnerable."
Many Internet users seemed to agree with Dani.
As of Monday evening, the website had 1013 votes, 854 of them, or 84 percent, of the votes said "Yes" to Dani's release, while the remaining 160 disagreed.
Members of the hacking community over recent weeks have also defaced other websites, creating banner messages urging Dani's release.
Meanwhile, the police say they are determined to bring the case to court.
Dani's prosecution is likely to become a test-case for the police and legal authorities. It will demonstrate how technology literate they are and the effectiveness of new laws on cybercrime.
Top police officers, while saying they were impressed by Dani's work, have vowed to proceed with the case, no matter how difficult it could be.
IT and legal experts have said police are likely to face hurdles prosecuting the case as most of the evidence is digital.
Dani is facing a maximum six years in prison for violating Article 22 of Law. No. 39/1999 on telecommunications that prosecutes individuals who are alleged to have manipulated a telecommunications network or service.
Information and Communication Technology Watch (ICTWatch) legal analyst Rapin Mudiardjo told The Jakarta Post there was a legal option available allowing the state to punish Dani with other than an imprisonment or fine.
"Our legal system recognizes the exemption of punishment due to particular circumstances -- if the convicted person is underage or suffering from mental illness. It allows a judge to give a verdict not based on the letter of the law but on a sense of social justice," he said.
"In this case, the judge could rule that Dani's unique ability would benefit society more if he was required to work without pay for, say, the Jakarta Police, rather than being put in jail," Rapin said.