Philippines drops charges in 'ILOVEYOU' virus case

MANILA, Philippines (Reuters) -- The Philippines on Monday dropped all charges against a computer school drop-out suspected of being responsible for the "love bug" virus that hit computers around the world in May, causing billions of dollars in damage.

Onel de Guzman, 24, had been charged under a law dealing with illegal use of passwords for credit card and bank transactions.

The National Bureau of Investigation, which had named de Guzman as the main suspect, had said the law was the only applicable one for the case since legislation dealing with measures against computer hacking was approved only in June.

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"I signed a resolution dropping charges against de Guzman," chief state prosecutor Jovencito Zuno told reporters.

The virus, which infected the Pentagon, Britain's parliament and major companies like Ford and Lucent, was traced to a dilapidated apartment in the Manila suburb of Pandacan, where de Guzman's sister Irene lived.

Her boyfriend, Reonel Ramones, was also arrested early in the investigation but the case against him was also dismissed.

Investigators alleged de Guzman had unleashed the virus in an effort to steal passwords for Internet access.

But his lawyers said he may have transmitted it by mistake, that he meant no harm, and suggested he did not know that the virus would spread so far and so fast.

The virus appeared in e-mail messages entitled "ILOVEYOU" which when opened, destroyed user files, stole passwords and replicated itself through the user's computer address book.

De Guzman had submitted a thesis to his computer school detailing a program which would steal passwords for Internet access and post them to a specified e-mail address. The school rejected his thesis and de Guzman dropped out.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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