Hijacking a Myspace account can get you in big trouble

While it's not often you see someone making their way through the ghost town that is MySpace, one user has found himself in hot water after hijacking his ex-girlfriend's account and posting revealing pictures of her, along with derogatory messages – he's now been found guilty of several criminal charges.

Having broken up with Steven Kuyrcharski, an Illinois woman found personal pictures of herself appearing on her MySpace page that continued even after she changed her password. It turns out that Mr Kuyrcharski had access to the email account that setup the account – having helped her create it a couple of years ago. He's obviously a very current and on the pulse kind of guy.

This is what MySpace still looks like right? I wouldn't know, haven't been there in years. Source: JimWhimpey

After a police investigation linked him to the activity, he was charged and convicted of “knowingly interrupting” an electronic communication, harassment and “unlawful use of encryption,” to commit the crime. Wired reports that the man appealed, getting the encryption ruling overturned, but it upheld the harassment conviction.

Ultimately he won't get much more than a slap on the wrist as none of the harassment involved a minor, death threats or any long-term, repeated persecution. In those instances, the conviction can become a felony crime, but that shouldn't be the case here.

KitGuru Says: If this can happen with MySpace, you can bet it can happen with Facebook and Twitter too. Don't hijack people's accounts, it's dumb – although occasionally funny. 

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