… you have pleaded guilty to fourteen counts of what might conveniently be described as ‘hacking’ offences under Part 6A, being offences relating to computers.… You were 20 at the time of the commission of these offences. You are a final year accountancy student at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology … you have no previous convictions and have an unblemished record … it is accepted that your motive was no more than to test your computer skills … it was said by your counsel that you became addicted to your computer in much the same way as an alcoholic becomes addicted to the bottle …

I formed the view that a custodial sentence is appropriate in respect of each of these offences because of the seriousness of them, and having regard to the need to demonstrate that the community will not tolerate this type of offence. Our society is being increasingly served by and dependent upon the use of computer technology. Conduct of the kind in which you engaged poses a threat to the usefulness of that technology, and I think it is incumbent upon the courts in appropriate cases to see to it that the sentences they impose reflect the gravity of this kind of criminality …

You are convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of six months … but you may be released forthwith upon your giving security by recognisance in each instance in the sum of $500 to be of good behaviour for a term of six months.