Probation for Computer Hacker

A 21-year-old computer whiz from UCLA today was placed on probation for three years and ordered to undertake 600 hours of community service for having illegally tapped into an international computer network linking research agencies and the U.S. Defense Department.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Gordon Ringer imposed the sentence on Santa Monica resident Ronald Mark Austin, who was convicted in June of 12 felony counts for having broken into the systems with his home computer. Although former Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Robert H. Philibosian charged at the time of his 1983 arrest that Austin had gained access to sensitive information and had cost the network hundreds of thousands of dollars, the monetary loss now appears to have been less than $20,000. Defense Department officials have also said that Austin could not have obtained classified information from the network.