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DATE=6/29/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=PHILIPPINES / LOVE BUG INDICTMENT (L-ONLY) NUMBER=2-263883 BYLINE=ALISHA RYU DATELINE=HONG KONG CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: Philippines authorities have filed criminal charges against the computer programming student suspected of unleashing the "I LOVE YOU" computer virus on the world last month. VOA's Alisha Ryu has the details from our Asia News Center in Hong Kong. TEXT: Investigators say 23 year-old Onel de Guzman faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison if he is found guilty of releasing one of the most destructive computer viruses ever created. On May 4th, the so-called "ILOVEYOU" virus infected thousands of computers worldwide, overloading e-mail systems and causing an estimated 10 billion dollars in damage to businesses. Officials at the National Bureau of Investigation had to delay formally indicting Mr. de Guzman until the Philippines government passed laws governing cyber crime. The country had no legal protections in place until last week. But investigators say Mr. de Guzman cannot be retroactively charged under the new law. Instead he will be charged with theft and violation of a law that covers credit card fraud. Mr. De Guzman was arrested on May 8th after Internet service providers traced the virus to a telephone line in his apartment. Agents seized 17 computer diskettes, telephones and computer accessories but found no computer or modem. Mr. de Guzman has told investigators that he may have released the virus by accident but has refused to say whether he created it. He failed to graduate earlier this year from a Philippines computer college after professors rejected his thesis proposal for a program to steal Internet passwords - a feature of the so- called Love Bug virus. (Signed) NEB/AR/JO/TVM/KL 29-Jun-2000 07:25 AM EDT (29-Jun-2000 1125 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .