CURIOSITY killed the cat. And it landed a young Chinese undergraduate in serious trouble, which may even jeopardise his scholarship.
Zhao Ke, 21, who had scored 4As, two distinctions and a merit for three 'S' papers - extra tough subjects reserved for top students - in his A levels in 2006, was curious about his classmates' results.
He went back to his alma mater - Raffles Junior College - on March 23 last year to surf the Internet, as his school computer account was still active.
Zhao, who sat for his A Levels on a Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce scholarship, had received his results earlier that month, but wanted to find out how his classmates had fared. Curiosity drove him to hack into the RJC's computer network.
Now an undergraduate on a National University of Singapore scholarship, Zhao, who is pursuing a double degree in electrical engineering and economics, pleaded guilty on Thursday to two charges under the Computer Misuse Act - one for unauthorised access, and one for unauthorised data modification. Ten other charges will be taken into consideration when he is sentenced next Tuesday.
Zhao admitted he downloaded a password-cracking program, which he used to uncover the password of one of the school's computer lab technicians. He then downloaded another program that would allow him to gain access to files stored on other computers connected to the network.
He was in the process of copying data from one of his teacher's computers when a lab technician discovered what was happening and confronted him. The school called the police.
Zhao, who was first charged on Sept 15, can be fined up to $15,000, and jailed for up to five years.
His lawyer, Mr Manoj Nandwani, is hopeful that Zhao will escape jail term with a probation, since he had committed his offences 'out of curiosity'.
Those convicted on computer-related offences have traditionally been jailed. Only a 17-year-old wireless-moocher, Tan Jia Luo, was placed on probation.
In court on Thursday, a resigned but cheerful Zhao, who was dressed in a T-shirt, jeans and basketball sneakers, said he owed his freedom now to The Straits Times as his classmates and friends had bailed him out of jail after reading about his predicament from the newspaper.
His parents are still in China, and he had initially been unable to raise the $8,000 bail.
The Chinese Embassy has also hired Mr Nandwani to represent Zhao after reading about his problems in the media. Zhou said he would have to foot the legal fees of $2,500, from the tuition lessons he has been given.
Will he get a lesser sentence becos he is a Scholar?
