Indonesian man arrested for streaming porn on public billboard

A man in Indonesia is facing up to 12 years in jail after hacking into a public billboard and streaming a pornographic film.

The 24-year-old was arrested and has admitted to the crime, which left motorists in shock on 30 September. The IT analyst streamed a Japanese porn film on the electric screen in south Jakarta, which ran for five minutes before authorities shut down the power.

Muhammad Iriawan, Jakarta Police Chief, told AFP: "The suspect claims that he worked alone. But we are still investigating whether he was working alone, whether he had a particular motive or whether he was just fooling around."

Despite authorities cutting out the power, several people had already managed to film the incident on their mobile phones and circulate it on social media. According to the BBC, the man allegedly carried out the porn streaming after seeing the login details displayed on the billboard.

Pornographic websites are blocked in Indonesia, where websites such as Tumblr and Vimeo have also previously been blocked for adult content. The suspect could, therefore, be charged under the Pornography Law, which carries a prison sentence of up to 12 years. Alternatively, he could be charged under the Electronic Transaction Law, which would see a maximum sentence of up to six years and a fine of 1 billion rupiah ($77,000; £60,000).

Ten other people at the company operating the electronic billboard were questioned.