Manila - The Philippines yesterday dropped all charges against a computer school drop-out suspected of being responsible for the "love bug" virus which hit computers around the world in May, causing billions of dollars in damage. Mr Onel de Guzman (24) had been charged under a law dealing with illegal use of passwords for credit card and bank transactions.
The National Bureau of Investigation, which had named Mr de Guzman as the main suspect, had said the law was the only applicable one for the case since legislation dealing with measures against computer hacking was approved only in June.
The virus, which infected the Pentagon, Britain's parliament and major companies such as Ford and Lucent, was traced to an apartment in Manila where Mr de Guzman's sister Irene lived.