Man jailed for 6-years for airing porn on electronic billboard

A man in Russia has been jailed for six years after he hacked into the server of an advertising agency and made its electronic billboard show porn to motorists.

Igor Blinnikov, 41, brought Moscow traffic to a standstill after he screened the hardcore porn movie onto the advertising firm's 20ft x 30ft billboard next to the Interior Ministry building on the Garden Ring.

Blinnikov had thought it would be fun, but the authorities were not as amused by the stunt in January 2010.

The shipyard fitter appeared in court in his home city of Novorossiysk in May on charges of selling 13 grams of marijuana, and was sentenced to five years hard labour.

And prosecutors asked for a six-year prison sentence, which the court handed down in full, for the hacking.

Confessing to the offence, Blinnikov described it as a 'bad joke'.

Before his hearing, he told journalists he had hacked into the billboard using a computer at his home "just for something to do".

"I expected a bit less," the Daily Mail quoted him as saying about the new sentence.