HILO, Hawai'i — A 20-year-old Big Island man accused of hacking into the e-mail accounts of lawyers, county workers and even some Big Island council members was sentenced yesterday to a suspended six-month jail term.

Caylan Nicoll could have been sentenced to five years in prison and fined $10,000 after pleading guilty to unauthorized computer access. He was accused of snooping through e-mail messages between April 10, 2002, and Feb. 28, 2003, including some from an account belonging to Ken's Pancake House in Hilo. He apparently made no attempt to gain financially from the hacking, said Deputy Prosecutor Rick Damerville.

Nicoll was able to look at the e-mails after gaining access to e-mail passwords held by an Internet service provider, Damerville said.

A county technician noticed someone had been accessing e-mail accounts from a location outside of county facilities, which was unusual. An investigation led to a computer at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo, and then to Nicoll, Damerville said.

Clayton Yugawa, director of data systems for the county, said the county changed Internet service providers after the incident and established a policy requiring that passwords be changed on a regular basis. He said Nicoll did not hack into any sensitive internal data.

When county workers request e-mail accounts, Yugawa said, "we tell them there is no such thing as privacy on the Internet, and they understand."

Damerville said the case should send a warning to e-mail users and hackers alike. "One message is, just snooping is a crime," he said. Another is that "this crime was made easy because some of us haven't changed our e-mail passwords in years."

Nicoll originally was indicted on 38 felony charges for snooping through the e-mail accounts.

At sentencing yesterday, Hilo Circuit Court Judge Glenn Hara issued the suspended jail sentence along with five years of probation and 500 hours of community service.

Nicoll also was ordered to pay the state $1,000. The judge granted the defendant's request for a deferred acceptance of his plea, meaning Nicoll's record may be cleared if he meets the terms of his sentence.

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.