hijack
hijackという言葉は，今ではパソコンにも使われるのですね。（UG）
'Anime' director accused of death threat released
Kyodo
OSAKA — A well-known "anime" director charged with posting a message on the Osaka Municipal Government's website threatening to "perpetrate mass murder" has been released amid suspicions that a third party may have remotely operated his PC to send it, prefectural police said Sunday.
The Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office released Masaki Kitamura, 42, on Sept. 21 after discovering that his personal computer had been infected with a virus that could have allowed others to control it remotely and send the message, the police said.
Kitamura, who lives in Suita and worked as assistant director in the popular anime TV series "Mobile Suit Gundam 00," had denied the charges. He was arrested on suspicion of accessing a service inquiry section of the municipal government's website at around 9:45 a.m. July 29 and posting a message reading: "I will perpetrate mass murder in Otaroad (a shopping district in central Osaka) on Aug. 5."
Kitamura was charged with obstructing the work of municipal employees and the police, who put around 90 officers on alert. He was indicted in September. Despite the threat, no attack took place in Otaroad.
The Osaka Prefectural Police also suspected he might be implicated in a bomb threat sent via email to Japan Airlines Corp. on Aug. 1. The carrier immediately ordered a flight bound for New York to return to Tokyo, but no bomb was discovered onboard. Tokyo and Osaka police earlier investigated Kitamura's possible links to the JAL incident.
In a related development, the Mie Prefectural Police said they have released a 28-year-old man who was arrested Sept. 14 on suspicion of posting a message on an Internet message board warning he would destroy the Ise grand shrine, after the same virus that infected Kitamura's PC was discovered in his computer.
The man, who has not been indicted, was released on the same day as Kitamura, Sept. 21, and local police and prosecutors are currently questioning him on a voluntary basis, according to the prefectural police.
The National Police Agency has instructed prefectural police forces nationwide to examine the possibility of third parties effectively hijacking personal computers and user accounts through such viruses when investigating cyber-crimes.
