A judge has refused to reduce the $5 million bail of a man who had control of all of the San Francisco City's computer system for the last few weeks.

Terry Childs has been jailed since July 13 on four felony counts of computer tampering. It is claimed that he wired up the entire city's computer system to malfunction during routine maintenance unless they used a password that only he knew.

Childs initially refused to reveal correct passwords to his employers, but turned them over to Mayor Gavin Newsom earlier this week. The Mayor made an unusual visit to Childs in jail. However if Childs expected the judge to go easier on his bail conditions because he had handed over the passwords he was mistaken.

San Francisco Deputy District Attorney Conrad del Rosario told San Francisco Superior Court Judge Lucy McCabe that the Sheriff's Department is 'locked out.' Defence attorney Erin Crane said Childs was merely trying to protect the network after 'co-workers and supervisors had in the past maliciously damaged the system themselves, hindered his ability to maintain it ... and shown complete indifference to maintaining it themselves.'

Crane also said Childs, 43, posed no danger to the public. But the Judge said that if he couldn’t come up with $5 million he would have to stay inside jail. X

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