By Shawn OBLeary, Of the NEWS Staff

ELLSWORTH B Somebody broke into part of Hancock CountyBs World Wide Web site designed to link people to millions of records in its Registry of Deeds, briefly routing visitors to an unrelated Web page showing three monkeys.

The county recently signed an agreement with a Portland-based computer imaging company to make electronic copies of all Hancock County deeds available to computer users on the Web.

But now county commissioners believe that last week a computer hacker interrupted the link to the deed service. They believe that on at least one day, the hacker replaced the link to the imaging company with one directing computer users to a Web page produced by a critic of the countyBs contract with the imaging vendor.

Any image or line of text included in a Web page that, when clicked on, directs the computer to another Web page is known as a Blink.B

The offending page asked for a full disclosure of county dealings with the imaging company, and depicted three monkeys at the top of the screen. The three monkeys were shown covering either mouth, eyes or ears, and the words BExecutive Session: makes us all out to be monkeysB was printed across the bottom of the photograph.

While no damage was apparently done to the countyBs computer system, and the prank was quickly repaired, Commissioner Dennis Damon said Monday that he is BdisturbedB by the action and that if a hacker can be identified, he will seek to have the person prosecuted.

Bob Way, a spokesman for the Maine Attorney GeneralBs Office, said computer crimes committed in Maine may be prosecuted under the stateBs computer privacy law. The extent of penalties, he said, depends on the damage caused by the violation.

A person who BhacksB into another computer but doesnBt copy protected information or cause permanent damage to the computer would likely be charged with violating the computer privacy law, a misdemeanor. That charge carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison and possible fines.

Should the hacker steal sensitive information or damage the host computer, Way said, the person could be charged with aggravated invasion of computer privacy. That charge, a felony, carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, fines and restitution.

BHackingB is the word used to describe computer users who force their way into other computers. Hackers may enter a host computer through a variety of ways. They can hide from detection by networking through a number of other computers and sending commands to the victim computer points in the network.

Damon said Monday that he has just begun to look into the matter and that nobody has been identified as the culprit. While Damon said issues relating to the Internet are sometimes difficult to understand, he is committed to finding out who is responsible.

BIBm in a new area here, but it seems to me like this is hacking,B Damon said Monday. He has yet to turn the matter over to police for investigation.

Hancock County contracted with MacImage of Maine to produce digital copies of county deeds for use in the Registry of Deeds and on the Internet.

The county pays the three-year contract, which costs $165,000. At some point, the county plans to start charging a fee for use. The county would then get back part of the fee if the site is profitable.

MacImage now provides the images to Internet users for free. More than 1.6 million documents are available at MacImageBs Web site, www.registryofdeeds.com.

John Simpson, owner of MacImage, said Monday that he had received a number of e-mail messages from customers trying to gain access to the registryBs Web page on Thursday, but were finding the BmonkeyB page.

Simpson said the Web site was fixed before he had a chance to view the offending page.

Kelly Bellis, a local surveyor and frequent user of the registry, has balked at Hancock CountyBs dealings with SimpsonBs company. He has contended that the county is merely a guardian of the deeds stored in the registry and that it therefore had no right to create digital copies of them without authority of the voters.

Bellis said a reporterBs call to him Monday was the first he had heard about the hacking incident.

Bellis said that he created the Web page with the monkeys and that he also included a series of documents on the site detailing his position.

The Web site has existed in various forms for many months and has tracked the countyBs dealings with MacImage during that time. His site is at www.gwi.net/surveyor/Registry.

Bellis said Monday that he hadnBt been notified of the presence of his Web page on the countyBs server, and he added that anyone who was aware of his Web address could have placed it there as part of a prank.

BIBm sure that itBs just an inadvertent oversight,B Bellis said. BIt could have been accidental.B

Bellis also contended that the MacImage Web page is prone to frequent disruptions and that someone trying to gain access to the site through a search engine could have made his or her way to the BmonkeyB page by mistake.

BIf, for example, you at this time sit down and go to a search engine,B Bellis said, Band you type in BHancock County Registry of Deeds,B you will get a link to my Web site dealing with the Registry of Deeds. And thatBs because IBve registered itB with search engines.

Of particular concern to Bellis is a provision in the agreement with MacImage that gives the company ownership of the digital copies of the deeds and thus the right to charge a fee for access to them via the Internet.

Search engines index many Web pages by their themes and keywords. Internet users can then enter key word or phrase to find a list of matching Web sites. For example, a person looking for a recipe for apple pie might search for Bapple pie recipesB on one of these sites.

Lori Roberts, who works in the Ellsworth assessorBs office, was one of the first people to discover the monkey page and reported it to county officials.

Roberts said she has used the site extensively with her work, but that Thursday was the first time she had ever encountered the problem.

BI said, BOh my God, IBm having monkeys appear on it!BB Roberts said.

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-- Doris (reaper@pacifier.com), October 25, 2000