The web site of the Shenzhen Bus Group was hacked Sunday by a man who claimed he wanted to take revenge for the way his girlfriend had been treated by a bus driver.

The hacker replaced the front page of the company's Web site, www.szbus.com.cn, with complaints in green Chinese characters on a dark background.

The Web site was closed Sunday afternoon. On Monday morning, a spokesman of the company said it would be running within 24 hours. The company's Web site, however, couldn't be accessed as of yesterday evening.

The hacker claimed on the front page of the Web site that his girlfriend was rudely ordered to get off a bus while on her way to work when she told the driver she had forgotten to bring money with her.

Using the synonym Xiaogui, or young ghost, the hacker said he had destroyed all the data in the server and asked the company to apologize for its bad service to the public.

The hacking has sparked heated discussion among local netizens. While some were worried about Web page safety, many complained about poor bus services and high transport fees in the city.

A manager with the company who declined to be named said its passenger service center was carrying out an investigation into the incident.

It was an improper way to vent one's anger, the manager commented.

The case has been reported to and taken over by the network monitoring department of the city's public security bureau.

(Shenzhen Daily August 8, 2006)