'Kind pirate' arrested over Obama Twitter hack

A hacker has been arrested by the French authorities for accessing Barack Obama and Britney Spears' Twitter accounts.

'Hacker Croll', as he calls himself — the unemployed, 23-year-old computer technician's real name has not been disclosed beyond the first name 'Francois' — was arrested in the region of Puy-de-Dome following a months-long investigation in co-operation with the FBI.

Croll secured Twitter administrator privileges to access the accounts almost a year ago.

Sky News ran an interview with Hacker Croll on Thursday, in which he said he had guessed Twitter employees' passwords — by studying their Facebook pages and blogs — in order to gain access to the microblogging service's administrative system.

"I did not act with a destructive aim... I wanted to warn them, to show up the faults in the system," he said. "Big companies are no more secure than any internet user. That's the message I wanted to get across."

"I am not a hacker," he said. "I am a kind pirate."

According to Sky, Hacker Croll will appear in court on 24 June. He faces a jail term of up to two years.