The University of Hawaii wants to stop the owners of universityofhawaii.com from purposely "besmirching" UH’s image and misleading the public.

UH President M.R.C. Greenwood sent an appeal to the state Senate Economic Development and Technology Committee, which is hearing a bill on unauthorized computer use Wednesday afternoon.

Greenwood’s written testimony asks the committee to consider amending the bill to include fraudulent use of Internet domain names. She explains that UH has been victimized by unknown attackers who have been maliciously using the domain name to misrepresent the state institution.

UH is attempting to deal with the problem in civil court. The site was not up Tuesday afternoon.

The bill before the Senate is part of the Honolulu Prosecutor’s package. It would make unauthorized computer access a felony offense.