Physical Assault on the Web?

Wired.com reports that the Internet site of the Epilepsy Foundation has been hacked last week. Instead of reaching a page informing them about their disease, some users reached a page flashing different colors at a very rapid pace, which is likely to cause an attack. At least one person was victim of this new type of hacking.

Wired.com calls this "possibly the first computer attack to inflict physical harm on the victims." Could this be qualified as a criminal assault? Probably so. In New York, assault is the intentional reckless, or criminally negligent injury to a third person, with either the use of a deadly weapon or a dangerous instrument. The attack-inducing program created by the hacker would have to be considered a "dangerous instrument."