FC: Congress weighs life imprisonment for some computer intrusions

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Text of the Cyber Security Enhancement Act:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c107:H.R.3482:

Cybercast of the hearing, at 4 pm ET today:
http://www.house.gov/judiciary/schedule.htm

---

http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50363,00.html
   
   Cybercrime Bill Ups the Ante
   By Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)
   2:00 a.m. Feb. 12, 2002 PST
   
   WASHINGTON -- Some forms of illegal hacking would be punished by life
   imprisonment under a proposal that Congress will debate on Tuesday.
   
   A House Judiciary subcommittee will consider the Cyber Security
   Enhancement Act (CSEA), which ups the penalties for computer
   intrusions, funds surveillance research and encourages Internet
   providers to turn over more information to police.
   
   CSEA, sponsored by Crime Subcommittee chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas),
   is one of Congress' more recent responses to the Sept. 11 terrorist
   attacks. Smith introduced the bill in December 2001, saying that it
   will "combat cybercrime and cyberterrorism and send the signal that if
   you engage in cybercrime or cyberterrorism, you will be punished."
   
   [...]

   Currently it's illegal for an Internet provider
   to "knowingly divulge" what you're doing except in some specific
   circumstances, such as when troubleshooting glitches, receiving a
   court order or tipping off police that a crime's in progress. The bill
   expands that list to include when "an emergency involving danger of
   death or serious physical injury to any person requires disclosure of
   the information without delay."
   
   As an incentive for Internet providers not to be overly zealous in
   handing over terabytes of data to the feds, current law allows
   customers to sue for damages. But if CSEA took effect, an Internet
   provider's "good faith determination" that something smelled fishy
   would immunize it from lawsuits by irate customers.

   [...]



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