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Government Considers New "Cybercrime" Bill
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)
Posted by: Shalome
Want to poke around the Internet and look for security holes? Break into your school's computer and change your grades? Maybe deface a website or two? If this new bill passes, "black hat" hackers could be looking at life imprisonment.
WASHINGTON - A House bill that could give life imprisonment to computer hackers received support from administration officials and technology executives Tuesday. Microsoft lawyer Susan Kelley Koeppen, a former Justice Department prosecutor, said courts should take hackers more seriously. "Cybercrime will never be effectively curbed if society continues to treat it merely as pranksterism," she said. The government is increasingly concerned about the well-being of government and business computer systems in the face of teen hackers and foreign threats.
While stories such as these have been common in the evolution of the Internet, this new proposal goes a bit farther in its scope:
Another portion of the bill would protect Internet providers from lawsuits if, believing someone is in danger, they give records of communications to a government entity. Koeppen said she believes the term "government entity" could be applied to firefighters or even school principals.
The dangers of "cyberterrorism" have been widely hyped in the current political climate. However, some people feel the wording is too vague, overly broad, and allows the government too much power in demanding that ISPs grant full access to any transcripts of private communications.
[Ari]Schwartz [of the Center for Democracy and Technology] dismissed the idea - mentioned by several supporters - that the information sharing would be useful to combat terrorism. Some of the suspected terrorists in the Sept. 11 attacks communicated over the Internet. "It's not as though law enforcement agencies knew about that information and wanted to get it [but couldn't]," Schwartz said. "It was not the standards that failed us, it was the intelligence-gathering that failed us."
Full story here from Yahoo News.
Editorial commentary: I am bothered by the suggestion that "school principal" could be classified as a government entity, and therefore given the power to demand that an ISP turn over transcripts of a student's or teacher's private chat logs if there is a suspicion of wrongdoing... I am also bothered that Microsoft's legal team seems to be heavily involved in this, seeing as how Microsoft's security holes are some of the best known and most exploitable ones out there... This does sound a bit alarmist, but in today's political climate, it seems like anything given a "homeland security" spin gets passed without question.
Posted by: SKYHN
Microsoft holes should be exposed, especially when nearly every pc in the world has freaking windows.
If they werent exposed, then we would all be being hacked and not know how.
Posted by: Null Actor
You have to love it.
They want curious hackers to go to jail for life, yet a man can rape a little girl and only serve a few years.
Where oh where are the priorities of our governments?
Posted by: steadyeddy
Stupid !!!!!
Hackers could well fuel the future of technology! Before looking them all up, maybe they should think of other ways they can use there criminal talent.......
I will be interested in the first case coming to light.
Posted by: iTaL
Lmfao for breaking into a computer
Life in jail
Yet a murder can be out in 5-8 years with good behavior
Or A rich star has sex with a 14 year old and gets a couple years
Hmm we need to stop worrying about little hackers and mp3 traders and go after killers rapeist etc
Posted by: redwench
yes, it ludicrous. computer crimes should be treated as any other. the more damage you do, the heavier the charges and sentence. but life for a nonviolent crime, except perhaps for treasonous behavior, is ridiculous.
Posted by: JANNA
things that would get u life for computer crime: running an internet child prostitution ring for catholic priests (very large demand tis a shame current senator barney franks was ahead of his time). guys comeon how many times have the media sensationalized things that have no chance of coming about for nothing more than gaining readership.
yes hacking needs to be treated severely. i think in the same way that burglery is treated in RL. i find it funny that people laugh and joke over the "poor little hacker just trying to do some good for the world" but if a burgler treated ur house the same u would be standing their demanding the police do something. after all a RL burgler is just exploiting the security flaws in ur home...
Posted by: Maverick
I agree with Nova Z. The priorities are totally screwed up. Life in jail for hacking is obsurd. I also see where Janna is coming from to, however I think life in prison is just too much, when a murderer can get out in virtually, no time at all. I don't agree with the article =/
Posted by: redwench
yes. if a burglar breaks into your house and steals objects, its usually breaking&entering, and buglary charges. even a habitual criminal would onlly get 2-5 years. if a hacker breaks into a comp and steals items (such as credit card numbers), then he shouldnt get life, he should be getting the same 2-5 years. maybe less, since there is no physical danger from the hacker.
but unless said hacker is stealing military secrets and selling them to terrorists, i think life is a bit much.
Posted by: Tweaker
 Quote:
Originally posted by Nova Z
You have to love it.
They want curious hackers to go to jail for life, yet a man can rape a little girl and only serve a few years.
Where oh where are the priorities of our governments?
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I couldn't agree more Nova! 
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