Internetworkers: http://www.ibiblio.org/internetworkers/

["David Spitz" <dspitz AT windwire.com>]

Code Red damage was estimated at around $1.2 billion on July 31 [Cnet].
Melissa was around $8.7 billion [also Cnet]. I suspect Nimda will be similar
in scope. These are damages on par with small- to mid-sized natural
disasters, and the costs are real. In cases like this, where the scale of
destruction and cost is so high, I think it is appropriate to consider very
long sentences, including life.

That aside, I am skeptical that these types of crimes are really
"terrorism". Terrorism to me implies substantial physical violence against
humans. And unless hacking is used as a means to conduct terrorism, it's
hard for me to see the link.

David

-----Original Message-----
From: Thomas Beckett [mailto:thomas AT tbeckett.com]
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2001 9:57 PM
To: InterNetWorkers
Subject: [internetworkers] hacking = terrorism = life without parole


http://www.securityfocus.com/news/257

Article in full:

    Hackers, virus-writers and web site defacers would face life
imprisonment without the possibility of parole under legislation
proposed by the Bush Administration that would classify most computer
crimes as acts of terrorism.

    The Justice Department is urging Congress to quickly approve its
Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), a twenty-five page proposal that would expand
the government's legal powers to conduct electronic surveillance, access
business records, and detain suspected terrorists.

    The proposal defines a list of "Federal terrorism offenses" that are
subject to special treatment under law. The offenses include
assassination of public officials, violence at international airports,
some bombings and homicides, and politically-motivated manslaughter or
torture.

    Most of the terrorism offenses are violent crimes, or crimes
involving chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. But the list also
includes the provisions of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that make it
illegal to crack a computer for the purpose of obtaining anything of
value, or to deliberately cause damage. Likewise, launching a malicious
program that harms a system, like a virus, or making an extortionate
threat to damage a computer are included in the definition of terrorism.

    To date no terrorists are known to have violated the Computer Fraud
and Abuse Act. But several recent hacker cases would have qualified as
"Federal terrorism offenses" under the Justice Department proposal,
including the conviction of Patrick Gregory, a prolific web site defacer
who called himself "MostHateD"; Kevin Mitnick, who plead guilty to
penetrating corporate networks and downloading proprietary software;
Jonathan "Gatsby" Bosanac, who received 18-months in custody for
cracking telephone company computers; and Eric Burns, the Shoreline,
Washington hacker who scrawled "Crystal, I love you" on a United States
Information Agency web site in 1999. The 19-year-old was reportedly
trying to impress a classmate with whom he was infatuated.

    The Justice Department submitted the ATA to Congress late last week
as a response to the September 11th terrorist attacks in New York,
Washington and Pennsylvania that killed some 7,000 people.

    As a "Federal terrorism offense," the five year statute of
limitations for hacking would be abolished retroactively -- allowing
computer crimes committed decades ago to be prosecuted today -- and the
maximum prison term for a single conviction would be upped to life
imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal justice system

    Those convicted of providing "advice or assistance" to cyber crooks,
or harboring or concealing a computer intruder, would face the same
legal repercussions as an intruder. Computer intrusion would also become
a predicate offense for the RICO statutes.

    DNA samples would be collected from hackers upon conviction, and
retroactively from those currently in custody or under federal
supervision. The samples would go into the federal database that
currently catalogs murderers and kidnappers.

    Civil liberties groups have criticized the ATA for its dramatic
expansion of surveillance authority, and other law enforcement powers.

    But Attorney General John Ashcroft urged swift adoption of the
measure Monday.

    Testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, Ashcroft defended
the proposal's definition of terrorism. "I don't believe that our
definition of terrorism is so broad," said Ashcroft. "It is broad enough
to include things like assaults on computers, and assaults designed to
change the purpose of government."

    The Act is scheduled for mark-up by the committee Tuesday morning.

---
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