Summary
Annual white collar crime survey
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Extract
Computer crimes.
I. INTRODUCTION
This Article tracks developments in computer-related criminal law and legal literature, analyzes federal, state, and international approaches to computer crime legislation and enforcement, and reviews recent developments in these areas. Section I defines computer crime, discusses the different forms it can take, and explores the extent of this problem. Section II describes the federal statutes used for prosecuting computer crimes and analyzes their defenses, sentencing, and enforcement strategies. Section III examines state approaches to combatting computer crime and the resulting federalism issues. Section IV addresses international approaches. Finally, Section V tracks emerging issues, including data encryption. A. Defining Computer Crime The rapid emergence of computer technologies and the Internet's(1) exponential expansion have spawned a variety of new criminal behaviors and an explosion in specialized legislation to combat them.(2) While the term "computer crime" includes traditional crimes committed with a computer,(3) it also includes novel, technologically specific offenses that arguably are not analogous to any non-computer crimes.(4) The diversity of computer-related offenses, however, renders any narrow definition untenable. The Department of Justice ("DOJ") broadly defines computer crimes as "any violations of criminal law that involve a knowledge of computer technology for their perpetration, investigation, or prosecution."(5) Accurate statistics on the extent of this phenomenon have proved elusive(6) because of the difficulty in adequately defining computer crimes.(7) The statistics are also untrustworthy due to victims' failures to report incidents because of (1) fear of losing customer confidence(8) and (2) lack of detection.(9) The aggregate annual losses to businesses and governments, however, are estimated to be in the billions of dollars.(10) B. Types of Computer-Related Offenses There is no "typical" computer-related crime and no "typical" motive for committing such crimes, although common motives include exhibiting technical expertise, highlighting weaknesses in computer security systems, punishment or retaliation, computer voyeurism, asserting a belief in open access to computer systems, or sabotage.(11) Computer criminals can be youthful hackers,(12) disgruntled employees and company insiders,(13) or international terrorists and spies.(14) Because of the vast variety of computer-related crimes and motives, computer-related crimes are classified according to the computer's role in the particular crime.(15) First, a computer may be the "object" of a crime: the offender targets the computer itself. This encompasses theft of computer processor time and computerized services. Second, a computer may be the "subject" of a crime: a computer is the physical site of the crime, or the source of, or reason for, unique forms of asset loss. This includes the use of "viruses,"(16) "worms",(17) "Trojan horses,"(18) "logic bombs,"(19) and "sniffers." Third, a computer may be an "instrument" used to commit traditional crimes in a more complex manner. For example, a computer might be used to collect credit card information to make fraudulent purchases.(20) II. FEDERAL APPROACHES This Section examines the major federal statutes directed at computer-related crimes and describes some of their practical shortcomings. Part A discusses the federal criminal code (Title 18), including the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996 ("NIIPA").(21) Part B describes enforcement strategies and Part C examines search and seizure and First Amendment issues. A. Federal Criminal Code Rather than attempting to deal with computer crime by amending every traditional statute to encompass new technologies,(22) Congress has treated computer-related crimes as distinct federal offenses since the passage of the Counterfeit Access Device and Computer Fraud and Abuse Law in 1984.(23) The 1984 Act was intentionally narrowly tailored to protect classified United States' defense and foreign relations information, financial institution and consumer reporting agency files, and access to computers operated for the government.(24) Subsequently, the volume of such legislation greatly expanded to address many other types of computer-related crimes.(25) As new computer crime issues have arisen and more statistics have become available, the law has attempted to adapt. In the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1986,(26) Congress expanded the scope of the law and attempted to define its terms more clearly.(27) Congress continued to expand the scope of the computer crime law in 1988,(28) 1989,(29) and 1990.(30) In 1994, Congress rewrote part of the Act again,(31) and then passed the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996 (NIIPA).(32) 1. National Information Infrastructure Protection Act of 1996 The 1996 Act contains the most recent amendments to the Counterfeit Acce...See the full content of this document
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