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List:       dmca-discuss
Subject:    [DMCA_discuss] Re: [It_union] Hackers face life imprisonment under 'Anti-Terrorism'
From:       "Joshua b. Jore" <josh () greentechnologist ! org>
Date:       2001-09-25 16:23:38
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Yes, I do agree that this life sentance thing is totally and completely
egregious. Also, if Slashdot is to be trusted then "Harboring or providing
advice to a hacker would be terrorism as well".

Obviously there must be a non-terrorist escape hatch on this legislation
to prevent non-terrorist hackers from being over punished. If whole scads
of people are being turned into terrorist through legislation then this
harboring or providing advice part may cause ireprable damage to the
security community. Heck, that has wide implications for anyone who even
marginally touches security.

According to the senate hearing I was listening to yesterday is that the
current laws don't provide for non-profit motivated terrorist attacks to
prosecuted as such. This new legislation is a stab (and boy is it a deep
gash) at covering an apparent hole.

I'm supportive of the legislature attempting to close the hole. I just
think this particular implementation is a whopper.

Joshua Jore
Minneapolis Ward 3, precinct 10
  "The irony of this man being imprisoned in the United States and longing
to return to once-Communist Russia so he can regain his right to free
speech is simply staggering." - Paul Cantrell, St Paul area software
developer

On Tue, 25 Sep 2001, Mike Blain wrote:

>
> The possibility of giving a 19-year-old a life prison term for hacking into
> a government Web site and writing "Crystal, I love you" seems pretty
> analogous to me to giving non-violent drug offenders long prison sentences.
> The punishment is all out of proportion to the supposed crime.
>
> It is ironic that in the name of protecting freedom and democracy we will,
> very likely, soon give our government unprecedented powers to undermine
> both...
>
> -- Mike
>
> ------------------------
>
>
> http://www.securityfocus.com/news/257
>
> Hackers face life imprisonment under 'Anti-Terrorism' Act
> Justice Department proposal classifies most computer crimes as acts of
> terrorism.
> By Kevin Poulsen
> Sep 23 2001 11:00PM PT
>
> 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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