Cybercrimes are crimes that are committed virtually from a computer or over the Internet. These crimes are on the rise, and they include activities like hacking and identity theft. Cybercrime is a broad term that includes many white-collar crimes. Cybercrime is ubiquitous these days, because virtually every desk has a computer on it. These crimes can range from non-white-collar crimes (like possession of child pornography) to traditional white-collar crime, involving the use of deception to acquire money.
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act is a federal statute that carries punishments for compromising computers used in interstate commerce or communication. It punishes those who access a computer to commit fraud, among other things. See Table 10.1 "Summary of Computer Fraud and Abuse Act Compromising Confidentiality Provisions" 1 for a summary of the provisions that carry criminal punishments, as well as the statutory sentences.
|
Offense |
Section |
Sentence (Years)* |
|
Obtaining national security information |
(a)(1) |
10 (20) |
|
Compromising the confidentiality of a computer |
(a)(2) |
1 or 5 |
|
Trespassing in a government computer |
(a)(3) |
1 (10) |
|
Accessing a computer to defraud and obtain value |
(a)(4) |
5 (10) |
|
Knowing transmission and intentional damage |
(a)(5)(A)(i) |
10 (20 or life) |
|
Intentional access and reckless damage |
(a)(5)(A)(ii) |
5 (20) |
|
Intentional access and damage |
(a)(5)(A)(iii) |
1 (10) |
|
Trafficking in passwords |
(a)(6) |
1 (10) |
|
Extortion involving threats to damage computer |
(a)(7) |
5 (10) |
|
* The maximum prison sentences for second convictions are noted in parentheses |
||
The Unauthorized Access to Stored Communications Act is a federal statute to protect the confidentiality of e-mail and voicemail. However, this act does not have as broad of a sweep as it might appear from its name. Courts have held that home computers, business computers, and Internet service providers (ISPs) are not “electronic communications devices” that are covered by this act. So hacking into an e-mail account provider 2 would be prohibited by this act, but not hacking into a home computer 3 or a business computer. 4 Due to the narrow reading of the statute by the courts, few prosecutions have occurred under this Act since its enactment. 5
Identity theft is also now codified into federal statute as a federal criminal violation. 6 This crime is rampant. Identity thieves obtain credit in an otherwise creditworthy person’s name. The victim of these crimes can spend hundreds of hours repairing the damage. This is one of the primary reasons why it is very important not to reveal personal information on the Internet.
Finally, spamming is now subject to federal regulations, the violations of which are now a federal crime by virtue of the CAN-SPAM Act. This law serves as the vehicle to prosecute senders of large quantities of unsolicited e-mails if those e-mails do not meet the federal requirements. 7 Marketers, beware!
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