http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,50620,00.html By Declan McCullagh 2:00 a.m. Feb. 23, 2002 PST WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department wants Congress to increase jail terms and boost surveillance in an anti-hacking bill that will be debated next week. On Tuesday, a House Judiciary subcommittee is scheduled to vote on the Cyber Security Enhancement Act, which already increases punishments for illegal computer intrusions. In cases where miscreants knowingly attempt "to cause death or serious bodily injury" through electronic means, the punishment would be life imprisonment. That's not stiff enough for the Bush administration. John Malcolm, the deputy assistant attorney general, has testified that life imprisonment also should include "reckless" offenses like wreaking havoc on a 911 system or a hospital network. "Although the hacker has not intentionally or knowingly harmed ... patients, his reckless conduct has clearly put them at risk of death or serious injury.... (The law should cover) not only hackers who damage a computer system knowing that death or serious injury will result, but also hackers who damage a computer system with reckless disregard for whether death or serious injury will result," Malcolm said. Also look for behind-the-scenes lobbying by the FBI and the Justice Department on behalf of a replacement bill to expand police wiretap powers even beyond last fall's mammoth USA Patriot Act. Current law permits police to use devices that record the numbers of incoming and outgoing phone calls -- or the Internet equivalent -- for two-day periods. Cops legally can do that without a court order in situations that could involve organized crime or the possibility of "death or serious bodily injury to any person." A revised version of the Cyber Security Enhancement Act would extend that list to include "an immediate threat to a national security interest or an ongoing attack on a (networked) computer that constitutes a crime punishable by a term of imprisonment greater than one year." Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the chairman of the crime subcommittee, plans to introduce the revised bill as a replacement for the original one at the vote next Tuesday. - ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org To unsubscribe email majordomoat_private with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY of the mail.
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