NCJ Number
98204
Date Published
1985
Length
20 pages
Annotation
This statement before the House Subcommittee on Crime, presents the views of the Department of Justice on two bills (H.R. 1001, H.R. 930) that would amend the new computer crime provision in section 1030 of Title 18 of the criminal code.
Abstract
As the bills now stand, they fail to track the language of existing wire and mail fraud statutes so that this body of law can be applied to computer-fraud offenses. They also require the Government to prove the extent of a defendant's authority to access the computer and do not adequately cover computers operated by or on behalf of the Government. In short, supplementation of existing statute provides too limited a remedy and present 1030 provisions need to be replaced in their entirety. It is recommended that felony computer fraud provisions track existing mail and wire fraud provisions. Federal jurisdiction should extend to such offenses if the computer is owned by or operated on behalf of the Federal Government or a federally insured financial institution and when two or more computers in different States are used. It should be a Federal felony to knowingly or willfully destroy such computers, and it should be a misdemeanor to intentionally and without authorization access such computers. Finally, legislation in this area should contain a criminal forfeiture provision attaching to the computer or computer software involved in the above offenses. A bill embodying these recommendations is appended.