Re: Anti-Electronic Racketeering Act of 1995 (fwd)

[lmccarth@cs.umass.edu (L. McCarthy)]

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"If you read one thread this year, read this one"

One way to find the following text is to look up S.974 on Thomas,
http://thomas.loc.gov/, and follow the "references to this bill in the
Congressional Record" link. Here's the URL I used, but I suspect this query
won't work from scratch: 
http://rs9.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/2?r104:./temp/~r10443Io:e50455:+@1(S.+974)++

Deep down, I didn't truly believe it would come to this. Now I'm a believer.
I've inserted a few comments. If they seem alarmist, perhaps it's because
I'm alarmed !  I actually find Grassley's comments more frightening than the
text of the bill itself....

I get the impression that this amendment might also jeopardize anonymous
digital cash; Sec. 1030 (a) (3) makes it unlawful to "use a computer or
computer network to transmit a communication intended to conceal or hide the
origin of money or other assets, tangible or intangible, that were derived
from racketeering activity."  All these limitations on cryptography and
privacy seem to shift the effective burden of proof from the prosecution to
the defense -- Jennifer Q. Public can't keep anything out of the prosecution's
eyes, in case she might be laundering Mafia dough. 

If they're pursuing a similar argument with this amendment, anonymous
remailing may be in trouble too. 

 --- Begin Included Text ---

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS (Senate - June
27, 1995) 
Sen. GRASSLEY

Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I rise this evening to introduce the
Anti-electronic Racketeering Act of 1995. This bill makes important changes
to RICO and criminalizes deliberately using computer technology to engage in
criminal activity. I believe this bill is a reasonable, measured and strong
response to a growing problem. According to the computer emergency and
response team at Carnegie-Mellon University, during 1994, about 40,000
computer users were attacked. Virus hacker, the FBI's national computer
crime squad has investigated over 200 cases since 1991. So, computer crime is
clearly on the rise.

Mr. President, I suppose that some of this is just natural. Whenever man
develops a new technology, that technology will be abused by some. And that
is why I have introduced this bill. 

<< to make sure nobody can use it, lest they "abuse" it...

I believe we need to seriously reconsider
the Federal Criminal Code with an eye toward modernizing existing statutes
and creating new ones. In other words, Mr. President, Elliot Ness needs to
meet the Internet.

Mr. President, I sit on the Board of the Office of Technology Assessment.
That Office has clearly indicated that organized crime has entered cyberspace
in a big way. International drug cartels use computers to launder drug money
and terrorists like the Oklahoma City bombers use computers to conspire to
commit crimes.

<< I haven't heard much to suggest that McVeigh was using a
<< computer for anything, but we all saw this line coming, right ?
<< 3 of Tim's 4 Horsemen of the Infocalypse figure prominently here; I guess
<< Exon & Gorton have ridden off after the fourth already....

Computer fraud accounts for the loss of millions of dollars per year. And
often times, there is little that can be done about this because the computer
used to commit the crimes is located overseas. So, under my bill, overseas
computer users who employ their computers to commit fraud in the United
States would be fully subject to the Federal criminal laws. 

<< So the U.S. Government now considers, among other things, the entire
<< Internet to fall under its jurisdiction. I think he's referring to 
<< Sec. 1030 A (g). The provisions of that subsection apply to the entire
<< enclosing section, which under this amendment would include the
<< prohibition on non-GAK crypto on the net.

Also under my
bill, Mr. President, the wire fraud statute which has been successfully used by
prosecutors for many users, will be amended to make fraudulent schemes
which use computers a crime.

It is not enough to simply modernize the Criminal Code. We also

have to reconsider many of the difficult procedural burdens that prosecutors
must overcome. For instance, in the typical case, prosecutors must identify a
location in order to get a wiretapping order. But in cyberspace, it is often
impossible to determine the location. And so my bill corrects that so that if
prosecutors cannot, with the exercise of effort, give the court a location, then
those prosecutors can still get a wiretapping order. 

<< I'm not sure where in the bill this is delineated. Would the police be
<< given a carte blanche to root around wherever the mood strikes them ?

And for law
enforcers--both State and Federal--who have seized a computer which
contains both contraband or evidence and purely private material, I have
created a good-faith standard so that law enforcers are not shackled by
undue restrictions but will also be punished for bad faith.

<< All together now: "TRUST US"

Mr. President, this brave new world of electronic communications and global
computer networks holds much promise. But like almost anything, there is the
potential for abuse and harm. That is why I urge my colleagues to support
this bill and that is why I urge industry to support this bill.

On a final note, I would say that we should not be too scared of
technology. 

<< Did a staffer write this ?

After all, we are still just people and right is still right and
wrong is still wrong. Some things change and some things do not. 

<< Did George Bush write this ?

All that
my bill does is say you can't use computers to steal, to threaten others or
conceal criminal conduct.

<< Ah, if that's all it does, why not scrap the whole thing and not waste
<< the Senate's valuable time ?  After all, stealing, threatening, and
<< concealing criminal conduct are already outlawed....

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed
in the Record.

There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record,
as follows:
[...]

 --- End Included Text ---

<< -Lewis "Futplex" McCarthy <lmccarth@cs.umass.edu>
<< I am not a lawyer

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