[Nettime-bold] Infinite Justice (1): Hackers are Terrorists

[sebastian@rolux.org]

         SecurityFocus

         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.

         http://www.securityfocus.com/news/257


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