Weak Punishment in U.S.
Punishment for computer crime is becoming more serious as the use of computers and internet are becoming a fact of daily life.
Two mains areas affected by computer crime:
- public safety, i.e. when criminals hack into the telephone system and
crash 911 services
-
immense damage done to corporations by computer viruses and worms/millions $$
Below are two cases of weak punishment for computer crime:
1.
One of the earliest reported cases in federal courts in the USA on computer
crime was that of Robert Riggs.
U.S. v. Riggs, 739 F.Supp. 414 (N.D.Ill 1990), 743 F.Supp. 556 (N.D.Ill.
1990), aff'd, 967 F.2d 561 (11thCir. 1992).
Riggs was first convicted in 1986 for his unauthorized use of a computer and was
sentenced to a mere 15 days of community service and placed on probation for
18 months. 967 F.2d at 562. In 1990 Riggs was indicted again for making
unauthorized access to computers, during which he stole proprietary information
from a telephone company. This time he was sentenced to 21 months in prison,
followed by two years of "supervised release" during which time he was forbidden
to either own or use any computer for his personal use. Riggs was allowed to use
computers in his employment, if supervised by someone. This sentence was upheld
on appeal. 967 F.2d at 563.
2.
In March 1997, a young hacker disabled the telephone service at the Worcester,
Massachusetts airport for six hours, which disabled the air-traffic control
system and other critical services. This same hacker also copied patients'
records from a computer in a pharmacy on four separate occasions in January,
February, and March 1997. This hacker was the first juvenile to be prosecuted by
the U.S. Government for computer crime. He pled guilty and was placed on
probation for two years, was ordered to provide 250 hours of community service,
and forfeited all of the computer equipment used during his criminal activity.
Related Links:
cybercrime.gov Computer Crime Research Center Computer Security Institute
