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.
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Sex cams: Wisconsin is considering legislation that would make it a crime to disable a surveillance camera -- or blind it with a well-placed wad of duct tape. You can, though, raise a defense to the charge when hauled before a jury if you "tampered with a surveillance device that is installed or used with the intent to observe any nude or partially nude person without the consent of the person observed."
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Taxing hard drives: Steven Cherry, the associate editor of the IEEE Spectrum, has a novel, albeit expensive, idea: Let's tax hard drives because they can be used for Napsteresque copyright infringement. In an article in the February 2002 issue of the venerable geek-pub, Cherry notes that blank CDs are currently taxed to soothe music owners upset about piracy, and suggests: "That tax could be extended to memory sticks, data CDs, even hard disks."
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Sex offenders: This week, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a case involving whether the names of convicted sex offenders who long ago completed their punishment could be placed on the Internet.
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Copyright extension: Speaking of the Supremes, they also said (PDF) they'll hear a challenge to the Copyright Term Extension Act, otherwise known as the keep-Mickey-Mouse-under-Disney's-control-forever law. The case is Eric Eldred v. John D. Ashcroft (99-5430).
DeCSS update: Last year, a California appeals court ruled that the DVD-copying utility, DeCSS.exe, was free speech. The judges said that Californians have a "First Amendment right to publish the DeCSS program."
Not so fast. This week the California Supreme Court vacated that decision (PDF) and granted a review in the case, which involves the industry's dogged use of trade secret law to rid the Internet of DeCSS.
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Copy-protected CDs: A California lawsuit over a CD titled "Charley Pride -- A Tribute to Jim Reeves" has been settled this week.
Music City Records acknowledged in the settlement (PDF) that it neglected to admit that the CD would not work in many standard PC CD-ROM drives -- and pledged to do better in the future. No word on how much the company paid to the plaintiff, Karen DeLise, to get rid of her suit.
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Next week: The Senate returns from recess on Monday, which is also the deadline for House members to send the Rules committee any proposed amendments to H.R. 1542, the Tauzin-Dingell broadband bill.... The Federalist Society is holding a panel discussion at noon on Feb. 27 at the National Press Club. The topic: How al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners should be treated under international law. Coincidentally, a federal judge ruled this week (PDF) that a U.S. court had no jurisdiction over the Guantanamo detainees.... A "Homeland Security" conference is taking place in Washington, Feb. 27 to 28. The announcement says it all: "Sept. 11 was a wake-up call for government and the industries that operate the interconnected networks and systems that comprise the global information infrastructure." President Bush's infosec slush fund means there's lots of cash to go around.... Which explains why there's yet another cybersecurity conference next week, also Feb. 27 to 28. Designed to alarm even the most complacent manager, it's titled: "Combating Cyber Attacks on Your Corporate Data."
