THE COMPUTER FRAUD and Abuse Act, the law that’s been at the heart of almost every controversial hacking case of the past decade, is in the news again this month. Prosecutors recently used the law to convict journalist Matthew Keys on felony hacking charges, drawing rounds of condemnation on the web. Edward Snowden, for one, derided the harsh penalty Keys now faces—a maximum possible sentence of 25 years. But charging Keys with felonies for his role in a crime that critics say should have been considered a misdemeanor—the minor defacement of a Los A
Technology affects all areas of society, forcing changes in a range of laws. Advances in computer technology have resulted in a new brand of cyber crimes such as computer fraud, computer hacking, email spam, pornography (especially when it relates to children) and stalking online. But it doesn’t just limit itself to computer related crimes. The new wave of digital recording devices create issues with privacy and
On December 17, 1992, 15 year-old Jacob Ind went to school after having murdered his mother and stepfather in the early hours of that morning. In an interview with Frontline he recalled, “I remember I was sitting in the police station and this is how out of touch of reality I was. I had a small amount of marijuana, like an eighth of an ounce, in my bedroom. And I 'm telling my brother, 'You got to get the marijuana or else I 'm in trouble” (Profile Jacob Ind). His attorneys contended that he was acting in self-defense, claiming that the murders were the climax of years of insult by his parents. On June 17, 1994, he was convicted and handed a mandatory sentence of lifetime without parole. This is just one of many life experiences of juveniles sentenced to life without parole in the U.S. There have been many other instances where the juvenile was not the real murderer, but was however given the lifetime without parole sentence. In those instances the defendant would have been convicted of felony murder, in which the defendant could have just been an active participant in a crime during which a murder was committed and consequently, spend life in jail without parole. Felony murder came into play in the case of Devon and Jovon Knox, in July 2007, the 17-year-old twins set out to steal a car together (Sentencing Juveniles). During the car jack, one of the brothers shot and killed the car’s owner. The panel could not decide which brother pulled
As the world becomes ever more involved within the digital realm, it is important to asses acts that may be morally questionable. Such acts like that of a hacker, Hack, and her unauthorized intrusion into a hospital database done purely for personal pleasure. It is my goal to prove that doing so is morally wrong. The proponent of this act, Mickey Soft, lists it as morally permissible for the following reasons:
him in this trial. Does he deserve another chance or a different sentencing phase? The answer
A Stanford University student and swimmer, Brock Turner, was convicted of sexually assaulting an unconscious girl in January 0f 2015. Turner is now required to be registered on the sex offender list; and even though sexual assault is a serious felony, he only served three months in jail because the judge, Aaron Persky, used his discretion. Judges have discretion by law, but Persky used his discretion to give Turner, who he viewed as promising kid instead of a dangerous offender, a shorter sentence. Some argue that being on the sex offender list is too harsh, but since Turner spent so little time in jail, him being registered on the sex offender list is crucial instead of harsh; with being on the list comes important treatment that can treat any underlying issue that caused Turner to assault the unconscious girl and to prevent him from assaulting anyone else.
Nevertheless, media distorts public views on modest trials which cause jury members to give bias opinions and alter their beliefs so to fit with the public's outlook. The Ted Cruz scandal was over a man named Michael Wayne Haley who was imprisoned for six years due to Cruz’s comment and actions towards keeping the man in prison. Haley was originally convicted for stealing a calculator, but he was sentenced to sixteen years in jail for a clerical error; Cruz used to error to prevent the man from leaving prison while he debated with the Supreme court to keep Haley in confinement. Ted Cruz had his followers support his ideas and aid in endorsing the concept of extending Haley’s sentence. The longer Haley was incarcerated the further the judicial system showed its lack of attention towards every personage’s sixth amendment. Another violation of the sixth amendment would be in 2008 when a man charged with sexual assault had his case thrown out when the Denver low-courts took six years to charge him. Despite the fact he pled guilty in 2001, his case was delayed for an extended period of time so he argued that it should be dismissed for if it was not it would be a violation towards his right to a speedy
The difference between this time and every other time before it was only months prior that a 12 year old girl, Polly Klaas was abducted from a slumber party and brutally murdered. Her murderer had been previously convicted of sexual assault, kidnapping and burglary. That same year, still shaken by the Klaas murder, Californians voted 72% in favor of passing proposition 84 (Goodno; John Cloud). Section 667 of the law states the purpose as “[ensuring] longer prison sentences and greater punishment for those who commit a felony and have been previously convicted of serious and/or violent felony offenses (Goodno).” The problem with this legislation was that it allowed nonviolent offenders to be prosecuted indefinitely. A “serious and/or violent felony” includes murder, rape, robbery, kidnapping, and carjacking. Since the, California’s inmate population is on the rise and today, one in four inmates are serving an extended sentence under the law (“California Three
Following a bench trial in the Circuit Court for Wicomico County in 2009, Appellant, Patrick Quesenberry (“Quesenberry”), was convicted of two counts of first-degree burglary, one count of attempted first-degree rape, one count of attempted first-degree sex offense, one count of third-degree sex offense, and one count of second-degree assault. For his offenses, the court sentenced Quesenberry to a term of ten years’ imprisonment for each burglary offense, a term of life imprisonment for attempted rape, a term of life imprisonment for attempted sex offense, a term of five years’ imprisonment for third-degree sex offense, and a term of five years’ imprisonment for second-degree assault.
Computer misuse Act has been enacted after some cyber attacks, for instance the hacking attack against British Telecom commited by Robert Schifreen and Stephen Gold, between 1984 and 1985, using conventional devices such as a personal computer, to surfing in the BT network after obtain the user and password of an IT engineer. They had access to the personal mail box of some members of royal family. They were fined respectively with 750 and 600 pounds after being processed. Thus the law in the UK has been revised and for instance,since 2006,crimes such as attempt or achieve unauthorised access to a computer or network to alter information, or to write and circulate a computer virus ,worm and trojan horse are punishable with a maximum of 10 years in prison.
In 1989, seventeen year old, Kevin Stanford, committed murder, robbery, and sodomy. Stanford stole gas, cigarettes, and cash from a gas station. Along with the robbing he raped and shot the gas station attended on duty, Barbel Poore. After arrest, the juvenile court decided that Stanford will be tried as an adult. This decision was made because of the Kentucky law that states a person who commits a capital offence or is charged if a felony over the age of sixteen is to be tried as an adult. In the Kentucky Supreme Court, Stanford was sentenced to the death penalty and 45 years in prison. His juvenile recorded played a major role in the court’s decision showing the many attempts the state had in trying to set Stanford straight.
The Computer Fraud & Abuse Act of 1986 provides protection against computer based crimes. The original goal of the act was to provide legal protection for computers and computer systems that were part of the government, associated with a financial institution or involved with foreign trade. Some of the penalties and crimes against this act are Obtaining national security information (10-20 years), trespassing in a government computer (1-10 years), intentional access and damage (1-10 years), intentional access and reckless damage (5-10 years), trafficking in passwords (1-10 years) and extortion involving threats to damage
The creation go of the Internet has helped spawn new forms of criminals and crimes, and has always helped make older criminal schemes easier to execute, identity theft, child pornography, copyright violations, hacking and you could go on and on. In a 2003 survey conducted by the CSI with the participation of the San Francisco Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Computer Intrusion Squad, of the 530 respondents made up of U.S. corporations, government agencies, financial institutions, medical institutions and universities, 56% reported unauthorized use of their computer systems (2003 CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Survey).
Computer crime has been a threat to society throughout the years and it has brought into question if citizens are really safe. Many types of crimes are done through a computer. There have been many laws to try and improve the safe of many citizens against computer criminals. Therefore, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) 18 U.S. Code §1030 from the late 1900’s was created and it holds the
With everything in society advancing rapidly, it should be of no surprise that technology is now used to commit crimes against other people. Those crimes include identity theft, stealing money, illegal gambling, and cyberstalking. This paper will review cybercrime and the differences there are from traditional crime and it will review the purpose of hackers. There will also be three cases reviewed to help bring light to what kind of cybercrimes are being committed around the world.
The Computer Fraud & Abuse Act (18 USC 1030) is legislation that was first enacted in 1986 to clarify the existing computer fraud law created in 1984 it helped to identify and speak to malicious code and hacking attacks. The legislation identifies what is consider a crime and were the line are between crime and code are. Even though the Act clearly details what is not acceptable, it falls short in today’s modern time. The act was constructed in a time well before the Internet was a force that everyone uses 100 of times a day. The Act can be broadly interpreted and can be