Leahy Cyber Crime Measure Passes Senate

 

WASHINGTON (Thursday, July 31, 2008) – Legislation championed by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to fight identity theft and cyber crime unanimously passed the Senate Wednesday night and is headed to the House of Representatives for consideration.

 

Leahy introduced the Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act last October with the Committee’s Ranking Member, Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), and worked quickly to move the legislation in the Judiciary Committee.  The Senate unanimously passed the bill in November, but it has been stalled in the House.  On Wednesday, the Senate amended a House-passed bill to extend Secret Service protection to former vice presidents to include the Leahy-Specter cyber crime bill.  The legislation (H.R. 5938) as amended will now return to the House for consideration.

 

“The Senate’s action moves us in the right direction to provide critical tools to combat cyber crime and to protect the privacy of all Americans,” said Leahy.  “I hope the leadership in the House will quickly act to pass this legislation, and send it to the President for signature.  Enacting this privacy bill will provide much-needed new tools to safeguard the privacy of all Americans.”

 

Leahy has launched several legislative efforts in this Congress to protect the privacy of all Americans.  Leahy and Specter last year introduced the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act, S. 495.  The Judiciary Committee passed the measure in May 2007 and Leahy has since urged the Senate to take up the legislation.  In March, Leahy and Specter also sent a letter to the Senate’s majority and minority leaders asking that the Senate consider the legislation.

 

The provisions to combat cyber crime that were adopted Wednesday in the Senate have the support of the Department of Justice and the Secret Service, and have broad support from industry and consumer groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, the Business Software Alliance, the Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of American, and the AARP. 

 

If enacted, the Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act that amended H.R. 5938 would:

 

• Give victims of identity theft the ability to seek restitution for the loss of time and money spent restoring credit and remedying the harms of identity theft;
• Ensure that identity thieves who impersonate businesses in order to steal sensitive personal data can be prosecuted under federal identity theft laws.  Current law only provides for prosecution of identity theft perpetrated against an individual.
• Enable prosecution of those who steal personal information from a computer even when the victim’s computer is located in the same state as the thief’s computer.  Under current law, federal courts only have jurisdiction if the thief uses an interstate communication to access the victim’s computer.
• Eliminate the requirement that damage to a victim’s computer exceed $5,000 before charges can be brought for unauthorized access to a computer.  The provision protects innocent actors while punishing violations resulting in less than $5,000 in damage as misdemeanors.
• Make it a felony to employ spyware or keyloggers to damage ten or more computers regardless of the aggregate amount of damage caused, ensuring that the most egregious identity thieves will not escape with a minimal, or no, sentence.
• Makes it a crime to threaten to steal or release information from a computer.  Current law only permits the prosecution of those who seek to extort companies or government agencies by explicitly threatening to shut down or damage a computer.  Violators of this provision are subject to a criminal fine and up to five years in prison.  
• Add the remedies of civil and criminal forfeiture to the arsenal of tools available to federal prosecutors to combat cyber crime.  Mandate that the U.S. Sentencing Commission review and update its guidelines for identity theft and other cyber crime offenses.

 

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Statement Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.),

Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,

On Senate Passage Of

The Former Vice President Protection Act Of 2008, H.R. 5938

July 31, 2008

 

MR. PRESIDENT.  I am pleased that, last night, the Senate unanimously passed the Former Vice President Protection Act, H.R. 5938, a bill to ensure that that former Vice Presidents and their immediate family receive Secret Service protection for six months after they leave office.  I am especially pleased that this important legislation includes key provisions of the Leahy-Specter Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act, a critical cyber crime bill that unanimously passed the Senate last November.  I urge the House of Representatives to promptly take up and enact this important criminal legislation.

 

Although the Secret Service has provided protection to former Vice Presidents over the last 30 years, through a variety of temporary grants of authority, this legislation will provide clear authority for the Secret Service to provide such protection for the first time.  The men and women of the Secret Service perform the very difficult job of protecting our current and former leaders exceptionally well.  I am pleased that this legislation will help the Secret Service to carry out this important mission.

 

This bipartisan legislation also includes important cyber crime provisions – portions of the Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act – to protect the privacy rights of all Americans.  The anti-cyber crime provisions in this bill are long overdue.  A recent survey by the Federal Trade Commission found that that more than eight million Americans fell victim to identity theft in 2005.  In addition, a new report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development encourages democratic governments around the world to more aggressively fight identity theft by enacting stronger cyber crime laws and stiffening the penalties to deter potential cyber-criminals.

 

The key anti-cyber crime provisions that are included in this legislation will close existing gaps in our criminal law to keep up with the cunning and ingenuity of today’s identity thieves.  First, to better protect American consumers, the legislation provides the victims of identity theft with the ability to seek restitution in Federal court for the loss of time and money spent restoring their credit and remedying the harms of identity theft, so that identity theft victims can be made whole.  Second, to address the increasing number of computer hacking crimes that involve computers located within the same State, the cyber-crime amendment eliminates the jurisdictional requirement that a computer’s information must be stolen through an interstate or foreign communication in order to federally prosecute this crime. 

 

Third, this legislation also addresses the growing problem of the malicious use of spyware to steal sensitive personal information, by eliminating the requirement that the loss resulting from the damage to a victim’s computer must exceed $5,000 in order to federally prosecute the offense.  The bill carefully balances this necessary change with the legitimate need to protect innocent actors from frivolous prosecutions, and clarifies that the elimination of the $5,000 threshold applies only to criminal cases. 

 

In addition, the amendment addresses the increasing number of cyber attacks on multiple computers, by making it a felony to employ spyware or keyloggers to damage 10 or more computers, regardless of the aggregate amount of damage caused.  By making this crime a felony, the amendment ensures that the most egregious identity thieves will not escape with minimal punishment under Federal cyber crime laws.  The legislation also strengthens the protections for American businesses, which are more and more becoming the focus of identity thieves, by adding two new causes of action under the cyber extortion statute -- threatening to obtain or release information from a protected computer and demanding money in relation to a protected computer -- so that this bad conduct can be federally prosecuted.  And, lastly, the legislation adds the remedy of civil and criminal forfeiture to the arsenal of tools to combat cyber crime and our amendment directs the United States Sentencing Commission to review its guidelines for identity theft and cyber crime offenses.

 

Senator Specter and I have worked closely with the Department of Justice and the Secret Service in crafting these updates to our cyber crime laws and the legislation we add as an amendment to the Former Vice President Protection Act has the strong support of these Federal agencies and the support of a broad coalition of business, high tech and consumer groups.  The bill as amended to include these critical cyber crime provisions is a good, bipartisan bill that will help to better protect our Nation’s leaders and to better protect all Americans from the growing threat of identity theft and other cyber crimes. 

 

Again, I thank the bipartisan coalition of Senators who have joined Senator Specter and me in supporting this important bill.  I urge the House of Representatives to promptly enact this important criminal legislation.

 

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