Leahy-Authored Anti-Cyber Crime Provisions Set To Become Law
Bill To Fight Identity Theft Headed To President’s Desk For
Signature
WASHINGTON (Monday, September 15, 2008) –
Legislation authored by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick
Leahy (D-Vt.) to increase the tools available to fight identity
theft and other cyber crimes is headed to the President’s desk for
signature, after the House of Representatives Monday night approved
provisions of the Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act.
Leahy
introduced the legislation in October 2007, and the Judiciary
Committee quickly
reported the measure to the Senate floor. The Senate
unanimously passed the bill in November, but its consideration
has been stalled in the House of Representatives. In
July, Leahy attached provisions of the anti-cyber crime bill to
a House-passed bill to extend Secret Service protection to former
Vice Presidents. The measure was referred back to the House,
which approved the amended legislation Monday night.
“The legislation passed today includes critical
cyber crime provisions 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,” said Leahy. “These
anti-cyber crime provisions are long overdue. I hope that the
President will quickly sign this measure into law.”
The cyber crime provisions adopted by Congress are
supported by the Department of Justice and the Secret Service, and
have broad support from industry and consumer groups, including the
U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Symantec, the Cyber Security Industry
Alliance, the Business Software Alliance, Consumers Union, Consumer
Federation of American, and AARP.
The anti-cyber crime Provisions included in the
Former Vice President Protection Act 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;
-
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,
and mandate that the U.S. Sentencing Commission review and
update its guidelines for identity theft and other cyber crime
offenses.
Leahy has introduced several legislative measures
in the 110th Congress to protect the privacy of all
Americans. Leahy and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who is a
cosponsor of the Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act,
introduced the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act, S. 495,
in February 2007. 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.
Leahy’s full statement on House passage of the
Former Vice President Protection Act follows.
# # # # #
Statement of Senator Patrick Leahy,
Chairman, Committee on the
Judiciary,
On Passage Of The Former Vice
President Protection Act of 2008, H.R. 5938
September 15, 2008
MR. PRESIDENT. I am pleased that the House
of Representatives today passed the Former Vice President
Protection Act, H.R. 5938 -- a bill to ensure that that former
Vice Presidents and immediate family members receive Secret Service
protection for six months after they leave office. I am
especially pleased that this important legislation, which will now
be sent to the President for signature, includes key provisions of
the Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act, a
critical cyber crime bill I introduced last year and that has twice
unanimously passed the Senate in this Congress. I hope that
the President will promptly sign this measure into law.
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 added 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.
I thank Senator Specter for his hard work on this
legislation. I also thank Senators Biden and Hatch and the
bipartisan coalition of Senators who have joined with us to ensure
its passage. In addition, I thank House Judiciary Committee
Chairman Conyers and Congressman Bobby Scott for their assistance in
enacting this bill. I also thank Majority Leader Reid, House
Majority Leader Hoyer and House Majority Whip Clyburn for their
leadership in advancing this legislation. Lastly, I thank the
many high tech, business and consumer organizations who have worked
so hard to enact this legislation to better protect the privacy and
security of American consumers and American businesses. I
encourage the President to promptly sign this important criminal
legislation into law.
# # # # #
