Conference back40::soapbox

497.0. "Senate 974" by RUSURE::EDP (Always mount a scratch monkey.) Tue Jul 25 1995 16:34

FILE s974.is
          104th CONGRESS
          1st Session
          To prohibit certain acts involving the use of computers in the
          furtherance of crimes, and for other purposes.
                           IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
                        June 27 (legislative day, June 19), 1995
          Mr. Grassley introduced the following bill; which was read twice 
              and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
                                         A BILL
          To prohibit certain acts involving the use of computers in the
          furtherance of crimes, and for other purposes.
            Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
          United States of America in Congress assembled,
          SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
            This Act may be cited as the `Anti-Electronic Racketeering Act of
          1995'.
          SEC. 2. PROHIBITED ACTIVITIES.
            (a) Definitions: Section 1961(1) of title 18, United States Code,
          is amended--
                (1) by striking `1343 (relating to wire fraud)' and inserting
              `1343 (relating to wire and computer fraud)';
                (2) by striking `that title' and inserting `this title';
                (3) by striking `or (E)' and inserting `(E)'; and
                (4) by inserting before the semicolon the following: `or (F)
              any act that is indictable under section 1030, 1030A, or
              1962(d)(2)'.
            (b) Use of Computer To Facilitate Racketeering Enterprise: 
          Section 1962 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
                (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as subsection (e); and
                (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the following new
              subsection:
            `(d) It shall be unlawful for any person--
                `(1) to use any computer or computer network in furtherance 
              of a racketeering activity (as defined in section 1961(1)); or
                `(2) to damage or threaten to damage electronically or
              digitally stored data.'.
            (c) Criminal Penalties: Section 1963(b) of title 18, United 
          States Code, is amended--
                (1) by striking `and' at the end of paragraph (1);
                (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (2) and
              inserting `; and'; and
                (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
                `(3) electronically or digitally stored data.'.
            (d) Civil Remedies: Section 1964(c) of title 18, United States
          Code, is amended by striking `his property or business'.
            (e) Use as Evidence of Intercepted Wire or Oral Communications:
          Section 2515 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by
          inserting before the period at the end the following: `, unless the
          authority in possession of the intercepted communication attempted
          in good faith to comply with this chapter. If the United States or
          any State of the United States, or subdivision thereof, possesses a
          communication intercepted by a nongovernmental actor, without the
          knowledge of the United States, that State, or that subdivision, 
          the communication may be introduced into evidence'.
            (f) Authorization for Interception of Wire, Oral, or Electronic
          Communications: Section 2516(1) of title 18, United States Code, is
          amended--
                (1) by striking `and' at the end of paragraph (n);
                (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (o) and
              inserting `; and'; and
                (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
                `(p)  any violation of section 1962 of title 18.'.
            (g) Procedures for Interception: Section 2518(4)(b) of title 18,
          United States Code, is amended by inserting before the semicolon 
          the following: `to the extent feasible'.
            (h) Computer Crimes: 
                (1) New prohibited activities: Chapter 47 of title 18, United
              States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new
              section:
          `Sec. 1030A. Racketeering-related crimes involving computers
            `(a) It shall be unlawful--
                `(1) to use a computer or computer network to transfer
              unlicensed computer software, regardless of whether the 
              transfer is performed for economic consideration;
                `(2) to distribute computer software that encodes or encrypts
              electronic or digital communications to computer networks that
              the person distributing the software knows or reasonably should
              know, is  accessible  to  foreign  nationals  and  foreign
          governments, regardless of whether such software has been 
          designated as nonexportable;
                `(3) to use a computer or computer network to transmit a
              communication intended to conceal or hide the origin of money 
              or other assets, tangible or intangible, that were derived from
              racketeering activity; and
                `(4) to operate a computer or computer network primarily to
              facilitate racketeering activity or primarily to engage in
              conduct prohibited by Federal or State law.
            `(b) For purposes of this section, each act of distributing
          software is considered a separate predicate act. Each instance in
          which nonexportable software is accessed by a foreign government, 
          an agent of a foreign government, a foreign national, or an agent 
          of a foreign national, shall be considered as a separate predicate
          act.
            `(c) It shall be an affirmative defense to prosecution under this
          section that the software at issue used a universal decoding device
          or program that was provided to the Department of Justice prior to
          the distribution.'.
                (2) Clerical amendment: The analysis at the beginning of
              chapter 47, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end
              the following new item:
          `1030A. Racketeering-related crimes involving computers.'.
                (3) Jurisdiction and venue: Section 1030 of title 18, United
              States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new
              subsection:
            `(g)(1)(A) Any act prohibited by this section that is committed
          using any computer, computer facility, or computer network that is
          physically located within the territorial jurisdiction of the 
          United States shall be deemed to have been committed within the
          territorial jurisdiction of the United States.
            `(B) Any action taken in furtherance of an act described in
          subparagraph (A) shall be deemed to have been committed in the
          territorial jurisdiction of the United States.
            `(2) In any prosecution under this section involving acts deemed
          to be committed within the territorial jurisdiction of the United
          States under this subsection, venue shall be proper where the
          computer, computer facility, or computer network was physically
          situated at the time at least one of the wrongful acts was
          committed.'.
            (i) Wire and Computer Fraud: Section 1343 of title 18, United
          States Code, is amended by striking `or television communication'
          and inserting `television communication, or computer network or
          facility'.
            (j) Privacy Protection Act: Section 101 of the Privacy Protection
          Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 2000aa) is amended--
                (1) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) by striking `or' at the end of paragraph (1);
                    (B) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (2) 
                  and inserting `; or'; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
                `(3) there is reason to believe that the immediate seizure of
              such materials is necessary to prevent the destruction or
              altercation of such documents.'; and
                (2) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) by striking `or' at the end of paragraph (3);
                    (B) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (4) 
                  and inserting `; or'; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
                `(5) in the case of electronically stored data, the seizure 
              is incidental to an otherwise valid seizure, and the government
              officer or employee--
                    `(A) was not aware that work product material was among
                  the data seized;
                    `(B) upon actual discovery of the existence of work
                  product materials, the government officer or employee took
                  reasonable steps to protect the privacy interests 
                  recognized by this section, including--
                        `(i) using utility software to seek and identify
                      electronically stored data that may be commingled or
                      combined with non-work product material; and
                        `(ii) upon actual identification of such material,
                      taking reasonable steps to protect the privacy of the
                      material, including seeking a search warrant.'.

    some stuff extracted from .0:
    
                `(d) It shall be unlawful for any person--
                   `(2) to damage or threaten to damage electronically or
                  digitally stored data.'.
    
    damage??
    so if I crash my system and corrupt a file or 2, that's a violation of
    federal law.
    
                `(a) It shall be unlawful--
              `(2) to distribute computer software that encodes or encrypts
              electronic or digital communications to computer networks that
              the person distributing the software knows or reasonably should
              know, is  accessible  to  foreign  nationals  and foreign
              governments, regardless of whether such software has been
              designated as nonexportable;
     
    	The internet is accessible to foreign gov'ts...
        So you can't put ANY encoding programs on the net?!?!??
        Like file compression software or anything else?
    
    
    Am I interpreting this right???

    The bill is so vague as to be usable to do about whatever they like
    with it.
    
    IMO, if it ain't written in plain English that normal folks can
    decipher without a team of lawyers, then it shouldn't become law. 
    Period.
    
    If you'll notice, the Constitution is written in plain English, and is
    easily understood.  Lawyers and lawmakers have gone to great lengths to
    confuse the document, however.  
    
    
    -steve

    re: SPSEG::COVINGTON
    
    Yup.  And if you read the number of times RACKETEERING is mentioned
    in the law, and you know what RICO is, you could lose your house
    because of it.
    
    Obviously taken in the extreme, but this is dangerous legislation.

    Pardon me, it's an ACT, not a law.  There is a difference legally.
    Time to discuss the jurisdiction issue again.

    Re: .5
    
    Yes, the act alters an existing law. Therefore it becomes law, yes?

    
    .6
    
    no, only if passed by the house and the senate, then signed into law
    by the president. hth

    Well, of course...
    
    It has to go through all of that
    
    "I'm just a bill, only a bill, sittin' here on capitol hill..."
    
    I'm sure someone here knows the words better than I do.

    I have a detailed explaination of "Acts", "Laws" and "Resolutions"
    somehwere and the implications of each.  I'll try and find it and post 
    it. No doubt "somebody" will get a hernia over it.
    
    MadMike

    Re .5:
    
    > Pardon me, it's an ACT, not a law.
    
    From _Black's Law Dictionary_, under "legislative act":
    
    	An alternative name for statutory law.  A bill which has
    	been enacted by legislature into law.  When introduced into
    	the first house of the legislature, a piece of proposed
    	legislation is known as a bill.  When it is passed to the
    	next house, it may then be referred to as an act.  After
    	enactment, the terms "law" and "act" may be used
    	interchangeably.
    
    
    				-- edp
    
    
Public key fingerprint:  8e ad 63 61 ba 0c 26 86  32 0a 7d 28 db e7 6f 75
To find PGP, read note 2688.4 in Humane::IBMPC_Shareware.

    Very good.  Now go look up Statute.
    
    Admiralty, Equity and Common.
    Statutes regulate administrative bodys.
    Common Law regulates persons or property.
    
    Now go read the 7th Amendment.  Also Article 3, section 2 of
    the Constitution.

    Ok, so I was vague.  The point I was making was there is a
    difference in a act that turns out to be considered statute, 
    or a regulatory offense, versus laws which turn into Positive law.
    
    This is important (to me at least) because it is how jurisdiction
    is determined. 

    .11
    
    In English : jurisdiction.
    
    Most states that call a statute a "civil statute" now mean admiralty
    jurisdiction, or requirement by contractual obligation.  
    
    .12 The courts have ruled that nothing need be made "positive law"
    	in order for it to have jurisdiction.  Which jurisdiction is
    	usually the best question to ask.  Citation ?  I have it here
    	in a wall long file.  If you want the case references, I will
    	cite them.
    
    

    Pardon the typos.
    
    In reference to your last part?  What are you saying?  You can
    dig up all sorts of case law? About what's better?
    
    And if I sign anything "without prejudice"  your contractual
    obligation, also known as compelled performance is now voided.
    
    I think we're on the same page though.

    
    Wasn't diggin' at you at all. The point was that the "lack of positive
    law argument" struck down B4. That's the case law I was referring to.
    
    Right you are on signatures, thanks to 1-207.