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1 Mark Sherman, Cyber Crime and Cyber Terrorism 1 (2002)

handle is hein.congcourts/snoffccct0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Federal Initiatives Take on
Cyber Terrorism

The federal government has recently tak-
en several steps against cyber crime and
cyber terrorism. Cyber crime includes child
sexual exploitation, fraud, hacking, and software and record-
ing piracy. Cyber terrorism, which is conducted by both inter-
national and domestic organizations, includes politically mo-
tivated crimes designed to generate fear, such as attacks that
lead to death or bodily injury, explosions, severe economic
loss, or attacks against critical infrastructures.
In July 2001 the Justice Department announced the for-
mation of ten Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property
(CHIP) units based in U.S. attorneys' offices across the coun-
try and dedicated to prosecuting cyber crime. In the after-
math of September 11, the White House announced the ap-
pointment of a special advisor for cyberspace security. In ad-
dition, the FBI announced an overhaul of its top manage-
ment that places more emphasis on counterterrorism and cy-
ber crime. Included in this overhaul is the creation of a new
division on cyber crime within the Bureau's criminal investi-
gation section.
Perhaps the most far-reaching federal initiative has been
enactment of the post-September 11 USA Patriot Act. While
the Act does not directly affect the work of probation and pre-
trial services officers, it is a major law enforcement initiative
that amends various sections of the United States Code. With
regard to cyber crime and cyber terrorism, this new law
0 amends the Electronic Communications Privacy Act
(ECPA) (18 U.S.C. §2703) to allow investigators to use
warrants obtained under ECPA to compel records

outside of the district in which the issuing court is located,
thus enabling courts with jurisdiction over investigations
to compel evidence directly, without requiring the inter-
vention of agents, prosecutors, and judges in the districts
where major Internet service providers (ISPs) are located
O amends the computer hacking statute (18 U.S.C. §1030) by
1) increasing to a maximum of 20 years the prison sen-
tence for hackers who damage protected computers, 2)
clarifying the mens rea required for such offenses to make
explicit that a hacker need only intend damage, not a par-
ticular type of damage, 3) adding a new offense for damag-
ing computers used for national security or criminal jus-
tice, 4) expanding the coverage of the statute to include
computers in foreign countries so long as there is an effect
on U.S. interstate or foreign commerce, 5) counting state
convictions as prior offenses for purposes of recidivist sen-
tencing enhancements, 6) allowing losses to be aggregated
for purposes of meeting the $5,000 jurisdictional threshold,
and 7) instructing the U.S. Sentencing Commission to
amend the appropriate guidelines
O amends the wiretap statute (18 U.S.C. §2516) by adding fel-
ony violations of the computer hacking statute (18 U.S.C.

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Cyb er Cr ime and Cyb er Ter r or ism

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