H.R. 5938 changes cybercrime laws in the US

The US Senate just unanimously approved a bill “(H.R. 5938) entitled `An Act to amend title 18, United States Code, to provide secret service protection to former Vice Presidents,… (Engrossed Amendment as Agreed to by Senate)[H.R.5938.EAS]”

Pay special attention to the “Engrossed Amendment” part, since there is an exciting twist to this bill.

One of the major problems with fighting CyberCrime has been that prosecutors will not follow-up anything under $5K. I’d actually peg the number higher, from personal experience on cases, but that’s the official number given. So 10,000 $1000 incidents would never be reported/investigated under the current system when investigators are unable/unwilling to tie events together or show some kind of aggregate harm data.

The new legislation makes it a felony to install malicious software on 10 or more computers regardless of damage amount. This could open the door to individuals claiming harm on every actual computer itself, including impact to their data, in addition to use of the computer as a proxy for other attacks — under the new rules a victim can claim damages/restitution for time and money spent restoring identity/credit. The changes from existing law also includes anti-cyber extortion provisions and it would allow the feds to prosecute regardless of whether communication crossed state borders.

Since this modifies an existing house resolution it needs to be reconsidered and the changes reconciled by the house.

Aha!

Probably not what you would expect from the bill that is expected to cost every American family $0.05 to pay for the personal protection of Vice President Cheney. The Budget Report gives a quick summary:

H.R. 5938 would provide permanent authority for the Secret Service to protect former Vice Presidents, their spouses, and their children under the age of 16 for a period of not more than six months after the Vice President leaves office. The Secret Service has protected former Vice Presidents and their families, but authority to do so was provided by temporary legislation or by executive order. The bill’s provisions would apply to Vice Presidents holding office on or after the date of enactment.

Based on information provided by the Secret Service, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 5938 would cost about $4 million in fiscal year 2009, subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

Something tells me that the Secret Service might be subcontracting the deal in the usual no-bid fashion of recent years to a subsidiary of Halliburton, which actually would make this a kind of $4 million/yr parachute for the Cheney family…but I digress.

The changes to the CyberCrime laws in the US are significant and will mean the data recorded on harm and presence should probably skyrocket.

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