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 Ashcroft Accused Of 'Global Internet Power Grab' Thu Nov 29 2001 10:14:02 ET BUSINESS WEEK reported under the headline, "Ashcroft's Global Internet Power-Grab," that a "new law lets the Justice Department go after foreign hackers, even if U.S. computers weren't a target," and asks whether the US should be the global cyber police. In fresh editions, BUSINESS WEEK added: "An amendment to the definition of a 'protected computer' for the first time explicitly enables U.S. law enforcement to prosecute computer hackers outside the United States in cases where neither the hackers nor their victims are in the U.S., provided only that packets related to that activity traveled through U.S. computers or routers. "This remarkable amendment is to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, which Congress enacted in 1984 to prohibit conduct that damages a 'Federal interest computer,' defined at the time as 'a computer owned or used by the United States Government or a financial institution,' or, 'one of two or more computers used in committing the offense, not all of which are located in the same State... "Under the Department of Justice's interpretation of this legislation, a computer hacker in Frankfurt Germany who hacks into a computer in Cologne Germany could be prosecuted in the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria if the packet related to the attack traveled through America Online's computers. Moreover, the United States would reserve the right to demand that the extradition of the hacker even if the conduct would not have violated German law, or to, as it has in other kinds of cases, simply remove the offender forcibly for trial. What is perhaps the most troubling about this legislation, in addition to the lack of any debate or focus on it, is the fact that the Department of Justice manual simply says that this unprecedented power will be used in 'appropriate cases.' The Department of Justice provides no guidance to prosecutors or citizens of the world what kinds of cases it will deem to be 'appropriate' for the expanded jurisdiction." BUSINESS WEEK concludes: "Every country has the right to protect its own citizens, property and interests. No country has the right to impose its will, its values, its mores or laws on conduct that occurs outside its borders even if they may have a tangential effect on that country. The new legislation permits the U.S. government to do just that, and is unwise and unwarranted." Developing.... |
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