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- /* BBS LEGAL GUIDE COMMENTARY: Here's the federal computer crimes
- law, 18 U.S.C. 1030,adopted 1984, amended 1986) */
-
- SECTION 1030
-
- (a) Whoever-
-
- (1) knowingly access a computer without authorization or
- exceeds authorized access, and by means of such conduct obtains
- information that has been determined by the United States
- Government pursuant to an Executive Order or statute to require
- protection against unauthorized disclosure for reasons of
- national defense or foreign relations, or any restricted data, as
- defined in paragraph r. of section 11 of the Atomic Energy Act of
- 1954 [Cited as 42 U.S.C. Section 2014(r)] with the intent or
- reason to believe that such information so obtained is to be used
- to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any
- foreign nation;
-
- (2) intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or
- exceeds authorized access, and thereby obtains information
- contained in a financial records of a financial institution, or
- of a card issuer as defined in section 1602(n) of title 15, or
- contained in a file of a consumer reporting agency on a consumer,
- as such times are defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act, (15
- U.S.C. 1681 et seq);
-
- (3) intentionally, without authorization to access any computer
- of a department or agency of the United States, accesses such a
- computer of that department or agency that is exclusively for the
- use of the Government of the United States, or, in the case of a
- computer not exclusively for such use,is used by or for the
- Government of the United States and such conduct affects the use
- of the Government's operation of such computer;
-
- (4) knowingly and with the intent to defraud. accesses a Federal
- interest computer without authorization, or exceeds authorized
- access, and by means of such conduct furthers the intended fraud
- and obtains anything of value, unless the object of the fraud and
- the thing obtained consists only of the use of the computer;
-
- (5) intentionally access a Federal interest computer without
- authorization, and by means of one or more instances of such
- conduct alters, damages, or destroys information in any such
- Federal interest computer, or prevents authorized use of any such
- computer or information, and thereby--
-
- (A) causes loss to one or more others of a value aggregating $
- 1,000 or more during any one year period; or
-
- (B) modifies or impairs, or potentially modifies or impairs, the
- medical examination, medical diagnosis, medical treatment, or
- medical care of one or more individuals; or
-
- (6) knowingly and with the intent to defraud traffics (as defined
- in section 1029) in any password or similar information through
- which a computer may be accessed without authorization, if
-
- (A) such trafficking affects interstate or foreign commerce; or
-
- (B) such computer is used by or for the Government of the United
- States;
-
- shall be punished as provided in subsection (c) of this section.
-
- (b) Whoever attempts to commit an offense under subsection (a) of
- this section shall be punished as provided in subsection (c) of
- this section.
-
- (c) The punishment for an offense under subsection (a) or (b) of
- this section is --
-
- (1)(A) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than
- ten years, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection
- (a)(1) of this section which does not occur after a conviction
- for another offense under such subsection, or an attempt to
- commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph; and
-
- (B) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than
- twenty years, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection
- (a)(1) of this section which occurs after a conviction for
- another offense under such subsection, or an attempt to commit an
- offense punishable under this subparagraph; and
-
- (2)(A) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than
- one year, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection
- (a)(2), (a)(3) or (a)(6) of this section which does not occur
- after a conviction for another offense under such subsection, or
- an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this
- subparagraph; and
-
- B) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than ten
- years, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection
- (a)(2), (a)(3) or (a)(6) of this section which occurs after a
- conviction for another offense under such subsection, or an
- attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph;
- and
-
- (3)(A) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than
- five years, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection
- (a)(4) or (a)(5) of this section which does not occur after a
- conviction for another offense under such subsection, or an
- attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph;
- and
-
- (B) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than ten
- years, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection (a)(4)
- or (a)(5) of this section which occurs after a conviction for
- another offense under such subsection, or an attempt to commit an
- offense punishable under this subparagraph.
-
- (d) The United States Secret Service shall, in addition to any
- other agency having such authority, have the authority to
- investigate offenses under this section. Such authority of the
- United States Secret Service shall be exercised in accordance
- with an agreement which shall be entered into by the Secretary of
- the Treasury and the Attorney General.
-
- (e) As used in this section--
-
- (1) the term "computer" means an electronic, magnetic, optical,
- electrochemical, or other high speed data processing device
- performing logical, arithmetic, or storage functions, and
- includes any data storage facility or communications facility
- directly related to or operation in conjunction with such device,
- but such term does not include an automated typewriter or
- typesetter, a portable hand held calculator, or other similar
- device;
-
- (2) the term "Federal interest computer" means a computer--
-
- (A) exclusively for the use of a financial institution or the
- United States Government, or, in the case of a computer not
- exclusively for such use, used by or for a financial institution
- or the United States government and the conduct constituting the
- offense affects the use of the financial institution's operation
- or the Government's operation of such computer; or
-
- (B) which is one of two or more computers used in committing the
- offense, not all of which are located in the same State;
-
- (3) the term "State" includes the District of Columbia, the
- Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and other other possession or
- territory of the United States;
-
- (4) the term "financial institution means--
-
- (A) a bank with deposits insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance
- Corporation;
-
- (B) the Federal Reserve or a member of the Federal Reserve
- including any Federal Reserve Bank;
-
- (C) an institution with accounts insured by the Federal Savings
- and Loan Insurance Corporation;
-
- (D) a credit union with accounts insured by the Federal National
- Credit Union administration;
-
- (E) a member of the Federal Home Loan bank system and any home
- loan bank;
-
- (F) any institution of the Farm Credit System under the Farm
- Credit Act of 1971;
-
- (G) a broker-dealer registered with the Securities and Exchange
- Commission pursuant to section 15 of the Securities Exchange Act
- of 1934; and
-
- (H) the Securities Investor Protection Corporation;
-
- (5) the term "financial record" means information derived from
- any record held by a financial institution pertaining to a
- customer's relationship with the financial institution;
-
- (6) the term "exceeds authorized access" means to access a
- computer with authorization and to use such access to obtain or
- alter information in the computer that the accesser is not
- entitled so to obtain or alter; and
-
- (7) the term "department of the United States" means the
- legislative or judicial branch of the Government or one of the
- executive department[s] enumerated in section 101 of title 5.
-
- (f) This section does not prohibit any lawfully authorized
- investigative, protective, or intelligence activity of a law
- enforcement agency of the United States, a State, or a political
- subdivision of a State, or of an intelligence agency of the
- United States.
-