Introduction to Computer Crimes
What is a computer crime?
A computer crime is any illegal act where a computer is the tool or location of the crime. Many illegal activities fall under more than one category since they involve both a computer and some other medium, such as fraud, which could involve both a computer and telephone or email. Also, computer crimes usually involve some sort of traditional crime such as theft or forgery, where the computer is simply the tool used to carry out the crime.
Computer crime can also include criminal activity in the infrastructure of computers, via the web or other networks. Such illegal acts include gaining unauthorized access, making an illegal interception of information, interfering with the transfer of date between two other sources, or interfering with a system that is already in use. These crimes can be done for profit, such as intercepting information as a third party to gain personal financial information, or simply as a destructive act, such as uploading a harmful virus onto a computer network.
Computer crime has been divided into three categories depending on whether:
1. If the computer is the object of the crime, meaning that there is computer hardware or software stolen.
2. If the computer is the subject, which includes any damaging effects preformed by either malice or financial gain.
3. If the computer is the instrument, which could be used in conjunction with any number of other crimes including fraud, theft or child pornography.
With the rise in the use of computer technology, Congress passed the Counterfeit Access Device and Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1984 ("the Act"). Prior to the enactment of this statute, no specific federal legislation existed in the area of computer crimes. Congress realized that enforcement actions in response to computer related crimes were bound by statutory restrictions that were designed for other offenses, such as mail fraud or wire fraud statutes. The Act centralized computer crimes under one statute, in order to help prosecutors punish perpetrators of computer related crimes. Congress enacted the Act as the primary federal statute that the government could use to prosecute computer‑related crimes. Section 1030 was originally adopted to protect government computer networks and databases from criminals and computer hackers. In 1996, Congress extended the Act's protection to all computers used in interstate and foreign commerce or communication. This means that the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act protects every computer in America that is connected to the Internet. As amended in October 1996, 18 U.S.C.A. § 1030 is very broad and encompasses seven different acts of computer‑related crime dealing with unauthorized computer access. In addition, the Seventh Circuit has extended the scope of the CFAA to include devices not normally considered "computers," provided that some aspect of the devices is computer‑controlled. Additionally, the Act allows civil actions for compensatory damages, injunctive relief, and other equitable relief in some situations. To meet the CFAA's jurisdictional requirements, a civil plaintiff must either prove a loss of $5,000 or one of four other statutory options. The $5,000 loss requirement is defined as including "any reasonable cost to any victim, including the cost of responding to an offense, conducting a damage assessment, and restoring the data, program, system, or information to its condition prior to the offense, and any revenue lost, cost incurred, or other consequential damages incurred because of interruption of service." In addition, in 2002, Congress passed the Cyber Security Enhancement Act of 2002, which amended the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act to provide higher statutory penalties for violators.