NCJ Number
174931
Journal
ABA Journal Volume: 83 (October 1997) Issue: Dated: Pages: -
Date Published
1997
Length
6 pages
Annotation
Existing criminal laws tend to apply to computer-related crime committed with the use of the Internet, but the difficulty of applying criminal statutes to some of these crimes has led prosecutors to seek tough laws to deal with Internet hackers, scam artists, and pedophiles.
Abstract
A 1994 case involved sexual overtures and a meeting arranged by a 51-year-old Seattle man with a 14-year-old female adolescent in New York. Existing New York laws were inadequate to protect against or punish such computer crimes. Therefore, the State legislature enacted a new law that defined as a felony the use of a computer to make sexual overtures to minors or to knowingly provide indecent materials online. The second provision has produced court challenges from First Amendment activists. Other cases have involved stock fraud and hackers' break-ins into computer networks. Online gambling is another source of concern; this activity and others raise the issue of jurisdiction and international reciprocity and comity and conflicting cultural and political standards. The National Association of Attorneys General has established a working group to study the law enforcement issues posed by the Internet, which is a technology that represents a change from other communications systems used in committing crime. Discussion of American Bar Association standards on technology-assisted physical surveillance, list of suggestions to protect computer systems and files, and photographs