Bush toughening laws to fight terrorism
Hackers could be labelled as dangerous terrorists under new legislation being proposed by the Bush administration, civil liberties groups have warned.
"Treating low-level computer crimes as terrorist acts is not an appropriate response to recent events," said Shari Steele, executive director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based cyber civil liberties group.
The new bill, which would expand law enforcement's freedom to catch and punish terrorists, was put forward by US Attorney General John Ashcroft following the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington.
Broad powers
As well as making hacking a terrorist offence, it would create penalties of up to life imprisonment, adding broad pre-conviction seizure powers and serious criminal threats to those who help or shelter individuals suspected of causing minimal damage to networked computers.
"A relatively harmless online prankster should not face a potential life sentence in prison," said the EFF's Shari Steele.
The bill also eliminates the statute of limitations for terrorist crimes and will apply retroactively. This could affect past hackers and virus writers, who might have otherwise received just a warning or a relatively minor penalty.
Civil liberties groups are concerned that the legislation is being rushed through, without adequate debate on its impact on both security and personal freedoms.
"Congress must take every reasonable step it can to protect our nation against future attacks," said Laura W Murphy of the American Civil Liberties Union.
"The civil liberties we value so much as a society are at stake. We urge you to go slowly," she said.
Cyber warnings
Officials and academics have warned that cyber attacks could be a dangerous part of warfare against the US.
It added that, "the potential exists for much more devastating cyber attacks following any US-led retaliation to the 11 September terrorist attacks on America. Such an attack could significantly debilitate US and allied information networks".
Backers of the Anti-Terrorism Act argue the bill is not aimed at teenage hackers.
The clause is one of the many points of the legislation currently under discussion between the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Bush administration.