------------------------------

Date: Mon, 07 Jan 94 18:21:29 EST
From: EFF <editors@eff.org>
Subject: File 4--EFF Helps Eliminate Outrageous Sentences for Computer Crimes

Source: EFFector Online Volume 7 No. 1         01/07/1994

Comments opposing the United States Sentencing Commission's proposed
guideline for the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act submitted by EFF, SEA
(the Society for Electronic Access), CPSR and others have been taken
to heart.  The U.S.S.C. recently announced a *new* proposal for
Computer Fraud and Abuse sentencings.  Instead of the single guideline
for all computer crimes proposed by the Department of Justice last
year, the new guideline takes into account the intention of the
defendant by directing the sentencing court to the most appropriate
existing guideline.

For example, under the old proposed guideline, a first time offender
who accessed a computer without authority, copied a non-protected
file, and posted that file to a BBS would get 10 to 16 months in
prison with no parole -- the judge would have been directed to the
Fraud guideline and would have had no discretion to craft another
sentence.  Under the new guideline, if that intrusion was not done for
pecuniary or malicious purposes, the crime will be treated as a
misdemeanor, and the sentencing range would be 0 to 6 months.  Real
wire fraud done with the intent to reap financial gain or to cause
harm to the system would result in the minimum 10 to 16 month
sentence.

EFF is proud to have played a role in encouraging the Sentencing
Commission to craft the new guideline.  New communications
technologies, in their earliest infancy, are becoming the subject of
precedent-setting litigation.  Overly strict sentences imposed for
computer-related fraud and abuse may have the effect of chilling these
technologies even as they develop.  Until there are more cases on
which to base a guideline, individual sentencing decisions are best
left to the discretion of the sentencing judge, who presumably is most
familiar with the facts unique to each case.  Legal precedents,
particularly the application of a sentencing guideline to violations
of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, can radically affect the course
of computer technology's future, and with it the fate of an important
tool for the exchange of ideas in a democratic society.

The Sentencing Commission is asking for comments by March 18, 1994.
It's important that we all tell the U.S.S.C. that we're happy with the
new proposed guideline for the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.  In the
very near future, EFF will be setting up an electronic mailbox to
receive electronic comments.  In the meantime, written comments can be
sent to:

        United States Sentencing Commission
        One Columbus Circle, N.E.
        Suite 2-500, South Lobby
        Washington, DC  20002-8002
        Attention:  Public Information

A copy of the proposed guidelines is located at 58 Fed. Reg. 67522 or on
ftp.eff.org as pub/EFF/Issues/Legal/sentencing.amendment

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
+                               END THIS FILE                                +
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+===+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=