Computer Crimes
Laws and legal information about computer crimes
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
In the early 1980s law enforcement agencies faced the dawn of the computer age with growing concern about the lack of criminal laws available to fight the emerging computer crimes. Although the wire and mail fraud provisions of the federal criminal code were capable of addressing some types of computer-related criminal activity, neither of those statutes provided the full range of tools needed to combat these new crimes. Read more
Computer Crimes Under Federal Law
The chart below shows the federal laws applicable to various types of computer-related and online crimes. Unlawful Conduct Applicable Federal Law Denial of Service Attacks 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5)(A) (transmission of program, information, code, or command, resulting in damage) 18 U.S.C. § 1362 (interfering with government communication systems) Substitution or Redirection of a website 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5)(A)(i) (transmission of program, information, code, or command, resulting in damage) 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5)(A)(ii)-(iii) (accessing a computer without authorization, resulting in damage) Use of Misleading Domain Name 18 U.S.C. § 2252B (using misleading domain name with intent to deceive a person into viewing obscene material or with intent to deceive a minor into viewing harmful material) Extortion 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(7) (transmitting, with intent to extort, communication containing threat to cause damage) 18 U.S.C. § 875(b), (d) (transmitting, with intent to extort, threat to kidnap or harm a person, or threat to injure a person's property or…