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Hackers are 'Terrorists' Under Ashcroft's New Act

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the it's-in-the-name-of-freedom-we-swear dept.

Carlos writes "Most computer crimes are considered acts of terrorism under John Ashcroft's proposed 'Anti-Terrorism Act,' according to this story on SecurityFocus. The Act would abolish the statute of limitations for computer crime, retroactively, force convicted hackers to give the government DNA samples for a special federal database, and increase the maximum sentence for computer intrusion to life in prison. Harboring or providing advice to a hacker would be terrorism as well. This is on top of the expanded surveillance powers already reported on. The bill could be passed as early as this week. I feel safer already."

2 of 1,021 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Somebody has to say it, but... by nebby · · Score: 1, Troll

    Victimless? Are you kidding? If someone cracks into a big ass server and steals credit cards, I think I know who the victims are.

    Just because they're geeks doesn't make them any less criminal.

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  2. Even more paranoia... by MadDog+Bob-2 · · Score: 1, Troll
    Ashcroft's new proposals, though, go far beyond making computer-crime 'crime'. It already is. What he's doing is making it terrorism. People could be jailed for life for the electronic equivilent of graffitti.

    The really spooky bit is that _helping_ a "terrorist" commit a computer crime is considered an act of terrorism.

    step 1: discover and publish a security hole w/ sample exploit code.

    step 2: watch in dismay as unpatched boxes are rooted and abused months afterward.

    step 3: get on with your life for some arbitrarily long period of time.

    step 4: annoy some suitably influential politician.

    step 5: rot in prison for the terrorist act you committed years before.

    I'm tempted to suggest Canada, but they're working on their own DMCA and would probably cheerfully extradite "terrorists" anyway.