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European Law Could Give Hackers Mimimum Two-Year Sentence

Posted by Soulskill on from the if-only-they-understood-what-hacking-is dept.

judgecorp writes "A proposed European law would apply a minimum two-year prison sentence for hacking across the region. This is a step up for nations including Britain, whose Computer Misuse Act currently has a two-year maximum sentence."

4 of 147 comments (clear)

  1. Queue the misapplications of this law by lightknight · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just watch and wait: it'll be the kid who takes apart his iPod to replace the broken battery who gets charged.

    --
    I am John Hurt.
  2. Minimum sentences, three strikes, all traps by elucido · · Score: 3, Interesting

    These ideas are all traps put in place by corrupt lawmakers and special interest groups that benefit from for profit prisons. Don't get it twisted.

  3. Re:Minimum or minimum maximum by Rhodri+Mawr · · Score: 3, Interesting
    From the first linked article:

    Cyber attacks on IT systems would become a criminal offence punishable by at least two years in prison throughout the EU under a draft law backed by the Civil Liberties Committee on Tuesday.

    The maximum penalty to be imposed by Member States for these offences would be at least two years' imprisonment, and at least five years where there are aggravating circumstances such as the use of a tool specifically designed to for large-scale (e.g. "botnet") attacks, or attacks cause considerable damage (e.g. by disrupting system service), financial costs or loss of financial data.

    At first glance these two paragraphs do appear to be contradicting each other - but it isn't clear which of these paragraphs is an EU press release and which is the journalist's interpretation. The article (and as a result the slashdot summary) may be misinterpreting the press release.

    "maximum" may be a misprint here, or, the EU may, as usual, be trying to obfuscate the intent of their legislation.

  4. Re:Minimum Sentences by Carewolf · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Ahh.. Yes. The people who actually UNDERSTAND the cases, and who knows ALL THE DETAILS gives out smaller sentences than people who HAVE NO CLUE would like..

    A "funny" experiment was made a few years ago. A random group of people where selected they were first asked if they felt punishment for crimes were too soft, most agreed. They then looked at specific cases with all the details, and in each case when presented with all the evidence - most felt the punishment was too harsh.