Slashdot Mirror
European Law Could Give Hackers Mimimum Two-Year Sentence
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."
Judges hate minimum sentences. Legislators should stop making them.
The proposal also targets tools used to commit offences: the production or sale of devices such as computer programs designed for cyber-attacks, or which find a computer password by which an information system can be accessed, would constitute criminal offences.
So, what would the scope of such a prohibition be? Would pen testing tools commonly used by security professionals be prohibited in Europe? Would you need a license to possess or use such tools? This sounds like an overreaching law. And since when did the European parliament get the authority to impose mandatory minimum prison sentences in its member nations?
If I can be modded down for being a troll, can I be modded up for being an orc, or a balrog?
Should be illegal for the government.
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.
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.
I have a suspicion that they will count jailbreaking/bypassing DRM as hacking too. It's just a small step from outlawing IP spoofing.
How about sentencing hackers based on the damage they have done instead of another witchhunt against technology?
Only demonstrating a vulnerability: no sentence or a few month of community service; destroying data or sabotaging systems: monetary fine based on the losses that occurred if the guy can't pay then prison; stealing and selling or making public user data: long long years of prison.
when i was 16 while learning how to program i created a cheating engine for an online game which i was then arrested and charged for at 18 under the computer misuse act. as it stood i was given a £300 fine and some community service, considrring i was unaware of the fact breaking TOS was illegal (i was a kid, and cheats have always been in games, or things like gameshark that injected into games so i consider
ed it akin to that) hoeever this new law would have seen me goto prison for two years.
this is just a stupidly thought out blanket law in my opinion. hopefully it doesnt go through or thrre will be a big spree of teenagers in jail for petty things like that.
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.
Europe doesn't have a constitution, it's not even a nation or anything like that. There was an attempt at a European constitution, but it was voted down in referendums in several countries in the EU.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?