MSNBC Reports:
A last-minute addition to a proposal for a Department of Homeland Security bill would punish malicious computer hackers with life in prison.
DURING CLOSED-DOOR NEGOTIATIONS before the debate began, the House Republican leadership inserted the 16-page Cyber Security Enhancement Act (CSEA) into the Homeland Security bill. CSEA expands the ability of police to conduct Internet or telephone eavesdropping without first obtaining a court order, and offers Internet providers more latitude to disclose information to police. [via Newsforge]
I’m a little worried by this. I in no way support hackers and script kiddies using DDOS attacks and stuff like that. That is bad, they should be pubished. I’m not so sure about life in jail though. Yes, if the crime is serious enough, it’s nice for prosecutors to have that as an option, but does this mean a 13 year old script kiddie might serve life in jail for bringing someone’s website down for a few hours? That doesn’t exactly sound like the punishment fits the crime. We’ve seen that post-9/11, your civil rights can be suspended at a moments notice and the Constitution thrown out the window if you are a suspected terrorist.
I’d like to reiterate that I think malicious hacking is an extremely bad thing. The thing that scares me is that if this bill passes through the Senate, it would make things much easier for the Department of Homeland Security to invade my privacy. It makes it easier for the Department of Homeland Security to go to my ISP and make them divulge information about me. A bill like this might sound great in theory, as long as it is not abused. I’m extremely worried that it will be.
Supporters of the Berman-Coble p2p bill consitantly used the argument that if you opposed this bill, you were pro-stealing of files. Unfortunately this is not the case, and I oppose the Berman-Coble bill and this bill on the grounds that they freak me out. I’m worried that they will unneccesarily invade the privacy of too many people.
For the person reading this after a Carnivore dump, I am not a hacker. Well I am only a hacker in reference to “hacking on code.” I’m sure you’re not convinced.