Federal Law Makes Criminals out of Millions of Employees
If you are reading this on your employer’s computer, you might be committing a federal crime. Any person who obtains information from any computer connected to the internet, in violation of his employer’s computer use restrictions, is guilty of a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(2)(C). This law arguably makes criminals out of millions of employees who might use their work computers for personal use like accessing personal e-mail accounts or checking the latest sports scores. United States v. Nosal, 642 F. 3d 781 (9th Cir. 2011)(Cambell, D.J. dissenting) reh. en banc granted, argued December 15, 2011. Other examples of violations of Section 1030 include even attempting to hack into, damage data or hardware, “denial of service attacks” and extortion based on threats to crash protected computers.
Title 18 U.S.C. § 1030 and § 1029 also prohibit illegal capture, trafficking and possession of computer access devices and passwords. These laws cover credit card and cell phone fraud including “skimming” where criminals insert a device into a credit/debit card reader (what you stick your card into when using it) to “capture” account access for future fraudulent purchases. Although credit card fraud victims are covered from loss, debit card users have less protection after getting ripped off by a skimmer.
Title 18 U.S.C. § 1028 outlaws identity theft where the defendant knew the means of identification he unlawfully transferred, possessed or used in fact belonged to another person. United States v. Flores-Figeroa, 129 U.S. 1886 (2009). Although violations of Section 1029 frequently involve computers, just using another person’s drivers license or social security card can result in federal prosecution.
Cyberstalking is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 2261A. Whoever uses “any interactive computer service … to engage in a course of conduct that causes substantial emotional distress” shall be punished for not more than five yeas in federal prison under 18 U.S.C. § 2261(b)(5). Also, whoever commits the crime of stalking in violation of a temporary or permanent civil or criminal injunction, restraining order, no-contact order, or other such order shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one year under 18 U.S.C. § 2261(b)(6). Children are protected from on-line stalking under 18 U.S.C. § 2424. This law broadly prohibits any transfer of information about a minor under age 16 with the intent to commit a sexual offense.
Numerous federal statutes cover Internet Fraud, On-line Drug Sales. Health Care and Health Product Fraud, Internet Auction Fraud, Internet Gambling (perhaps only on sports), Internet Investment Scams, and Unsolicited Commercial E-Mails and Spam.
These crimes are examples of why you need an experienced criminal defense attorney who practices in both state and federal court. With occasional exceptions, people are in less trouble in state court than federal court for the same illegal conduct.