The Bush administration is pushing for an amendment to a
computer security bill being debated this week in Congress that
would raise the maximum penalty for hacking to life imprisonment,
according to a report by Wired News.
The draft Cyber Security Enhancement Act currently proposes a
penalty of life imprisonment for causing death or serious bodily
injury through electronic means. However, the deputy assistant
attorney general, John Malcolm, has said that the sentence should
be extended to cover “reckless” offences such as disruption of
emergency services or a hospital network.
In a statement before a House subcommittee, Malcolm argues that
the law should be extended so that it covers, “not only hackers who
damage a computer system knowing that death or serious
injury will result, but also hackers who damage a computer system
with reckless disregard for whether death or serious
injury will result.”
The bill will be voted upon tomorrow.
