I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1525 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to discourage spyware, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 14, 2007 

Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California (for herself, Mr. GOODLATTE, Ms. LINDA T. 

SA ́NCHEZ of California, Mr. SMITH of Texas, and Ms. JACKSON-LEE of 

Texas) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to discourage 

spyware, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Internet Spyware (I– 

5 SPY) Prevention Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PENALTIES FOR CERTAIN UNAUTHORIZED ACTIVI7 TIES RELATING TO COMPUTERS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 47 of title 18, is amended 

9 by inserting after section 1030 the following: 


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1 ‘‘§ 1030A. Illicit indirect use of protected computers 

2 ‘‘(a) Whoever intentionally accesses a protected com3 puter without authorization, or exceeds authorized access 

4 to a protected computer, by causing a computer program 

5 or code to be copied onto the protected computer, and in6 tentionally uses that program or code in furtherance of 

7 another Federal criminal offense shall be fined under this 

8 title or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both. 

9 ‘‘(b) Whoever intentionally accesses a protected com10 puter without authorization, or exceeds authorized access 

11 to a protected computer, by causing a computer program 

12 or code to be copied onto the protected computer, and by 

13 means of that program or code— 

14 ‘‘(1) intentionally obtains, or transmits to an15 other, personal information with the intent to de16 fraud or injure a person or cause damage to a pro17 tected computer; or 

18 ‘‘(2) intentionally impairs the security protec19 tion of the protected computer with the intent to de20 fraud or injure a person or damage a protected com21 puter; 

22 shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 

23 2 years, or both. 

24 ‘‘(c) No person may bring a civil action under the 

25 law of any State if such action is premised in whole or 

26 in part upon the defendant’s violating this section. For 


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1 the purposes of this subsection, the term ‘State’ includes 

2 the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and any other terri3 tory or possession of the United States. 

4 ‘‘(d) As used in this section— 

5 ‘‘(1) the terms ‘protected computer’ and ‘ex6 ceeds authorized access’ have, respectively, the 

7 meanings given those terms in section 1030; and 

8 ‘‘(2) the term ‘personal information’ means— 

9 ‘‘(A) a first and last name; 

10 ‘‘(B) a home or other physical address, in11 cluding street name; 

12 ‘‘(C) an electronic mail address; 

13 ‘‘(D) a telephone number; 

14 ‘‘(E) a Social Security number, tax identi15 fication number, drivers license number, pass16 port number, or any other government-issued 

17 identification number; or 

18 ‘‘(F) a credit card or bank account number 

19 or any password or access code associated with 

20 a credit card or bank account. 

21 ‘‘(e) This section does not prohibit any lawfully au22 thorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activity of 

23 a law enforcement agency of the United States, a State, 

24 or a political subdivision of a State, or of an intelligence 

25 agency of the United States.’’. 


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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec2 tions at the beginning of chapter 47 of title 18, is amended 

3 by inserting after the item relating to section 1030 the 

4 following new item: 

‘‘1030A. Illicit indirect use of protected computers.’’. 

5 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

6 In addition to any other sums otherwise authorized 

7 to be appropriated for this purpose, there are authorized 

8 to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 2008 through 

9 2011, the sum of $10,000,000 to the Attorney General 

10 for prosecutions needed to discourage the use of spyware 

11 and the practices commonly called phishing and pharming. 

12 SEC. 4. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS CONCERNING 

13 THE ENFORCEMENT OF CERTAIN 

14 CYBERCRIMES. 

15 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find16 ings: 

17 (1) Software and electronic communications are 

18 increasingly being used by criminals to invade indi19 viduals’ and businesses’ computers without author20 ization. 

21 (2) Two particularly egregious types of such 

22 schemes are the use of spyware and phishing scams. 

23 (3) These schemes are often used to obtain per24 sonal information, such as bank account and credit 


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1 card numbers, which can then be used as a means 

2 to commit other types of theft. 

3 (4) In addition to the devastating damage that 

4 these heinous activities can inflict on individuals and 

5 businesses, they also undermine the confidence that 

6 citizens have in using the Internet. 

7 (5) The continued development of innovative 

8 technologies in response to consumer demand is cru9 cial in the fight against spyware. 

10 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—Because of the serious 

11 nature of these offenses, and the Internet’s unique impor12 tance in the daily lives of citizens and in interstate com13 merce, it is the sense of Congress that the Department 

14 of Justice should use the amendments made by this Act, 

15 and all other available tools, vigorously to prosecute those 

16 who use spyware to commit crimes and those that conduct 

17 phishing and pharming scams. 

Æ 


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