IIB 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1525 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 23, 2007 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

AN ACT 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

3 SPY) Prevention Act of 2007’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PENALTIES FOR CERTAIN UNAUTHORIZED ACTIVI5 TIES RELATING TO COMPUTERS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 47 of title 18, United 

7 States Code, is amended by inserting after section 1030 

8 the following: 

9 ‘‘§ 1030A. Illicit indirect use of protected computers 

10 ‘‘(a) Whoever intentionally accesses a protected com11 puter without authorization, or exceeds authorized access 

12 to a protected computer, by causing a computer program 

13 or code to be copied onto the protected computer, and in14 tentionally uses that program or code in furtherance of 

15 another Federal criminal offense shall be fined under this 

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

17 ‘‘(b) Whoever intentionally accesses a protected com18 puter without authorization, or exceeds authorized access 

19 to a protected computer, by causing a computer program 

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

21 means of that program or code— 

22 ‘‘(1) intentionally obtains, or transmits to an23 other, personal information with the intent to de24 fraud or injure a person or cause damage to a pro25 tected computer; or 


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1 ‘‘(2) intentionally impairs the security protec2 tion of the protected computer with the intent to de3 fraud or injure a person or damage a protected com4 puter; 

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

6 2 years, or both. 

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

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

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

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

11 the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and any other terri12 tory or possession of the United States. 

13 ‘‘(d) As used in this section— 

14 ‘‘(1) the terms ‘protected computer’ and ‘ex15 ceeds authorized access’ have, respectively, the 

16 meanings given those terms in section 1030; and 

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

18 ‘‘(A) a first and last name; 

19 ‘‘(B) a home or other physical address, in20 cluding street name; 

21 ‘‘(C) an electronic mail address; 

22 ‘‘(D) a telephone number; 

23 ‘‘(E) a Social Security number, tax identi24 fication number, drivers license number, passVerDate Aug 31 2005 05:09 May 24, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1525.RFS H1525

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1 port number, or any other government-issued 

2 identification number; or 

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

4 or any password or access code associated with 

5 a credit card or bank account. 

6 ‘‘(e) This section does not prohibit any lawfully au7 thorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activity of 

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

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

10 agency of the United States.’’. 

11 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

12 at the beginning of chapter 47 of title 18, United States 

13 Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to 

14 section 1030 the following new item: 

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

15 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

16 In addition to any other sums otherwise authorized 

17 to be appropriated for this purpose, there are authorized 

18 to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 2008 through 

19 2011, the sum of $10,000,000 to the Attorney General 

20 for prosecutions needed to discourage the use of spyware 

21 and the practices commonly called phishing and pharming. 


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1 SEC. 4. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS CONCERNING 

2 THE ENFORCEMENT OF CERTAIN 

3 CYBERCRIMES. 

4 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find5 ings: 

6 (1) Software and electronic communications are 

7 increasingly being used by criminals to invade indi8 viduals’ and businesses’ computers without author9 ization. 

10 (2) Two particularly egregious types of such 

11 schemes are the use of spyware and phishing scams. 

12 (3) These schemes are often used to obtain per13 sonal information, such as bank account and credit 

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

15 to commit other types of theft. 

16 (4) In addition to the devastating damage that 

17 these heinous activities can inflict on individuals and 

18 businesses, they also undermine the confidence that 

19 citizens have in using the Internet. 

20 (5) The continued development of innovative 

21 technologies in response to consumer demand is cru22 cial in the fight against spyware. 

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

24 nature of these offenses, and the Internet’s unique impor25 tance in the daily lives of citizens and in interstate com26 merce, it is the sense of Congress that the Department 


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

2 and all other available tools, vigorously to prosecute those 

3 who use spyware to commit crimes and those that conduct 

4 phishing and pharming scams. 

Passed the House of Representatives May 22, 2007. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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