108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4661

AN ACT

To amend title 18, United States Code, to

discourage spyware, and for other purposes.

108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4661

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 2004’’.

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;

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

4 2 years, or both.

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

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

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

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

9 the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and any other terri10 tory or possession of the United States.

11 ‘‘(d) As used in this section—

12 ‘‘(1) the terms ‘protected computer’ and ‘ex13 ceeds authorized access’ have, respectively, the

14 meanings given those terms in section 1030; and

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

16 ‘‘(A) a first and last name;

17 ‘‘(B) a home or other physical address, in18 cluding street name;

19 ‘‘(C) an electronic mail address;

20 ‘‘(D) a telephone number;

21 ‘‘(E) a Social Security number, tax identi22 fication number, drivers license number, pass23 port number, or any other government-issued

24 identification number; or
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1 ‘‘(F) a credit card or bank account number

2 or any password or access code associated with

3 a credit card or bank account.

4 ‘‘(e) This section does not prohibit any lawfully au5 thorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activity of

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

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

8 agency of the United States.’’.

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of sec10 tions at the beginning of chapter 47 of title 18, United

11 States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relat12 ing to section 1030 the following new item:

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

13 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

14 In addition to any other sums otherwise authorized

15 to be appropriated for this purpose, there are authorized

16 to be appropriated for each of fiscal years 2005 through

17 2008, the sum of $10,000,000 to the Attorney General

18 for prosecutions needed to discourage the use of spyware

19 and the practice commonly called phishing.

20 SEC. 4. FINDINGS AND SENSE OF CONGRESS CONCERNING

21 THE ENFORCEMENT OF CERTAIN

22 CYBERCRIMES.

23 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find24 ings:
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1 (1) Software and electronic communications are

2 increasingly being used by criminals to invade indi3 viduals’ and businesses’ computers without author4 ization.

5 (2) Two particularly egregious types of such

6 schemes are the use of spyware and phishing scams.

7 (3) These schemes are often used to obtain per8 sonal information, such as bank account and credit

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

10 to commit other types of theft.

11 (4) In addition to the devastating damage that

12 these heinous activities can inflict on individuals and

13 businesses, they also undermine the confidence that

14 citizens have in using the Internet.

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

16 nature of these offenses, and the Internet’s unique impor17 tance in the daily lives of citizens and in interstate com18 merce, it is the sense of Congress that the Department

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

20 and all other available tools, vigorously to prosecute those
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1 who use spyware to commit crimes and those that conduct

2 phishing scams.

Passed the House of Representatives October 7,

2004.

Attest:

Clerk.