Aaron's Law Act of 2013

Bill: 113-s-1196
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Wyden, Ron [D-OR]
Introduced: 2013-06-20
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
Subjects: Computer security and identity theft

Criminal procedure and sentencing

Fraud offenses and financial crimes
Latest action: action_date: 2013-06-20
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Summaries:
action_date: 2013-06-20
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p>Aaron's Law Act of 2013 - Amends provisions of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) prohibiting computer fraud to replace the phrase &quot;exceeds authorized access&quot; with &quot;access without authorization,&quot; which is defined as obtaining information on a protected computer that the accesser lacks authorization to obtain by knowingly circumventing one or more technological or physical measures that are designed to exclude or prevent unauthorized individuals from obtaining that information.</p> <p>Modifies CFAA penalty provisions to: (1) limit the imposition of enhanced penalties to subsequent offenses under such Act (currently, additional penalties are allowed if there is a conviction for another offense) and to criminal acts punishable under federal or state law by a term of imprisonment for more than one year; and (2) require the determination of the value of information for enhanced penalty purposes to be made by reference to fair market value.</p>

tv_txt: II 113th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 1196 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES June 20, 2013 Mr. Wyden introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to provide for clarification as to the meaning of access without authorization, and for other purposes.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Aaron's Law Act of 2013 . 2. Clarifying that access without authorization under 18 U.S.C. 1030 means circumvention of technological barriers in order to gain unauthorized access (a) In general Section 1030(e)(6) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by— (1) striking exceeds authorized access and all that follows; and (2) inserting the following: access without authorization means— (A) to obtain information on a protected computer; (B) that the accesser lacks authorization to obtain; and (C) by knowingly circumventing one or more technological or physical measures that are designed to exclude or prevent unauthorized individuals from obtaining that information; . (b) Conforming amendment Section 1030 of title 18, United States Code, is amended— (1) in subsection (d)(10), by striking unauthorized access, or exceeding authorized access, to a and inserting access without authorization of a protected ; and (2) by striking exceeds authorized access each place it appears. 3. Eliminating redundancy Section 1030(a)(4) of title 18, United States Code, is repealed. 4. Making penalties proportional to crimes (a) Section 1030(c)(2) of title 18, United States Code is amended— (1) in subparagraph (A)— (A) by striking conviction for another and inserting subsequent ; and (B) by inserting such after attempt to commit ; (2) in subparagraph (B)(i), by inserting after financial gain the following: and the fair market value of the information obtained exceeds $5,000 ; (3) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking the offense was committed and all that follows through the semicolon, and inserting the following: the offense was committed in furtherance of any criminal act in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States or of any State punishable by a term of imprisonment greater than one year, unless such criminal acts are prohibited by this section or such State violation would be based solely on accessing information without authorization; ; (4) in subparagraph (B)(iii), by inserting fair market before value ; and (5) in subparagraph (C)— (A) by striking conviction for another and inserting subsequent ; and (B) by inserting such after attempt to commit .