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Chapter: Security in Computing : Legal and Ethical Issues in Computer Security

Computer Crime

The law related to contracts and employment is difficult, but at least employees, objects, contracts, and owners are fairly standard entities for which legal precedents have been developed over centuries.

Computer Crime

 

The law related to contracts and employment is difficult, but at least employees, objects, contracts, and owners are fairly standard entities for which legal precedents have been developed over centuries. The definitions in copyright and patent law are strained when applied to computing because old forms must be made to fit new objects; for these situations, however, cases being decided now are establishing legal precedents. But crimes involving computers are an area of the law that is even less clear than the other areas. In this section we study computer crime and consider why new laws are needed to address some of its problems.

 

Why a Separate Category for Computer Crime Is Needed

 

Crimes can be organized into certain recognized categories, including murder, robbery, and littering. We do not separate crime into categories for different weapons, such as gun crime or knife crime, but we separate crime victims into categories, depending on whether they are people or other objects. Nevertheless, driving into your neighbor's picture window can be as bad as driving into his evergreen tree or pet sheep. Let us look at an example to see why these categories are not sufficient and why we need special laws relating to computers as subjects and objects of crime.

 

Rules of Property

 

Parker and Nycom [PAR84] describe the theft of a trade secret proprietary software package. The theft occurred across state boundaries by means of a telephone line; this interstate aspect is important because it means that the crime is subject to federal law as well as state law. The California Supreme Court ruled that this software acquisition was not theft because

 

Implicit in the definition of "article" in Section 499c(a) is that it must be something tangible… Based on the record here, the defendant did not carry any tangible thing… from the computer to his terminal unless the impulses which defendant allegedly caused to be transmitted over the telephone wire could be said to be tangible. It is the opinion of the Court that such impulses are not tangible and hence do not constitute an "article."

 

The legal system has explicit rules about what constitutes property. Generally, property is tangible, unlike magnetic impulses. For example, unauthorized use of a neighbor's lawn mower constitutes theft, even if the lawn mower was returned in essentially the same condition as it was when taken. To a computer professional, taking a copy of a software package without permission is clear -cut theft. Fortunately, laws evolve to fit the times, and this interpretation from the 1980s has been refined so that bits are now recognized items of property.

 

A similar problem arises with computer services. We would generally agree that unauthorized access to a computing system is a crime. For example, if a stranger enters your garden and walks around, even if nothing is touched or damaged, the act is considered trespassing. However, because access by computer does not involve a physical object, not all courts punish it as a serious crime.

 

Rules of Evidence

 

Computer printouts have been used as evidence in many successful prosecutions. Frequently-used are computer records generated in the ordinary course of operation, such as system audit logs.

 

Under the rules of evidence, courts prefer an original source document to a copy, under the assumption that the copy may be inaccurate or may have been modified in the copying process. The biggest difficulty with computer-based evidence in court is being able to demonstrate the authenticity of the evidence. Law enforcement officials operate under a chain of custody requirement: From the moment a piece of evidence is taken until it is presented in court, they track clearly and completely the order and identities of the people who had personal custody of that object. The reason for the chain of custody is to ensure that nobody has had the opportunity to alter the evidence in any way before its presentation in court. With computer-based evidence, it can be difficult to establish a chain of custody. If a crime occurred on Monday but was not discovered until Wednesday, who can verify that the log file was not altered? In fact, it probably was altered many times as different processes generated log entries. The issue is to demonstrate convincingly that the log entry for 2:37 on Monday does in fact correspond to the event that took place at that time on Monday, not some attempt on Thursday to plant a false clue long after the crime took place.

 

Threats to Integrity and Confidentiality

 

The integrity and secrecy of data are also issues in many court cases. Parker and Nycom [PAR84] describe a case in which a trespasser gained remote access to a computing system. The computing system contained confidential records about people, and the integrity of the data was important. The prosecution of this case had to be phrased in terms of theft of computer time and valued as such, even though that was insignificant compared with loss of privacy and integrity. Why? Because the law as written recognized theft of computer time as a loss, but not loss of privacy or destruction of data.

Now, however, several federal and state laws recognize the privacy of data about individuals. For example, disclosing grades or financial information without permission is a crime, and tort law would recognize other cases of computer abuse.

 

Value of Data

 

In another computer crime, a person was found guilty of having stolen a substantial amount of data from a computer data bank. However, the court determined that the "value" of that data was the cost of the paper on which it was printed, which was only a few dollars. Because of that valuation, this crime was classified as a misdemeanor and considered to be a minor crime. Fortunately, the courts have since determined that information and other intangibles can have significant value.

 

The concept of what we value and how we determine its value is key to understanding the problems with computer- based law. In most economies, paper money is accepted as a valuable commodity, even if the paper on which it is printed is worth only a few cents. Cash is easy to value: A dollar bill is worth one dollar. But consider the way we determine the value of a company's assets. Usually, the valuation reflects the amount of money a person or organization is willing to pay for it. For example, the assets of a credit bureau are its files. Banks and insurance companies willingly pay $20 or more for a credit report, even though the paper itself is worth less than a dollar. For a credit bureau, the amount a willing customer will pay for a report is a fair estimate of the report's value; this estimate is called the market value of the report. However, the credit bureau (or any company) has other assets that are not sold but are just as valuable to the company's financial viability. For instance, a confidential list of clients has no market value that can be established, but the list may be essential. Its value is apparent only when a loss is suffered, such as when the secret information is made available to a competitor. Over time, the legal system will find ways to place a value on data that is representative of its value to those who use it. Although these methods of valuation are accepted in civil suits, they have not yet been widely accepted in criminal prosecution.

 

Acceptance of Computer Terminology

 

The law is also lagging behind technology in its acceptance of definitions of computing terms. For example, according to a federal statute, it is unlawful to commit arson within a federal enclave (18 USC 81). Part of that act relates to "machinery or building material or supplies" in the enclave, but court decisions have ruled that a motor vehicle located within a federal enclave at the time of the burning was not included under this statute. Because of that ruling, it is not clear whether computer hardware constitutes "machinery" in this context; "supplies" almost certainly does not include software. Computers and their software, media, and data must be understood and accepted by the legal system.

 

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