No one (except maybe hackers) loves hackers.
President Obama will propose new laws against hacking that could make either re-tweeting or clicking on a link illegal.
The (proposed) new laws make it a felony to intentionally access unauthorized information even if it’s been posted to a public website. The new laws make it a felony to traffic in information like passwords, where “trafficking” includes posting a link.
Here’s the proposed law: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/legislative/letters/updated-law-enforcement-tools.pdf
“Even if you don’t do any of this, you can still be guilty if you hang around with people who do. Obama proposes upgrading hacking to a “racketeering” offense, means you can be guilty of being a hacker by simply acting like a hacker (without otherwise committing a specific crime). Hanging out in an IRC chat room giving advice to people now makes you a member of a “criminal enterprise”, allowing the FBI to sweep in and confiscate all your assets without charging you with a crime. If you innocently clicked on the link above, and think you can defend yourself in court, prosecutors can still use the 20-year sentence of a racketeering charge in order to force you to plea bargain down to a 1-year sentence for hacking.”– Wired
So why the sledge hammer? “Something needs to be done!” (relating to the huge data breaches over the past couple of years has stirred the mighty to act).
Unfortunately, if all one has is a scalpel, all disease tends to be viewed with a “Heal with steel!” surgical bias, just as if the only tool one had were a hammer, one would relate to screws and bolts as if they were nails.
I recommend a different approach: Forget the “This is BAD! We have to do something! ”
What we need is to understand that a law or series of them won’t change a thing. Hacking is international, and anonymous…with states and/or major cyber criminal organizations responsible. You can’t put on trial those you can’t even apprehend. The “War on Hackers” will be as effective as the “War on Drugs” and the “War on the Poor”. Oops. I meant, the “War on Poverty”.
We should instead generate a whole new system of cyber-identity, not requiring passwords and idiocy of that variety utilizing biological markers such as a retinal fingerprint or image of the iris, with the second factor being a voiceprint or the like.
Actually, software security firms will by definition be outlawed by this crazy new legislation, and worse: There will be massive Internet Surveillance…and guess what, that’s another administration proposal. The new surveillance law will strong-arm companies and corporations into sharing their firewall, ISPs and antiviral information with the government. A whole new take on who’s “transparent” and who isn’t.
These crazy laws will generate the Cyber Police State. Guaranteed.
It’s time to stop over criminalizing every activity that innocent people will be entrapped by and it’s about time to roll back the nonsense and start using the gray matter to ensure security rather than prison terms.
After all, America has 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s prisoners. That’s got tell you something.
Sources:
http://www.wired.com/2015/01/president-obama-waging-war-hackers/?mbid=social_twitter