Political Quotes

“I rise to comment on S. 982, the National Information Infrastructure Protection Act. I was pleased that the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously passed the bill that Senator Leahy and I introduced, which will strengthen current public law on computer crime and protect the national information infrastructure. It will protect banks, hospitals, and other information-intensive businesses which maintain sensitive computer files from those who improperly enter into computer systems. Although there has never been an accurate nationwide reporting system for computer crime, it is clear that computer crime is rising. For example, the Computer Emergency and Response Team [CERT] at Carnegie-Mellon University reports that computer intrusions have increased from 132 in 1989 to 2,341 last year. A recent Rand Corporation study reported 1,172 hacking incidents during the first 6 months of 1994. Clearly there is a need to reform the current criminal statutes covering computer abuse. The law needs to keep pace with technology. Crime is increasingly being perpetrated electronically, and we need to amend our laws to stop it.”