William F. Smith: “Mr. Speaker, many people think of cybercrime simply as a form of vandalism involving hacking or planting viruses.…”

“Mr. Speaker, many people think of cybercrime simply as a form of vandalism involving hacking or planting viruses. Cybercrime is much more than this. It can devastate our businesses, economy and national infrastructure. Cybercrime also includes child pornography, which terrorizes our children and our families. Criminals use computer technology to steal life savings and the identities of unsuspecting individuals. These attacks threaten the lives and the livelihoods of many innocent victims. Mr. Speaker, a crime is still a crime, whether it occurs on the Internet or on the street. We are in a war against terrorism. According to a recent newspaper article, ``Unsettling signs of al Qaeda's aims and skills in cyberspace have led some government experts to conclude that terrorists are at the threshold of using the Internet as a direct instrument of bloodshed.'' The article stated, ``Most significantly, perhaps, U.S. investigators have found evidence in the logs that mark a browser's path through the Internet that al Qaeda operators spent time on sites that offer software and programming instructions for the digital switches that run power, water, transport and communication grids.'' Cybercrimes and cybercriminals know no borders. As long as there is technology, cybercrime will exist.”