Ashcroft Targets U.S. Cybercrime

Seth Finkelstein sethf at sethf.com
Fri Jul 20 19:04:21 PDT 2001


	Remember what I told you: "If you think Clinton was dismal,
you're going to find out what dismal *is*, during a Bush administration."

[And Matt's reply is:  They're both dismal.]

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/ap/20010720/pl/ashcroft_cybercrime_1.html

    Friday July 20 5:24 PM ET

Ashcroft Targets U.S. Cybercrime

    By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, Associated Press Writer

    MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (AP) - Calling computer security one of the
    nation's top problems, Attorney General John Ashcroft said Friday that
    the government is forming nine special units to prosecute hacking and
    copyright violations.

    Ashcroft said the new specialists will bring to 48 the number of
    prosecutors working on cybercrime in U.S. attorneys' offices.

    ``There are many people of poor and evil motivations who are seeking
    to disrupt business and government and exploit any vulnerabilities in
    the digital universe,'' Ashcroft said after meeting with Silicon
    Valley executives and venture capitalists.

    When computer crimes go unpunished, he said, ``It impairs the ability
    of the United States of America to remain in its position of priority
    in leading the world in the digital age.''

    The new prosecutors will work in cities with relatively high levels of
    cybercrime: Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Seattle,
    New York, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Alexandria, Va. The units will be
    modeled on the nation's first Computer Hacking and Intellectual
    Property squad, which began working out of the U.S. Attorney's office
    in San Francisco several years ago.

    That unit was created by U.S. Attorney Robert Mueller, whom President
    Bush has nominated for FBI director. Mueller attended Friday's news
    conference at the headquarters of VeriSign Inc., but did not comment.

    Ashcroft cited a study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLC that said
    businesses spent $300 billion fighting hackers and computer viruses
    last year.

    He said the government must be careful to help secure the Internet
    without hindering its development.

    ``There is perhaps nothing quite as distressing as the unintended
    consequences of well-intentioned government,'' Ashcroft said.

    While cybercrime is an expensive problem for the private sector,
    companies are often reluctant to report computer attacks to law
    enforcement authorities out of fear of negative publicity and concern
    that prosecutors don't have the technical savvy to solve the cases.

    Prosecutors in the nine units will try to forge relationships within
    the technology community, provide training for state and local
    prosecutors and encourage companies to come forward when they are hit
    by hackers, Justice Department officials said.

    Ashcroft would not comment on the case of Dmitry Sklyarov, a
    26-year-old Russian arrested this week in Las Vegas and charged with
    writing a program that unlocked encrypted software designed by Adobe
    Systems Inc. (NasdaqNM:ADBE - news) to protect electronic books.

    The FBI contends that is a violation of the 1998 Digital Millennium
    Copyright Act. Critics of the case say Sklyarov works for a legitimate
    company in Moscow that merely has a business dispute with Adobe.

    ``Taxpayer dollars are basically being used to do Adobe's dirty
    work,'' said Richard Smith, chief technology officer for the Privacy
    Foundation at the University of Denver. ``Frankly, I think they should
    be spending their time fixing the security problems he pointed out.''

    -

    On the Net:

    Justice Department: http://www.usdoj.gov

Copyright © 2001 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.The 
information contained in the AP News report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written 
authority of The Associated Press.

__________________________________________________________________________
Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---

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