U.S. House of Representatives

Committee on the Judiciary

F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., Chairman

News Advisory

For immediate release Contact: Jeff Lungren/Terry Shawn

May 23, 2001 (202) 225-2492

Crime Subcommittee To Hold A Series of Hearings

on Fighting Cyber Crime

What: Opening oversight hearing on Fighting Cyber Crime

Who: Subcommittee on Crime - Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), Chairman

When: 1:30 p.m. Thursday, May 24, 2001

Where: 2237 Rayburn House Office Building

As society becomes increasingly dependent on the interaction of computers, cyber crime has

become more prevalent. Technological developments have helped spawn new criminal activity in areas such as identity theft, online fraud, and child pornography. What is law enforcement, particular State and local authorities, doing to fight these new criminal threats?

Background

Cyber crime is unlawful conduct involving the use of a computer. Examples of cyber crime include: a) denial of service attacks, the disabling of a computer system without necessarily gaining access to it; b) viruses, the infecting of a computer system that disables the system and, in the case of the Melissa virus, can cause $80 million in damages; c) the theft of information such as credit card numbers or a person's identity.

Online fraud, intellectual property theft, sales of illegal substances or goods, child pornography, cyber stalking and harassment are all forms of illegal acts that use the computers as a tool to commit criminal acts.

These hearings will address...

What type of cyber crime are States and localities facing?

How are the states and local law enforcement agencies working with Federal agencies and the private sector in efforts to address cyber crime?

How can the Federal government assist States and localities in their efforts to deal with cyber crime?

Witnesses: Michael T. McCaul, TX Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice; Hon. Joseph I. Cassilly, States Attorney, Harford County, MD and Chairman of the Cyber Crime Committee for the National District Attorneys Association; Ronald R. Stevens, Bureau of Criminal Investigation N.Y. State Police Computer Crime Unit.

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