Laws That Facilitate Or Limit Cybercrime Investigations in United States

Laws That Facilitate or Limit Cybercrime Investigations

Overview of Laws That Facilitate or Limit Cybercrime Investigations in relation to cyber crime: [1] The first major federal law created to crack down on organized crime was the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO, pronounced ”Reeko”) of 1961. Since that year RICO has been applied by prosecutors to evaluate illegal activities of ”junior associates involved in criminal organizations and leaders of criminal organizations without direct evidence of their being involved in any specific crimes.” The implication is that cybercrimes that involve Internet communications between such individuals can be prosecuted under the RICO statute in addition to other specific violations of law. If a person is convicted of being involved in a criminal organization, his prison sentences can be dramatically increased. Certain hacker and pirating groups have been indicted for ”racketeering,” which essentially means a RICO violation.

More Details about Laws That Facilitate or Limit Cybercrime Investigations

RICO has aided in conceiving and enacting other laws that facilitate or limit cybercrime investigations, including the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978, the Wire and Electronic Communication Interception and Interception of Oral Communication Act (also known as the Federal Wiretap Act), and the Electronic Communications Act of 1986. All these laws pertain in some way to procedures federal agencies must fulfill to secure a search warrant to conduct a wiretap (i.e., secretly listening to telephone or cellular phone conversations).

Resources

Notes and References

1. By Samuel C. McQuade, III

See Also

• Types of Cybercrime
• Cybercriminal

Further Reading

Casey, E. (2004). Digital evidence and computer crime (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Academic Press; Lessig, L. (2000). Code and other laws of cyberspace. New York: Basic Books; Reyes, A., Brittson, R., O’Shea, K., & Steel, J. (2007). Cyber crime investigations: Bridging the gaps between security professionals, law enforcement, and prosecutors. Rockland, MA: Syngress Publishing; Shinder, D.L., & Tittel, E. (2002). Scene of the cybercrime: computer forensics handbook. Rockland, MA: Syngress Publishing.