Whether you are a kid using the Internet for the first time, a white-collar employee using it for work or a veteran programmer/web-designer, cyberlaw treats you equally. So it is the responsibility of all net-users to be aware of existing laws so that they do not wander unknowingly into unnecessary legal entanglements. They can also notify authorities if they are victimized and, of course, can be aware of the penalties awaiting them if they deliberately decide not to toe the line.

Law and order statutes exist to protect the rights of the people. Cyberlaw is no different and as a whole applies to crimes that breach privacy, involve fraudery, theft or cause any form of damage to property, victims or companies. Affecting productivity is also considered a crime. This means that the following crimes can be charged by the law.

The punishments mentioned here are specific to the United States but the specifications of the criminal activity are generally applicable to most countries. Many countries are lagging behind in terms of law and order statutes but the tremendous spate of cybercrimes has finally convinced many governments to take cyberlaw seriously.

Laws against spamming

In general, anyone who is guilty of

• Using a protected computer without permission to deliberately transmit multiple commercial electronic mail messages and to mislead recipients as to where the messages came from
• Deliberately faking header information in commercial electronic mail messages to avoid tracing
• Creating false online user accounts or two or more domain names and transmitting multiple commercial emails from any of these accounts or domain names
• Sending emails (manually or by mass automation) that are commercial yet unsolicited, contain malicious codes or distasteful content, scams, chain or hoax mails to prey on the recipients’ gullibility, etc.

Is subject to the following penalties:

• A fine or imprisonment for 5 years or less, or both, if

1. The volume of such electronic mail messages transmitted exceeded 2,500 during any 24-hour period, 25,000 throughout a 30-day period or 250,000 throughout a 1-year period.
2. The one being charged has previously been caught for transmitting multiple commercial emails or having unauthorized access to a computer system

There is also a fine or imprisonment for not more than 3 years, or both, if:

• Emails sent involved 20 or more fake electronic mail or online user account registrations, or 10 or more falsified domain name registrations;
• The offense caused loss to one or more persons aggregating $5,000 or more in value throughout a 1-year period
• The offender collected $5,000 or more during any 1-year period by means of scamming others or
• The offender occupied a position of organizer or leader in a team of spammers

General anti-spam laws are of two kinds

• The first kind prohibits misleading information in the message header, such as questionable subject lines to deceive those who receive the email.
• The second kind prohibits the use of phony sender addresses. It is mandatory that spammers use the label "ADV:" in their subject headings, thus demarking the message as commercial. Commercial emails with adult content must have the label "ADV: ADLT:" above the subject description.

Not adhering to either of these two laws is what gets most offenders into trouble.

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Laws against hacking/malicious code-writing/network crimes

Anyone guilty of

• Deliberately accessing a non-public computer without authorization or permission and obtaining information that can be used against the source of origin (the person or the country)
• Obtaining anything of material value which exceeds $5,000 throughout a 1-year period by intrusive means (which excludes the usage of the computer itself)
• Deliberately transmitting programmes, information, commands or codes and consequently causing damage to the computer and/or the entire network of a organization of any sort
• Blackmailing the individual, organization, government etc. with the intent to extort money or anything of value by holding information or the infrastructure of the computer or network hostage.

Shall be punished as follows.

• Fined for all crimes of this nature and amount depending on severity of the crime
• Imprisonment for ten years or less if crimes were most severe or damaging in nature (the term "damage" means any impairment to the integrity or availability of data, a program, a system, or information)
• Maximum imprisonment for twenty years for repeat offenders of the kind mentioned above
• Maximum imprisonment for five years if crime was purely for material gain (value of illegal profits made exceed $5000)

Generally, anyone caught stealing data from or damaging protected computers or attempting to do so for whatever purpose will certainly be fined. Imprisonment only applies to either repeat offenders or those who have successfully carried their plans through.

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Laws against cyberstalking

The punishment for the technical aspect of breaking into someone’s computer is the same as that of hacking. The inflicting of psychological damage, however, has a separate set of punishments. The laws here are very similar, if not identical, to that applying to real life stalkers.

Anyone who repeatedly

• followed, loitered around or watched a person from within the vicinity of his residence
• contacted a person in any way through the use of any technology
• left offensive material to be found by, directly given to or brought to the attention of a person by means of technology
• carried out intimidating, harassing, threatening acts against a person, whether or not involving violence
• carried out acts of violence, against, or against the property of the defendant
• violated a restraining order issued by court such that his or her actions
• caused the victim apprehension or fear of violence to, or against property of, the stalked person or
• caused detriment of any kind to the stalked person.

Is punishable by the following

• Imprisonment for one year or less or a fine of one thousand dollars or less, or both fine and imprisonment,
• Imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years for violating a restraining a restraining order or committing the crime for which he was charged for previously

The sentencing court can actually issue an order restraining the defendant from any contact with the victim and this order may be valid for up to 10 years, depending on the court settlement. The length of the order depends on the seriousness of the crimes and how high the chances are that the crime will be committed again in the future. Once the stalker gets physical, the punishment logically becomes much more severe.

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Laws against phishing

Whoever

• creates a website or domain name that seems like a legitimate online business, without the authority or approval of the owner of the real website or domain name of the legitimate online business
• uses it to ask, induce, request, or solicit any person to transmit, submit, or provide any means of identification to another
• falsely represents itself as being a legitimate online business
• includes an Internet information location tool that refers or links users to an online location that pretends to belong to or be associated with a legitimate online business
• induces, requests, asks, or solicits a recipient of the electronic mail message directly or indirectly to provide, submit, or relate any means of identification to another

shall be fined or imprisoned up to five years, or both.

These laws are generally similar to those related to fraud cases. There is often an overlap between these laws and spam laws as spam emails are usually from pyramid schemes. The perpetrator is subject to both sets of laws as a result.

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Laws against software piracy

Anyone who infringes a copyright

• for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain
• by the reproduction or distribution, including by electronic means, over half a year, of 1 or more copies of 1 or more copyrighted works, which have a total retail value of more than $1,000,

shall be punished as follows

• Immediate destruction or deletion of any copied copyright works
• Fine of $2500 dollars or less if the person publicly distributes or imports for public distribution any article bearing such notice or words that he or she knows to be copied material.
• Fine of $2500 dollars or less if the person modifies or attempts to modify in anyway or remove the copyright appearing on a copy
• Imprisonment ranging from 2 to 10 years depending on number of copied copyright items sold and amount of money generated as such and/or number of times offense was repeated.

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Reference

US laws against Cybercrime in general
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/index.html

Spam laws of all the U.S states
http://www.spamlaws.com/state/summary.html

List of laws against cybestalking among countries and US states
http://www.haltabuse.org/resources/laws/

Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section Criminal Division United States Department of Justice
http://www.cybercrime.gov/s&smanual2002.htm

List of laws against cybestalking among countries and US states
http://www.haltabuse.org/resources/laws/

Anti-phishing Act of 2005
http://www.theorator.com/bills109/s472.html