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THE SENATE                           S.C.R. NO.            S.D. 2
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

  REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE REFERENCE BUREAU TO STUDY POTENTIAL
    LEGISLATION ON COMPUTER CRIMES.


 1        WHEREAS, the advent of the information age has
 2   dramatically changed the way in which the world communicates
 3   and how business is transacted, as evidenced by an IntelliQuest
 4   Company survey that reports over 79,000,000 adults online as of
 5   March 1999, or thirty-eight per cent of the American population
 6   sixteen years and older; and
 7   
 8        WHEREAS, criminal activity conducted on personal
 9   computers, such as computer harassment, cyber-stalking,
10   computer trespass, invasion of privacy, theft of computer
11   services, embezzlement, and forgery have proliferated as the
12   use of personal computers has increased; and
13   
14        WHEREAS, other computer-related activities like the
15   sending of unsolicited bulk email, or spamming, which states
16   are now considering prohibiting, have caused recipients of such
17   email to suffer inconvenience and harassment and incur
18   unnecessary costs through increased communications storage
19   charges, and loss of communication service time due to system
20   interruptions and network shutdowns due to overloads of these
21   unsolicited electronic advertisements; and
22   
23        WHEREAS, the inexpensiveness, immediacy, and anonymity of
24   personal computer communications, coupled with the exponential
25   and explosive growth of the internet and its availability to
26   over thirty-nine per cent of the nation's households make it an
27   attractive instrument for those who would abuse these features
28   to commit crimes or to harass others; and
29   
30        WHEREAS, the Legislature finds that current state laws do
31   not provide adequate protections or remedies to the online
32   community to prevent and discourage unlawful activities
33   conducted on personal computers; now, therefore,
34   
35        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
36   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 1999, the House of
37   Representatives concurring, that the Legislative Reference
38   Bureau is requested to study issues related to possible

 
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                                  S.C.R. NO.            S.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        


 1   legislation on unlawful activities on personal computers,
 2   including computer harassment, cyber-stalking, computer
 3   trespass, invasion of privacy, theft of computer services,
 4   embezzlement, forgery, unsolicited commercial email, and
 5   similar or related problems which are conducted with the use of
 6   personal computers; and
 7   
 8        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference
 9   Bureau is requested to consult with representatives of the
10   Department of the Attorney General, Office of Consumer
11   Protection, Public Defender's Office, the Prosecutor's Office
12   of one or more of the counties, the Honolulu Police Department,
13   victims of computer crimes, Hawaii-based Internet service
14   providers, and Hawaii-based web-hosting companies; and
15   
16        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislative Reference
17   Bureau is requested to report its findings, conclusions, and
18   recommendations to the Legislature not later than twenty days
19   prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2000; and
20   
21        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
22   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Acting Director of
23   the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Attorney General, the
24   Executive Director of the Office of Consumer Protection, the
25   Public Defender, the Prosecuting Attorney of each county, and
26   the Chief of Police of the Honolulu Police Department.