THE SENATE

S.C.R. NO.

20

TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the attorney general to examine cybercrime in hawaii.

 

 


     WHEREAS, "cybercrime" refers to criminal activity in which the computer or network is an essential part of the crime, and also includes traditional crimes in which computers or networks are used to enable the illicit activities; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National White Collar Crime Center, in 2007 released its latest annual report on victims' complaints received and referred to law enforcement; and

 

     WHEREAS, although the report indicated that internet retail fraud, such as auction fraud, non-delivered merchandise or payment, check fraud, credit and debit card fraud, computer fraud, confidence fraud, and fraud against financial institutions represent the greatest number of complaints, more chilling trends are emerging; and

 

     WHEREAS, the IC3 posted an alert in December 2006 regarding electronic mail claiming that the sender had been paid to kill the recipient and would cancel the contract on the recipient's life if the recipient paid a large sum of money; and

 

     WHEREAS, cyberstalking--threatening behavior or unwanted advances directed at another using the Internet and other forms of online and computer communications--is a relatively new but growing phenomenon; and

 

     WHEREAS, cyberstalkers target their victims through chat rooms, message boards, discussion forums, and electronic mail that takes many forms, including threatening or obscene electronic mail; spamming (in which a stalker sends a victim a multitude of junk electronic mail); live chat harassment or flaming (online verbal abuse); leaving improper messages on message boards or in guest books; sending electronic viruses; sending unsolicited electronic mail; tracing another person's computer and internet activity; and electronic identity theft; and

 

     WHEREAS, cyberstalking through cellular phones and text messaging is a growing threat for children and teenagers, and a troubling new twist on bullying and "date abuse"; and

 

     WHEREAS, children and young adults are particularly vulnerable to this terrifying experience for victims, placing them at risk of psychological trauma and possible physical harm; and

 

     WHEREAS, cyberstalking situations do evolve into off-line stalking, and a victim may experience abusive and excessive phone calls, vandalism, threatening or obscene mail, trespassing, and physical assault; and

 

     WHEREAS, in Hawaii, since April 2007, a number of Hawaii attorneys have been the victims of cyberstalking, and have received thousands of electronic-mail messages from an anonymous sender that contained false, derogatory, and defamatory messages, and these messages were also being sent to people outside the legal community and falsely identified as coming from specific attorneys; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2009, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Attorney General is requested to examine cybercrime in Hawaii, including but not limited to:

 

     (1)  Spamming and criminal copyright crimes, particularly those facilitated through peer-to-peer networks;

 

     (2)  Unauthorized access (e.g., defeating access controls), malicious code, and denial-of-service attacks;

 

     (3)  Theft of service (in particular, telecommunications fraud) and certain financial frauds;

 

     (4)  "Traditional crimes" facilitated through the use of computers or networks, including gullibility or social engineering frauds (e.g., hacking, "phishing", identity theft, child pornography, online gambling, securities fraud);

 

     (5)  Cyberstalking, particularly through cellular phones and text messaging of children and teenagers; and

 

     (6)  Cyberstalking involving electronic mail containing false, derogatory, harassing, or defamatory messages, or those in which the sender pretends the messages are written by a person other than the sender;

 

and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Attorney General is requested to submit a report on its findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the Regular Session of 2010 on the results of the examination of cybercrime in Hawaii and any recommendations for amendments or additions to Hawaii law that may be necessary to deter and punish cybercrime; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Attorney General.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

Cybercrime; AG; Study and Report