SR100

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

WHEREAS, the IC3 posted an alert in December 2006, regarding e-mails 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 e-mail that takes many forms, including threatening or obscene e-mail; spamming (in which a stalker sends a victim a multitude of junk e-mail); live chat harassment or flaming (online verbal abuse); leaving improper messages on message boards or in guest books; sending electronic viruses; sending unsolicited e-mail; tracing another person's computer and internet activity, and electronic identity theft; and

WHEREAS, cyberstalking through cell phones and text messaging is a growing threat for children and teens, 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 e-mails from an anonymous sender that contained false, derogatory, and defamatory messages, and these e-mails 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-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2008, 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 (i.e., defeating access controls), malicious code, and denial-of-service attacks;

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

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

(5) Cyberstalking, particularly through cell phones and text messaging of children and teens; 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 2009 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 Resolution be transmitted to the Attorney General.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Cybercrime; AG; Study and Report

THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	100
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII