Legal Issues Surrounding Information Security

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that more legislation is needed to specifically address areas of information security. New Zealand's most recent legislation on computer crime, the Crimes Amendment Act of 2003, lends legal coverage for the genre of typical computer crimes, but does not address how to apply these laws in the real world. The author points out that Belgium has a specific law addressing computer forgery, computer fraud, hacking, and sabotage, making them criminal offenses; unauthorized access of a computer system carries a sentence of imprisonment of three months to one year, and if this crime is committed with the intention to defraud, the term of imprisonment may be from six months to two years. The paper relates that People's Republic of China's law, which criminalizes unauthorized surveillance of information systems, imposes a fine in the amount of one to three times as much as the amount of the illegal income, and the confiscation of illegal income from these sales.

From the Paper:

"In particular, New Zealand companies have faced severe information security threats and resulting legal challenges, which the New Zealand government has addressed through legislation. Even as recent as 1997, New Zealand has faced difficulties with prosecuting information technology crimes as a result of a lack of Parliament Acts that provide laws relating to information technology crimes. Before the introduction of Acts between 2003 and 2004, prosecutions were attempted using laws that were designed before computers were commonplace and did not adequately address the advancements in information technology."

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