Crime and technology: New rules in a new world*
Hedieh Nasheri, Timothy J. O'Hearn · Information & Communications Technology Law · 1998
The reach of criminal sanctions has expanded in the realm of technology. Lawmakers are increasingly resorting to criminal codes to establish economic and social policies regarding the use and dissemination of technology. For example, Congress enacted and the President signed the Computer Decency Act of 1995 in order to limit the content of the Internet. The law was later overturned in the Supreme Court on First Amendment grounds. President Clinton also signed the Economic Espionage Act of 1996, which criminalizes the theft of trade secrets. The Economic Espionage Act is meant to establish a comprehensive approach to economic espionage, facilitating investigations and prosecution. The Clinton Administration has gone further, working with international policy‐making organizations in an attempt to establish similar national laws outside the United States. These and other enactments raise complex issues about the use of criminal sanctions, and civil penalties, in the rapidly changing world of technology.