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Abstract:

This article presents the main cybercrime legislation in the United States of America law and how the provisions of the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime were incorporated into the Federal Criminal Code. It also emphasized that the United States of America legislation includes other offences that are not provided under the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime.

Keywords: cybercrimes; the Federal Criminal Code; cyberspace; the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime.

JEL Classification: K24; K14; K42.

Introduction

In the United States, cybercrime legislation is contained in both federal law and in the state law. The United States Constitution provides legislative authority between the two levels (federal and state) in accordance with certain principles (Brenner 2001,2). One of these principles is that even if federal legislative authority exists, it is necessary only when the federal legislative action is required (National Governors Association 2015,1).

Federal criminal law provisions of law may take precedence over the application of criminal law provisions of state law in some areas of law, which rarely happens; most often, federal criminal law, overlaps with state criminal law.

1. The analysis of the main regulations on cybercrime in the United States of America law

With regard to cybercrime legislation, the most important rule is the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act-C.F.A.A.-, which was adopted in 1984 by the U.S. Congress in order to reduce crime in the area of information systems and to complement the Federal Criminal Code with offences related to computer use. This law is contained in the Federal Criminal Code Title 18, Part I, Chapter 47, Section 1030 (18 U.S.C. 1030).

C.F.A.A. was amended and supplemented in 1986,1994,1996, in 2001 by the USA PATRIOT ACT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism), and in 2008 by the Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act.

Subsections (b) of the C.F.A.A.-Computer Fraud and Abuse Act- punish any person who not only commits or attempts to commit an offense under subsection (a) of the law, but also those who conspire to commit such a deed.

In the Title 18, Part 1, Chapter 47, Article 1030 (e) (2), the term 'protected computer' is defined.

The USA PATRIOT ACT amended and supplemented the C.F.A.A. on the scope of...

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