- Criminals use computers to steal and harm.conceptual - computer criminal cought - mouse in a mouse trap image by dinostock from Fotolia.com
Computer laws are generally catching up with the growth of new technologies, some of them used by criminals to cause harm. Texas law concentrates on breaches of computer security, the theft or alteration of data stored inside the computer and damage done by a computer virus or mischief done when the criminal has control of a secure network. - Texas law prohibits the breach of computer security. Anyone who knowingly accesses a computer without permission or gives or steals a password, personal indentification number, debit or credit card number, bank account number or information about the security system guarding a network or computer and intends to profit or harm someone else by their actions is guilty of a felony. It's a state jail felony if the amount involved was less than $20,000 and a third degree felony if the amount is more than $20,000.
- Texas law will punish the criminal who breaks into a computer with the intent of harming the computer. Hackers who create and disseminate computer viruses can cause millions of dollars in lost revenue. Criminals can't interrupt or impair a government or public operation such as the state power grid. They can't gain access into a computer network in order to tamper with official records or alter bank accounts or other data. The penalty for harm done to a computer network depends on the size of the damage and can range from a felony of the second degree to a Class A misdemeanor.
- Half of the criminal activity on the internet involves on-line auctions. eBay and other auction sites provide a home for criminals who misrepresent their items for sale or fail to ship them after the auction is over. FBI statistics for 2007 show almost 13,000 complaints coming from Texas because of auction fraud.
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