US hackers to face life sentences

THE US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES has approved an act that could put hackers in the clink for life.

Three representatives out of 388 voted against a piece of computer crime legislation that aims to put a stop to cyber terrorism, denial of service attacks and other acts of computer black magic.

Worldcom and Microsoft advised a committee that was putting the legislation together pre-September 11th, it has emerged.

And cops in the USA have also been granted powers to eavesdrop on phone lines without a warrant and to snoop wholesale into Internet based transactions.

Before the bill becomes law, it has to head for the Senate although most expect this body to rubberstamp the lower house's vote.

Yet because politicians in the US seem to have just as long holidays as MPs here in Blighty, that's unlikely to happen before October, it seems.

This latest piece of legislation complements the US Patriot Act, which is already in force.

Who would have thought that the "personal computers" which came into existence in the late 1970s and early 1980s could possibly end up with 14-year olds facing life in a Federal clink for messing about.

Adolescence has become hellishly more dangerous than when we were a lad. µ