Introduced Version
House Bill 4716 History
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
H. B. 4716
(By Delegate Armstead)
[Introduced
February 27, 2004
; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §61-3C-4a; and to
amend and reenact §61-3C-7 and §61-3C-14a of said code, all
generally relating to the computer crime and abuse act; making
it a crime to knowingly and without authorization access any
computer of the state or its subdivisions; and technical
corrections.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §61-3C-4a; and that
§61-3C-7 and §61-3C-14a of said code be amended and reenacted, all
to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3C. WEST VIRGINIA COMPUTER CRIME AND ABUSE ACT.
§61-3C-4a. Unauthorized access to government computer.
Any person who knowingly, willingly and without authorization,
directly or indirectly, accesses or causes to be accessed any
computer or computer network intended for the exclusive use of any state, county or municipal government agency is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more
than one thousand dollars, confined in jail for not more than one
year, or both.
§61-3C-7. Alteration, destruction, etc., of computer equipment.
(a) Misdemeanor offenses. -- Any person who knowingly,
willfully and without authorization, directly or indirectly,
tampers with, deletes, alters, damages or destroys or attempts to
tamper with, delete, alter, damage or destroy any computer,
computer network, computer software, computer resources, computer
program or computer data or who knowingly introduces, directly or
indirectly, a computer contaminant into any computer, computer
program or computer network which results in a loss of value of
property or computer services up to one thousand dollars, is guilty
of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not
more than one thousand dollars or confined in the county or
regional jail not more than six months, or both.
(b) Felony offenses. -- Any person who knowingly, willfully
and without authorization, directly or indirectly, damages or
destroys or attempts to damage or destroy any computer, computer
network, computer software, computer resources, computer program or
computer data by knowingly introducing, directly or indirectly, a
computer contaminant into any computer, computer program or
computer network which results in a loss of value of property or
computer services more than of one thousand dollars is guilty of a
felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than two hundred dollars and not more than ten thousand dollars or
confined in a state correctional facility not more than ten years,
or both, or, in the discretion of the court, be fined not less than
two hundred nor more than one thousand dollars and confined in the
county or regional jail not more than one year.
§61-3C-14a. Obscene, anonymous, harassing and threatening
communications by computer; penalty.
(a) It is unlawful for any person, with the intent to harass
or abuse another person, to use a computer to:
(1) Make contact with another without disclosing his or her
identity; with the intent to harass or abuse
(2) Make contact with a person after being requested by the
person to desist from contacting them;
(3) Threaten to commit a crime; against any person or property
or
(4) Cause obscene material to be delivered or transmitted to
a specific person after being requested to desist from sending such
material.
For purposes of this section, "obscene material" means
material that:
(A) An average person, applying contemporary adult community
standards, would find, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient
interest, is intended to appeal to the prurient interest, or is
pandered to a prurient interest;
(B) An average person, applying contemporary adult community
standards, would find, depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexually explicit conduct consisting of an ultimate
sexual act, normal or perverted, actual or simulated, an excretory
function, masturbation, lewd exhibition of the genitals, or
sadomasochistic sexual abuse; and
(C) A reasonable person would find, taken as a whole, lacks
literary, artistic, political or scientific value.
(b) It is unlawful for any person to knowingly permit a
computer under his or her control to be used for any purpose
prohibited by this section.
(c) Any offense committed under this section may be determined
to have occurred at the place at which the contact originated or
the place at which the contact was received or intended to be
received.
(d) Any person who violates a provision of this section is
guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not more than five hundred dollars or confined in a county or
regional jail not more than six months, or both. For a second or
subsequent offense, the person is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than one thousand
dollars or confined in a county or regional jail for not more than
one year, or both.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to make all unauthorized
accessing of the computers of the state and its political
subdivisions a crime.
§61-3C-4a
is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
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