ENGROSSED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 153
(By Senator Sprouse)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 11, 2000.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact sections three and seven, article
three-c, chapter sixty-one of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
establishing criminal penalties for the introduction of
computer contaminants; defining terms; and making certain
technical revisions.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections three and seven, article three-c, chapter sixty-
one of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-
one, as amended, be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 3C. WEST VIRGINIA COMPUTER CRIME AND ABUSE ACT.
§61-3C-3. Definitions.
As used in this article, unless the context clearly indicates
otherwise:
(a) "Access" means to instruct, communicate with, store data
in, retrieve data from, intercept data from, or otherwise make use of any computer, computer network, computer program, computer
software, computer data or other computer resources.
(b) "Authorization" means the express or implied consent given
by a person to another to access or use said person's computer,
computer network, computer program, computer software, computer
system, password, identifying code or personal identification
number.
(c) "Computer" means an electronic, magnetic, optical,
electrochemical or other high speed data processing device
performing logical, arithmetic or storage functions, and includes
any data storage facility or communication facility directly
related to or operating in conjunction with such device. The term
"computer" includes any connected or directly related device,
equipment or facility which enables the computer to store, retrieve
or communicate computer programs, computer data or the results of
computer operations to or from a person, another computer or
another device, but such term does not include an automated
typewriter or typesetter, a portable hand-held calculator or other
similar device.
(d) "Computer contaminant" means any set of computer
instructions that are designed to damage or destroy information
within a computer, computer system or computer network without the
intent or permission of the owner of the information. They
include, but are not limited to, a group of computer instructions
commonly called viruses or worms, that are self-replicating or
self-propagating and are designed to contaminate other computer programs or computer data, consume computer resources, or damage or
destroy the normal operation of the computer.
(e) "Computer data" means any representation of knowledge,
facts, concepts, instruction, or other information computed,
classified, processed, transmitted, received, retrieved,
originated, stored, manifested, measured, detected, recorded,
reproduced, handled or utilized by a computer, computer network,
computer program or computer software, and may be in any medium,
including, but not limited to, computer print-outs, microfilm,
microfiche, magnetic storage media, optical storage media, punch
paper tape or punch cards, or it may be stored internally in
read-only memory or random access memory of a computer or any other
peripheral device.
(f) "Computer network" means a set of connected devices and
communication facilities, including more than one computer, with
the capability to transmit computer data among them through such
communication facilities.
(g) "Computer operations" means arithmetic, logical, storage,
display, monitoring or retrieval functions or any combination
thereof, and includes, but is not limited to, communication with,
storage of data in or to, or retrieval of data from any device and
the human manual manipulation of electronic magnetic impulses. A
"computer operation" for a particular computer shall also mean any
function for which that computer was designed.
(h) "Computer program" means an ordered set of computer data
representing instructions or statements, in a form readable by a computer, which controls, directs, or otherwise influences the
functioning of a computer or computer network.
(i) "Computer software" means a set of computer programs,
procedures and associated documentation concerned with computer
data or with the operation of a computer, computer program or
computer network.
(j) "Computer services" means computer access time, computer
data processing, or computer data storage, and the computer data
processed or stored in connection therewith.
(k) "Computer supplies" means punch cards, paper tape,
magnetic tape, magnetic disks or diskettes, optical disks or
diskettes, disk or diskette packs, paper, microfilm and any other
tangible input, output or storage medium used in connection with a
computer, computer network, computer data, computer software or
computer program.
(l) "Computer resources" includes, but is not limited to,
information retrieval; computer data processing, transmission and
storage; and any other functions performed, in whole or in part, by
the use of a computer, computer network, computer software, or
computer program.
(m) "Owner" means any person who owns or leases or is a
licensee of a computer, computer network, computer data, computer
program, computer software, computer resources or computer
supplies.
(n) "Person" means any natural person, general partnership,
limited partnership, trust, association, corporation, joint venture or any state, county or municipal government and any subdivision,
branch, department or agency thereof.
(o) "Property" includes:
(1) Real property;
(2) Computers and computer networks;
(3) Financial instruments, computer data, computer programs,
computer software and all other personal property regardless of
whether they are:
(i) Tangible or intangible;
(ii) In a format readable by humans or by a computer;
(iii) In transit between computers or within a computer
network or between any devices which comprise a computer; or
(iv) Located on any paper or in any device on which it is
stored by a computer or by a human; and
(4) Computer services.
(p) "Value" means having any potential to provide any direct
or indirect gain or advantage to any person.
(q) "Financial instrument" includes, but is not limited to,
any check, draft, warrant, money order, note, certificate of
deposit, letter of credit, bill of exchange, credit or debit card,
transaction authorization mechanism, marketable security or any
computerized representation thereof.
(r) "Value of property or computer services" shall be: (1) The
market value of the property or computer services at the time of a
violation of this article; or (2) if the property or computer
services are unrecoverable, damaged, or destroyed as a result of a violation of section six or seven of this article, the cost of
reproducing or replacing the property or computer services at the
time of the violation.
§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 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 more than one
thousand dollars and confined in the county or regional jail not
more than one year.