Clinton cracks down on hackers 
By Janet Kornblum
October 14, 1996, 12:30 p.m. PT 

                Hackers beware. President Bill Clinton has just
                signed an act that gives law enforcement more
                power to crack down on people who commit
                computer crimes. 

                The Economic Espionage Act, which strengthens
                protections against the theft or misuse of proprietary
                business information, specifically targets computer
                crimes, according to the White House press office. 

                The bill "strengthens protection for our national
                information infrastructure by eliminating gaps in the
                criminal laws, covering attacks against computers
                and the information they contain," Clinton said. 

                The act also protects business trade secrets from
                espionage and theft by punishing people who
                damage computers or the information they contain
                when they break in to them. 

                The signing of the act comes on the heels of several
                high-profile hacking reports. Most notable was the
                indictment two weeks ago of notorious hacker
                Kevin Mitnick, who allegedly broke in to multiple
                computer systems. 

                In addition, the government is still embarrassed over
                less-serious hacking stunts that shut down two
                government Web sites. 

                In August, the Justice Department found its site
                covered with swastikas and nude photos. In
                September, hackers broke into the Central
                Intelligence Agency's Web site, replacing pages with
                ones that spoofed the agency.