Criminal
Law
Fall
2008
Section
1
Professor
Lee
Class
Outline
October
15, 2008
THEFT,
cont'd.
D.
Theft in the information and computer age
1.
Oxford v. Moss
Discussion
question: Should Moss have been left to university
discipline?
Discussion
question: Should misappropriation of information be
punished as theft? If so, under what circumstances?
Discussion
question: Would Moss have been guilty under California
Penal Code Section 499c?
2.
The Hewlett-Packard "pretexting" scandal of 2006,
see http://www.boingboing.net/2007/03/14/court-drops-charges-.html
Although
most of the H-P defendants ultimately pleaded no contest to
other charges (or to nothing at all), here are two of the
provisions they were originally charged under:
California
Penal Code Section 530.5. Unauthorized use of personal
identifying information. (a) Every person who
willfully obtains personal identifying information, as described
in subdivision (b), of another person, and uses that information
for any unlawful purpose, including to obtain, or attempt to
obtain credit, goods, services, or medical information in the
name of the other person without the consent of that person, is
guilty of a public offense, and upon conviction thereafter shall
be punished either by imprisonment in the county jail not to
exceed one year, a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars
($1,000), or both that imprisonment and fine, or by imprisonment
in the state prison, a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars
($10,000), or both that imprisonment and fine.
(b)
"Personal identifying information," as used in this
section, means the name, address, telephone number, health
insurance identification number, taxpayer identification number,
school identification number, state or federal driver's license
number, or identification number, social security number, place
of employment, employee identification number, mother's maiden
name, demand deposit account number, savings account number,
checking account number, PIN (personal identification number) or
password, alien registration number, government passport number,
date of birth, unique biometric data including fingerprint,
facial scan identifiers, voice print, retina or iris image, or
other unique physical representation, unique electronic data
including identification number, address, or routing code,
telecommunication identifying information or access device,
information contained in a birth or death certificate, or credit
card number of an individual person.
*
* *
(d)
Every person who, with the intent to defraud, acquires,
transfers, or retains possession of the personal identifying
information as defined in subdivision (b), of another person is
guilty of a public offense, and upon conviction therefor, shall
be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one
year, or a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), or
by both that imprisonment and fine.
California
Penal Code Section 538.5. Fraudulently obtaining
information from public utility. Every person who
transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio or
television communication any words, sounds, writings, signs,
signals, or pictures for the purpose of furthering or executing
a scheme or artifice to obtain, from a public utility,
confidential, privileged, or proprietary information, trade
secrets, trade lists, customer records, billing records,
customer credit data, or accounting data by means of false or
fraudulent pretenses, representations, personations, or promises
is guilty of an offense punishable by imprisonment in the state
prison, or by imprisonment in the county jail not exceeding one
year.
