In today's New York Times:
The justice ministers of the European
Union have agreed on laws intended to deter computer
hacking and the spreading of computer viruses. But legal experts say the new measures could pose problems because the language could also outlaw people who organize protests online, as happened recently, en masse, with protests against a war in Iraq.The agreement, reached last week, obliges all 15 member
states to adopt a new criminal offense: illegal access to,
and illegal interference with an information system. It
calls on national courts to impose jail terms of at least
two years in serious cases.Critics from the legal profession say the agreement makes
no legal distinction between an online protester and terrorists, hackers and spreaders of computer viruses that the new laws are intended to trap.
