As part of a last-minute flurry of legislative activity before lawmakers returned home for the Thanksgiving holidays, the U.S. Senate approved <A HREF="http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2219850,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03119TX1K0000594">legislation aimed at toughening the nation's cyber-crime laws.</A> The Identify Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act (S. 2168), approved late on Nov. 15, would make it easier for law enforcement officials to prosecute cyber-extortionists. Current law only permits the prosecution of those who seek to extort companies or government agencies by explicitly threatening to shut down or damage a computer.

If ultimately passed by the House and signed by President Bush, the new law would make it a crime punishable by up to five years in prison for threatening to steal or release information from a computer.