BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 561
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SENATE THIRD READING
SB 561 (Corbett)
As Amended June 27, 2012
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :Vote not relevant
JUDICIARY 10-0
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|Ayes:|Feuer, Wagner, Atkins, | | |
| |Dickinson, Gorell, Huber, | | |
| |Jones, Monning, | | |
| |Wieckowski, Chesbro | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Authorizes the Alameda County District Attorney's
Office and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to collect
and post statistical data relating to crimes involving or
furthered by the gathering of private information from the
Internet. Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes the Alameda County District Attorney's Office and
the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to collect
statistical data on arrests and prosecutions involving private
information gathered from the Internet that was used in
furtherance of a crime committed within its respective
jurisdictions. Specifies that the information may be gathered
in the manner that the entity deems appropriate and may focus
on crimes in which the victim was a minor.
2)Defines "private information" to mean any information that
identifies or describes an individual, including, but not
limited to, his or her name, social security number, account
numbers, passwords, personal identification numbers, physical
description, physical location, home address, home telephone
number, education, financial matters, and medical or
employment history. It includes statements made by, or
attributed to, the individual.
3)Requires an entity that collects statistical data as described
above to publish that statistical information or post it on
the entity's Internet Web site in two installments, as
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specified, on or before July 1, 2013, and on or before January
1, 2014.
4)Provides that the above shall sunset as January 1, 2015,
unless that date is deleted or extended by a later enacted
statute.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires the California Department of Justice (DOJ) to prepare
and distribute, as specified, an annual report containing the
criminal statistics of the preceding calendar year and to
present reports on special aspects of criminal statistics.
2)Provides that any person who willfully obtains personal
identifying information, as defined, 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 therefor, shall be punished by fines or
incarceration, or both, as specified.
3)Requires the DOJ to establish and maintain a data base of
individuals who have been victims of identity theft.
Specifies that the DOJ shall provide a victim of identity
theft or his or her authorized representative access to the
data base in order to establish that the individual has been a
victim of identity theft. Limits access to the data base to
criminal justice agencies, victims of identity theft, and
individuals and agencies authorized by the victims.
4)Specifies that many crimes, including false impersonation,
harassment, and stalking, may be committed by electronic
means, including by means of a computer or Internet.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS : It is well-known that people are increasingly willing
to divulge private information on the Internet, and that other
people may try to use that private information for nefarious
ends. Nonetheless, the author claims, law enforcement and
policy-makers have "only limited and sporadic information" on
the exact extent and nature of Internet-related crimes. This
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bill seeks to remedy this situation by authorizing the
collection of empirical data on the extent of such crimes so
that law enforcement and policy-makers may better understand
these trends and act accordingly. This bill is similar in
intent to the author's SB 1389 (this session), which would have
required the Attorney General to direct local law enforcement
agencies throughout the state to report to the Department of
Justice information relative to criminal activity that is
generated by the misuse of private information gathered from the
Internet. That bill, however, was held in the Senate
Appropriations Committee. The bill presently under
consideration is more modest; it creates a pilot program
authorizing two counties to collect relevant statistical data
and, if they do, the bill requires them to post that statistical
data on their Internet Web sites so that aggregate information
will also be available to the public. The two counties
authorized to collect and publish the data are, not
coincidentally, the bill's co-sponsors.
Given that the counties affected by this legislation are also
the sponsors of the legislation, this legislation is arguably
unnecessary. If those counties want to collect and post such
data, there is nothing in existing law that prevents them from
doing so. However, the author's office believes that setting
statutory deadlines for publishing and posting the statistical
data will help the author to coordinate with the Senate Office
of Research and other groups to analyze and use the information.
According to the author, widespread use of the Internet "has
changed how people interact with one another and how they share
private information. . . Evidence abounds that criminals use the
Internet to commit a host of illegal activities, from stealing
personal identifying information to starting and developing
inappropriate relationships with minors that lead to sex crimes.
Law enforcement and policymakers, however, have only limited
and sporadic information on this growing trend of
Internet-generated crimes." The author believes that "without
solid, standard data on crimes involving the Internet, it is
impossible to accurately assess the extent of the problem and
what needs to be done about it."
Analysis Prepared by : Thomas Clark / JUD. / (916) 319-2334
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