BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 561 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 561 (Corbett) As Amended August 16, 2012 Majority vote SENATE VOTE :Vote not relevant JUDICIARY 10-0 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Feuer, Wagner, Atkins, | | | | |Dickinson, Gorell, Huber, | | | | |Jones, Monning, | | | | |Wieckowski, Chesbro | | | |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------| | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Requires the Alameda County District Attorney's Office and Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to collect and report statistical data relating to crimes involving or furthered by the gathering of private information from the Internet. Specifically, this bill : 1)Requires 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 the District Attorney of Alameda County and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department to report the statistical data collected to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in two SB 561 Page 2 installments, as specified, and requires the DOJ to publish the information reported in a timely manner on its Internet Web site. 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 SB 561 Page 3 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 that requires two counties to collect relevant statistical data and report this information to Department of Justice in two installments, one on or before July 1, 2013, and the other on or before January 1, 2014. The Department of Justice, in turn, will be required to publish the reported data on its Internet Web site. The two counties required to collect and report the data are, not coincidentally, the bill's co-sponsors. 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 FN: 0004757