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[November 20, 2009]

Utah lawmakers seek tougher tools for cyber crime

Nov 20, 2009 (The Salt Lake Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A Utah lawmaker wants to update state law with tougher tools to fight the growing variety of cyber crimes.

Sen. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, has proposed the "Utah E-Commerce Integrity Act" to help state authorities crack down on the computer crimes that often lead to identity theft. The Public Utilities and Technology Interim Committee on Wednesday sent the bill on for action during the 2010 Legislature.

The bill covers everything from phishing (using a phony commerce site to gather a site user's private information) and pharming (inserting code that diverts computer users to phony commercial sites) to tampering with home pages, installing spyware and other computer crimes.

Will Castleberry of AOL told the committee the measure would not stop cyber crime perpetrated by criminals overseas, but it will provide the Utah Attorney General with additional tools to nab marketers and others who live in the United States.

"What it will do is put them on the radar screen," said Castleberry.

A national and state coalition of Internet businesses supports the legislation, which is already in place in more than a dozen states. So does the Utah Technology Council and other local experts on computer crime, Castleberry said.

"This law gives us some ability to go after some of the worst offenders," said Sen. Kevin Van Tassell, R-Vernal.

fahys@sltrib.com To see more of The Salt Lake Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.sltrib.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Salt Lake Tribune Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

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