China seeks big jail time for hackers & co.

Last Tuesday, the AFP reported that China is taking steps to "fight rampant computer data theft" within its cities. Pending amendments for its Criminal Law seek to deliver serious jail time to persons who hack into a variety of the country's networks- but the hackers won't be the only ones taking the brunt of these sentence...

Chinese parliament is looking to charge accomplices who supply software or other means to facilitate the cyber crimes and have them "face similar penalties" according to the China Daily media report.

Currently, the Criminal Law in China only covers "networks of governments, national defense or advanced science sectors" in hacking cases. If passed, the revised law, which was reread by the National People's Congress last Monday, would represent a new series of "legal tools" used to "crack down on increasing data theft from non-official computers in China," the AFP reported.

We read about identity theft, hacking, and spam settlements so often in the United States that it's easy to forget other countries are plagued by similar cyber assailants. But the China Daily reported that its citizens, just as many others around the world, have faced "rampant stealing of account numbers and passwords" particular from gaming and banking websites. It is this despicable hacking that led the public security ministry to propose these Criminal Law amendments in the first place.

The AFP included startling statistics on the magnitude of the problems in China: "more than 20,000 online gaming accounts with a market value of around 200,000 yuan (29,200 dollars) are stolen every day in the central province of Hunan alone," the article reported, citing official figures.

Commenting on the severe scale of the issue, deputy director of parliament's law committee Li Shishi stated: "We consider it necessary to define them as crimes."

I haven't heard yet when an official decision will be released as to whether or not the amendments have been passed... check back for more updates as China bravely soldiers forward in the battle against cyber crime and hackers.