Justice launches cybercrime site

A Justice Department World Wide Web site launched Monday serves as an information clearinghouse for cybercrime issues and provides clear explanations about topics such as hacking and intellectual property theft.

The site, www.cybercrime.gov, is maintained by the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the department's Criminal Division. CCIPS is Justice's lead office for computer crime prosecutions.

The site is split into two sections: General Information and Legal and Policy Issues. Each includes information and links to resources. Material is clearly written so that the site can be used by individuals as well as officials at agencies and corporations.

"Law enforcement wants to work with the public and industry to fight computer crime," said Martha Stansell-Gamm, chief of CCIPS, in a statement. "By providing easy access to materials, we hope to inform the public about the special issues related to cybercrime."

High on the general information side of the site are guidelines on how to report Internet-related crime. This topic has been an important focus of Justice in the past month, as CCIPS works with the public and private sector to respond to the denial-of-service attacks that temporarily blocked access to popular e-commerce Internet sites (See FCW, Feb. 21).

The legal and policy section of the site includes such material as federal laws and guidelines, policies separating cybercrime and critical infrastructure protection, and free-speech issues in the Internet Age.