TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT, PRIVACY POLICY AND THE COMPUTER FRAUD AND ABUSE ACT

Use of this "Site" is governed by our Terms of Use Agreement and Privacy Policy and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act applies as follows. Under the Justice Department’s reading of the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, violation of any Terms of Use Agreement constitutes a federal offense. The statute allows punishment of anyone who accesses a computer “without authorization or exceeds authorized access."

TERMS OF USE AGREEMENT
Welcome to this Web site. By using this Site, you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following terms of use. PLEASE REVIEW THE FOLLOWING TERMS CAREFULLY, BECAUSE THERE ARE SOME NASTY SURPRISES. If you do not agree to these terms, you should not use this Site. Just go away and don’t come back. The term “Dr. Peter Rost,” “us,” “we” or “our” refers to Dr. Peter Rost. The term “you” refers to you, the user or viewer of our Web site. Duh.

Acceptance of Agreement.
You agree to the terms and conditions set forth in this Terms of Use Agreement (“Agreement”) with respect to our site (the “Site,” which includes all of Peter Rost's online writings, including but not limited to his personal and professional web pages, Brandweek, NJ.com, and The Huffington Post). This Agreement constitutes the entire and only agreement between us and you and also incorporates the separate, very humorous legal disclaimer by reference which can be found here: http://peterrost.blogspot.com/2006/05/important-legal-disclaimer.html. This agreement supersedes all prior or contemporaneous agreements, representations, warranties and understandings with respect to the Site and the subject matter of this Agreement. This Agreement may be amended at any time by us from time to time without specific notice to you and is effective retroactively from the beginning of time, when God created Earth. The latest version of the Agreement will be posted on this Site, and you should review this Agreement prior to using the Site. If you don’t, you are a lazy bastard and you can’t complain.

Copyright.
The content, organization, graphics, design, compilation, magnetic translation, digital conversion and other matters related to the Site are protected under applicable copyrights, trademarks and other proprietary (including but not limited to intellectual property) rights. The copying, redistribution, use or publication by you of any such matters or any part of the Site, except as allowed by "Limited License," below, is strictly prohibited. If you do so without a license, you hereby agree to pay us a one time fee of $1,000,000 ($1 Million), payable within ten days. You do not acquire ownership rights to any article, document or other materials viewed through the Site. The posting of information or materials on the Site does not constitute a waiver of any right in such information and materials. Some of the content on the Site may be the copyrighted work of third parties.

Limited License; Permitted Uses.
You are granted a non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable license (a) to access and use the Site solely in accordance with this Agreement; (b) to use the Site solely for internal, personal, non-commercial and non-legal purposes; and (c) to print out or save on your computer discrete information from this Site solely for internal, personal, non-commercial and non-legal purposes provided that you maintain all copyright and other policies contained therein; and (d) to use part or entire posts from this Site on your Site, provided you include a link back to the original post. No print out or electronic version of any part of the Site or its contents may be used by you in any litigation or arbitration matter whatsoever under any circumstances. If you violate this provision, i.e., you print out a post and later use this in Court or for any legal purposes whatsoever, you hereby agree to pay us a one time fee of $1,000,000 ($1 Million). If the firm you work for refuses to pay, you will be personally liable for this amount. You don’t like it? Fine, don’t come here and abuse the content of this blog.

Restrictions and Prohibitions on Use.
Your license for access and use of the Site and any information, materials or documents (collectively defined as “Content and Materials”) therein are subject to the following restrictions and prohibitions on use: You may not (a) copy, print, save (except for the express limited purpose permitted above), republish, display, distribute, transmit, sell, rent, lease, loan or otherwise make available in any form or by any means all or any portion of the Site or any Content and Materials retrieved therefrom; (b) use the Site or any materials obtained from the Site to develop, of as a component of, any information, storage and retrieval system, database, information base, or similar resource (in any media now existing or hereafter developed), that is offered for commercial distribution of any kind, including through sale, license, lease, rental, subscription, or any other commercial distribution mechanism; (c) create compilations or derivative works of any Content and Materials from the Site except as described above; (d) use any Content and Materials from the Site in any manner that may infringe any copyright, intellectual property right, proprietary right, or property right of us or any third parties; (e) remove, change or obscure any copyright notice or other proprietary notice or terms of use contained in the Site; (f) make any portion of the Site available through any timesharing system, service bureau, the Internet or any other technology now existing or developed in the future; (g) remove, decompile, disassemble or reverse engineer any Site software or use any network monitoring or discovery software to determine the Site architecture; (h) use any automatic or manual process to harvest information from the Site; (i) use the Site for the purpose of gathering information for or transmitting (1) unsolicited commercial e-mail; (2) e-mail that makes use of headers, invalid or nonexistent domain names, or other means of deceptive addressing; and (3) unsolicited telephone calls or facsimile transmissions; (j) use the Site in a manner that violates any state or federal law regulating e-mail, facsimile transmissions or telephone solicitations; and (k) export or re-export the Site or any portion thereof, or any software available on or through the Site, in violation of the export control laws or regulations of the United States.

No Legal Advice.
Information contained on or made available through the Site is not intended to and does not constitute legal advice, recommendations, mediation or counseling under any circumstance. Dr. Peter Rost is not a lawyer. We do not warrant or guarantee the accurateness, completeness, adequacy or currency of the information contained in or linked to the Site. Your use of information on the Site or materials linked to the Site is entirely at your own risk. You should not act or rely on any information on the Site without seeking the advice of a competent attorney licensed to practice in your jurisdiction for your particular problem. The information contained on "this site" does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Dr. Rost.

Forms, Agreements & Documents
We may make available through the Site music files, film files, various documents and legal documents (collectively, “Documents”). All Documents are provided on a non-exclusive license basis only for your personal one-time use for non-commercial purposes, without any right to re-license, sublicense, distribute, assign or transfer such license. Documents are provided without any representations or warranties, express or implied, as to their suitability, legal effect, completeness, currentness (is that a real word?), accuracy, and/or appropriateness. THE DOCUMENTS ARE PROVIDED “AS IS”, “AS AVAILABLE”, AND WITH “ALL FAULTS”, AND WE AND ANY PROVIDER OF THE DOCUMENTS DISCLAIM ANY WARRANTIES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The Documents may be inappropriate for your particular circumstances. Furthermore, state laws may require different or additional provisions to ensure the desired result. You should consult with legal counsel to determine the appropriate legal or business documents necessary for your particular transactions, as the Documents may be fake, irrelevant, or downright stupid, and may not be applicable to a particular situation.

Linking to the Site.
You may provide links to the Site, provided (a) that you do not remove or obscure, by framing or otherwise, the copyright notice or other notices on the Site, (b) your site does not engage in illegal or pornographic activities, (you may show lightly dressed pretty women in non pornographic poses, a policy which we will interpret broadly) and (c) you discontinue providing links to the Site immediately upon request by us.

You may send us e-mail. However, you should not send us confidential or sensitive information via e-mail because your communication will not be treated as privileged or confidential and it may be published on this site. You should also note that the security of Internet e-mail is uncertain. By sending sensitive or confidential e-mail messages which are not encrypted, you accept the risks of such uncertainty and possible lack of confidentiality over the Internet.

Errors, Corrections and Changes.
We do not represent or warrant that the Site will be error-free, free of viruses or other harmful components, or that defects will be corrected. If we can find a cookie which takes a picture of you looking at your screen, we reserve the right to use that cookie. Or eat it. We do not represent or warrant that the information available on or through the Site will be correct, accurate, timely or otherwise reliable. The law is constantly changing and the information may not be complete or accurate. And we don’t know the law because we are not lawyers. Each legal issue depends on its individual facts and different jurisdictions have different laws and regulations. Dr. Rost is not a lawyer (did we say that already?). We may make changes to the features, functionality or content of the Site at any time. We reserve the right in our sole discretion to edit or delete any documents, information or other content appearing on the Site.

Third Party Content.
Third party content may appear on the Site or may be accessible via links from the Site. We are not responsible for and assume no liability for any third party content. You understand that the information and opinions in the third party content represent solely the thoughts of someone and is neither endorsed by nor does it necessarily reflect our belief.

Unlawful Activity.
We reserve the right to investigate complaints or reported violations of this Agreement and to take any action we deem appropriate, including but not limited to reporting any suspected unlawful activity to law enforcement officials, regulators, or other third parties and disclosing any information necessary or appropriate to such persons or entities relating to your profile, e-mail addresses, usage history, IP addresses and traffic information. We reserve the right to do everything legally permissible to find out who you are and publicly welcome you as a reader or mock you if we don't like your visit.

Indemnification.
You agree to indemnify, defend and hold us and our partners, associates, agents, attorneys, employees, subcontractors, successors, assigns, and affiliates (collectively, “Affiliated Parties”) harmless from any liability, loss, claim and expense related to your violation of this Agreement or use of the Site.

Disclaimer.
THE INFORMATION, CONTENT AND DOCUMENTS FROM OR THROUGH THE SITE ARE PROVIDED “AS-IS,” “AS AVAILABLE,” WITH “ALL FAULTS”, AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE DISCLAIMED (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE DISCLAIMER OF ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE). THE INFORMATION AND SITE MAY CONTAIN BUGS, ERRORS, PROBLEMS OR OTHER LIMITATIONS. IT MAY EVEN MAKE YOUR COMPUER EXPLODE, BUT WE DON’T THINK IT WILL. WE AND OUR AFFILIATED PARTIES HAVE NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER, EXCEPT AS PROVIDED in one of the sections above, we don't remember which one. IN PARTICULAR, BUT NOT AS A LIMITATION THEREOF, WE AND OUR AFFILIATED PARTIES ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF BUSINESS, LOSS OF PROFITS, LITIGATION, OR THE LIKE), WHETHER BASED ON BREACH OF CONTRACT, BREACH OF WARRANTY, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), PRODUCT LIABILITY OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THE NEGATION AND LIMITATION OF DAMAGES SET FORTH ABOVE ARE FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF THE BASIS OF THE BARGAIN BETWEEN US AND YOU. THIS SITE AND THE INFORMATION PRESENTED WOULD NOT BE PROVIDED WITHOUT SUCH LIMITATIONS. NO ADVICE OR INFORMATION, WHETHER ORAL OR WRITTEN, OBTAINED BY YOU FROM US THROUGH THE SITE OR OTHERWISE SHALL CREATE ANY WARRANTY, REPRESENTATION OR GUARANTEE NOT EXPRESSLY STATED IN THIS AGREEMENT.

ALL RESPONSIBILITY OR LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES CAUSED BY VIRUSES CONTAINED WITHIN THE ELECTRONIC FILE CONTAINING A FORM OR DOCUMENT IS DISCLAIMED.

Limitation of Liability
(a) We and any Affiliated Party shall not be liable for any loss, injury, claim, liability, or damage of any kind resulting in any way from (i) any errors in or omissions from the Site or information obtained, (ii) the unavailability or interruption of the Site or any features thereof, (iii) your use of the Site, (iv) the content contained on the Site, or (v) any delay or failure in performance beyond the control of an Affiliated Party.
(b) THE AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF US AND THE AFFILIATED PARTIES IN CONNECTION WITH ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SITE SHALL NOT EXCEED $10 AND THAT AMOUNT SHALL BE IN LIEU OF ALL OTHER REMEDIES WHICH YOU MAY HAVE AGAINST US AND ANY AFFILIATED PARTY. IF YOU DON’T LIKE THIS, DON’T COME HERE AND DON’T EMAIL US! IT’S ALL VERY SIMPLE.

Use of Information/Privacy Policy.
We reserve the right, and you authorize us, to the use and assignment of all information regarding Site uses by you and all information provided by you in any manner consistent with our Privacy Policy. Our Privacy Policy, as it may change from time to time, is a part of this Agreement. You may review this Privacy Policy below.

Links to other Web Sites.
The Site contains links to other Web sites. We are not responsible for the content, accuracy or opinions express in such Web sites, and such Web sites are not investigated, monitored or checked for accuracy or completeness by us. But they are probably really hot web sites and we recommend reading them. Inclusion of any linked Web site on our Site does not imply approval or endorsement of the linked Web site by us. If you decide to leave our Site and access these third-party sites, you do so at your own risk. If your computer explodes, please sue the battery manufacturer and not us.

Copyrights and Copyright Agents.
We respect the intellectual property of others, and we ask you to do the same. If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide us with the following information:
a. An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright interest;
b. A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;
c. A description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the Site;
d. Your address, telephone number, and e-mail address;
e. A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
f. A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your Notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf.
g. Scan all this information into a pdf document and email this to rostpeter (insert @)hotmail.com.

Legal Compliance.
You agree to comply with all applicable domestic and international laws, statutes, ordinances and regulations regarding your use of the Site and the Content and Materials provided therein.

Miscellaneous.
This Agreement shall be treated as though it were executed and performed in New Jersey, and shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of New Jersey (without regard to conflict of law principles). If you don't like that we can use Sweden instead. But only if we agree to do so. ANY CAUSE OF ACTION BY YOU WITH RESPECT TO THE SITE MUST BE INSTITUTED WITHIN ONE (1) MONTH AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION AROSE OR BE FOREVER WAIVED AND BARRED. All actions shall be subject to the limitations set forth above. The language in this Agreement shall be interpreted as to its fair meaning and not strictly for or against any party. THE FACT THAT WE USE HUMOR IN THIS DOCUMENT SHALL NOT BE HELD AGAINST US AND SHALL NOT DIMINISH THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS DOCUMENT. Any rule of construction to the effect that ambiguities are to be resolved against the drafting party shall not apply in interpreting this Agreement. The headings in this Agreement are included for convenience only and shall neither affect the construction or interpretation of any provision of this Agreement nor affect any of the rights or obligations of the parties to this Agreement. Should any part of this Agreement be held invalid or unenforceable, that portion shall be construed as much as possibly consistent with applicable law and the remaining portions shall remain in full force and effect. So if we don’t get $1,000,000 when you breach this agreement, we expect to receive $999,999, and so on. To the extent that anything in or associated with the Site is in conflict or inconsistent with this Agreement, this Agreement shall take precedence. Our failure to enforce any provision of this Agreement shall not be deemed a waiver of such provision nor of the right to enforce such provision. Our rights under this Agreement shall survive any termination of this Agreement.

PRIVACY POLICY
Thank you for visiting this cool web site. We are pleased to provide you this Privacy Policy to inform you of our practices with respect to the collection and use of information about visitors to our web site. By using this site, you consent to the following terms and our Terms of Use Agreement.

What Information Do We Collect?
Anything we can. When you visit our web site you may provide us with two types of information: personal information you knowingly choose to disclose that is collected on an individual basis and web site use information collected on an individual and aggregate basis as you and others browse our web site.

Personal Information You Choose to Provide
You may voluntarily provide us personally identifiable information. If you choose to correspond with us through e-mail, we may retain the content of your e-mail messages together with your e-mail address and our responses and we may publish, eat, or create anything we like based on this correspondence.

Similar to other web sites, our web site utilizes a standard technology called “cookies” (see explanation below, “What Are Cookies?”) and Web server logs to collect information about how our web site is used. Information gathered through cookies and Web server logs may include the date and time of visits, the pages viewed, time spent at our web site, and the web sites visited just before and just after our web site as well as other personal information that happens to get stuck.

How Do We Use the Information That You Provide to Us?
Broadly speaking, we use personal information for purposes of enhancing or modifying our site, administering and expanding our business activities or responding to inquiries. We also use it for fun, laugh our heads off, and to write posts.

What Are Cookies?
A cookie is a very small text document, which often includes an anonymous unique identifier. When you visit a web site, that site’s computer asks your computer for permission to store this file in a part of your hard drive specifically designated for cookies. You can disable this function, so if you didn't you have nothing to complain about. But if you do disable this function most web sites you like will not recognize you and you will probably enable the function again, because you are lazy. Each web site can send its own cookie to your browser if your browser’s preferences allow it, but (to protect your privacy) your browser only permits a web site to access the cookies it has already sent to you, not the cookies sent to you by other sites.

How Do We Use Information We Collect from Cookies?
In short, any way we want. As you use our web site, the site uses its cookies to differentiate you from other users. It can’t take your picture or check you shoe size, but you can assume that one day it will. Cookies, in conjunction with our Web server’s log files, allow us to calculate the aggregate number of people visiting our web site and which parts of the site are most popular. It also helps us identify crazy people who read this blog once every hour. This helps us gather feedback in order to constantly improve our web site. And to spy on the people who spy on us. Cookies do not allow us to gather any personal information about you, which is really sad, and we do not generally store any personal information that you provided to us in your cookies, but we may. Hey, so you never know.

Sharing Information with Third Parties
We generally do not share information collected with third parties but reserve the right to do so. And if someone offers us a gazillion dollars we may cave in and share anything.

How Do We Protect Your Information?
E-mail is not recognized as a secure medium of communication. You should not send private or confidential information to us by e-mail or otherwise in connection with our site. Anyway, anything you send we may publish or do whatever we want with.

Certain Disclosures
We may disclose your personal information if required to do so by law or subpoena or if we believe that such action is necessary to (a) conform to the law or comply with legal process served on us or parties affiliated with us; (b) protect and defend our rights and property, our Site, the users of our site, and/or our affiliated parties; and/or (c) act under circumstances to protect the safety of users of the site, us, or third parties.

What About Other web sites Linked to Our web site?
We love 'em. But we are not responsible for the practices employed by web sites linked to or from our web site nor the information or content contained therein. Often links to other web sites are provided solely as pointers to information on topics that may be useful to the users of our web site.

Please remember that when you use a link to go from our web site to another web site, our Privacy Policy is no longer in effect. Your browsing and interaction on any other web site, including web sites which have a link on our web site, is subject to that web site’s own rules and policies. Please read over those rules and policies before proceeding.

Questions and Updates
If you have any questions or suggestions about our privacy practices, or you wish to update or correct any personally identifiable information that you have chosen to provide us, please feel free to contact us at our email, which you will find somewhere on this blog.

Your Consent
By using our web site you consent to our collection and use of your personal information as described in this Privacy Policy. If you don't simply don't come back. That wasn't hard, was it? If we change our privacy policies and procedures, we will post those changes on our web site to keep you aware of what information we collect, how we use it and under what circumstances we may disclose it. Or maybe we will not, if we forget. But we will try.


TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 47 > § 1030


§ 1030. Fraud and related activity in connection with computers

(a) Whoever—
(1) having knowingly accessed a computer without authorization or exceeding authorized access, and by means of such conduct having obtained information that has been determined by the United States Government pursuant to an Executive order or statute to require protection against unauthorized disclosure for reasons of national defense or foreign relations, or any restricted data, as defined in paragraph y. of section 11 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, with reason to believe that such information so obtained could be used to the injury of the United States, or to the advantage of any foreign nation willfully communicates, delivers, transmits, or causes to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted, or attempts to communicate, deliver, transmit or cause to be communicated, delivered, or transmitted the same to any person not entitled to receive it, or willfully retains the same and fails to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it;

(2) intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access, and thereby obtains—
(A) information contained in a financial record of a financial institution, or of a card issuer as defined in section 1602 (n) of title 15, or contained in a file of a consumer reporting agency on a consumer, as such terms are defined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (15 U.S.C. 1681 et seq.);

(B) information from any department or agency of the United States; or

(C) information from any protected computer;

(3) intentionally, without authorization to access any nonpublic computer of a department or agency of the United States, accesses such a computer of that department or agency that is exclusively for the use of the Government of the United States or, in the case of a computer not exclusively for such use, is used by or for the Government of the United States and such conduct affects that use by or for the Government of the United States;

(4) knowingly and with intent to defraud, accesses a protected computer without authorization, or exceeds authorized access, and by means of such conduct furthers the intended fraud and obtains anything of value, unless the object of the fraud and the thing obtained consists only of the use of the computer and the value of such use is not more than $5,000 in any 1-year period;

(5)
(A) knowingly causes the transmission of a program, information, code, or command, and as a result of such conduct, intentionally causes damage without authorization, to a protected computer;

(B) intentionally accesses a protected computer without authorization, and as a result of such conduct, recklessly causes damage; or

(C) intentionally accesses a protected computer without authorization, and as a result of such conduct, causes damage and loss.[1]

(6) knowingly and with intent to defraud traffics (as defined in section 1029) in any password or similar information through which a computer may be accessed without authorization, if—
(A) such trafficking affects interstate or foreign commerce; or

(B) such computer is used by or for the Government of the United States; [2]

(7) with intent to extort from any person any money or other thing of value, transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any—
(A) threat to cause damage to a protected computer;

(B) threat to obtain information from a protected computer without authorization or in excess of authorization or to impair the confidentiality of information obtained from a protected computer without authorization or by exceeding authorized access; or

(C) demand or request for money or other thing of value in relation to damage to a protected computer, where such damage was caused to facilitate the extortion;

shall be punished as provided in subsection (c) of this section.

(b) Whoever conspires to commit or attempts to commit an offense under subsection (a) of this section shall be punished as provided in subsection (c) of this section.

(c) The punishment for an offense under subsection (a) or (b) of this section is—
(1)
(A) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than ten years, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection (a)(1) of this section which does not occur after a conviction for another offense under this section, or an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph; and

(B) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than twenty years, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection (a)(1) of this section which occurs after a conviction for another offense under this section, or an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph;

(2)
(A) except as provided in subparagraph (B), a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than one year, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection (a)(2), (a)(3), or (a)(6) of this section which does not occur after a conviction for another offense under this section, or an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph;

(B) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection (a)(2), or an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph, if—
(i) the offense was committed for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain;

(ii) the offense was committed in furtherance of any criminal or tortious act in violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States or of any State; or

(iii) the value of the information obtained exceeds $5,000; and

(C) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than ten years, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection (a)(2), (a)(3) or (a)(6) of this section which occurs after a conviction for another offense under this section, or an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph;

(3)
(A) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than five years, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection (a)(4) or (a)(7) of this section which does not occur after a conviction for another offense under this section, or an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph; and

(B) a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than ten years, or both, in the case of an offense under subsection (a)(4),[3] or (a)(7) of this section which occurs after a conviction for another offense under this section, or an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph;

(4)
(A) except as provided in subparagraphs (E) and (F), a fine under this title, imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both, in the case of—
(i) an offense under subsection (a)(5)(B), which does not occur after a conviction for another offense under this section, if the offense caused (or, in the case of an attempted offense, would, if completed, have caused)—
(I) loss to 1 or more persons during any 1-year period (and, for purposes of an investigation, prosecution, or other proceeding brought by the United States only, loss resulting from a related course of conduct affecting 1 or more other protected computers) aggregating at least $5,000 in value;

(II) the modification or impairment, or potential modification or impairment, of the medical examination, diagnosis, treatment, or care of 1 or more individuals;

(III) physical injury to any person;

(IV) a threat to public health or safety;

(V) damage affecting a computer used by or for an entity of the United States Government in furtherance of the administration of justice, national defense, or national security; or

(VI) damage affecting 10 or more protected computers during any 1-year period; or

(ii) an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph;

(B) except as provided in subparagraphs (E) and (F), a fine under this title, imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or both, in the case of—
(i) an offense under subsection (a)(5)(A), which does not occur after a conviction for another offense under this section, if the offense caused (or, in the case of an attempted offense, would, if completed, have caused) a harm provided in subclauses (I) through (VI) of subparagraph (A)(i); or

(ii) an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph;

(C) except as provided in subparagraphs (E) and (F), a fine under this title, imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or both, in the case of—
(i) an offense or an attempt to commit an offense under subparagraphs (A) or (B) of subsection (a)(5) that occurs after a conviction for another offense under this section; or

(ii) an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph;

(D) a fine under this title, imprisonment for not more than 10 years, or both, in the case of—
(i) an offense or an attempt to commit an offense under subsection (a)(5)(C) that occurs after a conviction for another offense under this section; or

(ii) an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph;

(E) if the offender attempts to cause or knowingly or recklessly causes serious bodily injury from conduct in violation of subsection (a)(5)(A), a fine under this title, imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or both;

(F) if the offender attempts to cause or knowingly or recklessly causes death from conduct in violation of subsection (a)(5)(A), a fine under this title, imprisonment for any term of years or for life, or both; or

(G) a fine under this title, imprisonment for not more than 1 year, or both, for—
(i) any other offense under subsection (a)(5); or

(ii) an attempt to commit an offense punishable under this subparagraph.

(d)
(1) The United States Secret Service shall, in addition to any other agency having such authority, have the authority to investigate offenses under this section.

(2) The Federal Bureau of Investigation shall have primary authority to investigate offenses under subsection (a)(1) for any cases involving espionage, foreign counterintelligence, information protected against unauthorized disclosure for reasons of national defense or foreign relations, or Restricted Data (as that term is defined in section 11y of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2014 (y)), except for offenses affecting the duties of the United States Secret Service pursuant to section 3056 (a) of this title.

(3) Such authority shall be exercised in accordance with an agreement which shall be entered into by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General.

(e) As used in this section—
(1) the term “computer” means an electronic, magnetic, optical, electrochemical, or other high speed data processing device performing logical, arithmetic, or storage functions, and includes any data storage facility or communications facility directly related to or operating in conjunction with such device, but such term does not include an automated typewriter or typesetter, a portable hand held calculator, or other similar device;

(2) the term “protected computer” means a computer—
(A) exclusively for the use of a financial institution or the United States Government, or, in the case of a computer not exclusively for such use, used by or for a financial institution or the United States Government and the conduct constituting the offense affects that use by or for the financial institution or the Government; or

(B) which is used in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce or communication, including a computer located outside the United States that is used in a manner that affects interstate or foreign commerce or communication of the United States;

(3) the term “State” includes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any other commonwealth, possession or territory of the United States;

(4) the term “financial institution” means—
(A) an institution, with deposits insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation;

(B) the Federal Reserve or a member of the Federal Reserve including any Federal Reserve Bank;

(C) a credit union with accounts insured by the National Credit Union Administration;

(D) a member of the Federal home loan bank system and any home loan bank;

(E) any institution of the Farm Credit System under the Farm Credit Act of 1971;

(F) a broker-dealer registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to section 15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934;

(G) the Securities Investor Protection Corporation;

(H) a branch or agency of a foreign bank (as such terms are defined in paragraphs (1) and (3) of section 1(b) of the International Banking Act of 1978); and

(I) an organization operating under section 25 or section 25(a) [4] of the Federal Reserve Act;

(5) the term “financial record” means information derived from any record held by a financial institution pertaining to a customer’s relationship with the financial institution;

(6) the term “exceeds authorized access” means to access a computer with authorization and to use such access to obtain or alter information in the computer that the accesser is not entitled so to obtain or alter;

(7) the term “department of the United States” means the legislative or judicial branch of the Government or one of the executive departments enumerated in section 101 of title 5;

(8) the term “damage” means any impairment to the integrity or availability of data, a program, a system, or information;

(9) the term “government entity” includes the Government of the United States, any State or political subdivision of the United States, any foreign country, and any state, province, municipality, or other political subdivision of a foreign country;

(10) the term “conviction” shall include a conviction under the law of any State for a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than 1 year, an element of which is unauthorized access, or exceeding authorized access, to a computer;

(11) the term “loss” means any reasonable cost to any victim, including the cost of responding to an offense, conducting a damage assessment, and restoring the data, program, system, or information to its condition prior to the offense, and any revenue lost, cost incurred, or other consequential damages incurred because of interruption of service; and

(12) the term “person” means any individual, firm, corporation, educational institution, financial institution, governmental entity, or legal or other entity.

(f) This section does not prohibit any lawfully authorized investigative, protective, or intelligence activity of a law enforcement agency of the United States, a State, or a political subdivision of a State, or of an intelligence agency of the United States.

(g) Any person who suffers damage or loss by reason of a violation of this section may maintain a civil action against the violator to obtain compensatory damages and injunctive relief or other equitable relief. A civil action for a violation of this section may be brought only if the conduct involves 1 of the factors set forth in subclauses [5] (I), (II), (III), (IV), or (V) of subsection (c)(4)(A)(i). Damages for a violation involving only conduct described in subsection (c)(4)(A)(i)(I) are limited to economic damages. No action may be brought under this subsection unless such action is begun within 2 years of the date of the act complained of or the date of the discovery of the damage. No action may be brought under this subsection for the negligent design or manufacture of computer hardware, computer software, or firmware.

(h) The Attorney General and the Secretary of the Treasury shall report to the Congress annually, during the first 3 years following the date of the enactment of this subsection, concerning investigations and prosecutions under subsection (a)(5).

(i)
(1) The court, in imposing sentence on any person convicted of a violation of this section, or convicted of conspiracy to violate this section, shall order, in addition to any other sentence imposed and irrespective of any provision of State law, that such person forfeit to the United States—
(A) such person’s interest in any personal property that was used or intended to be used to commit or to facilitate the commission of such violation; and

(B) any property, real or personal, constituting or derived from, any proceeds that such person obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of such violation.

(2) The criminal forfeiture of property under this subsection, any seizure and disposition thereof, and any judicial proceeding in relation thereto, shall be governed by the provisions of section 413 of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970 (21 U.S.C. 853), except subsection (d) of that section.

(j) For purposes of subsection (i), the following shall be subject to forfeiture to the United States and no property right shall exist in them:
(1) Any personal property used or intended to be used to commit or to facilitate the commission of any violation of this section, or a conspiracy to violate this section.

(2) Any property, real or personal, which constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to any violation of this section, or a conspiracy to violate this section [6]