Oklahoma Computer Crime Act

With the rapid growth of technology, it was only a matter of time before legislators enacted bills to better define terminology with regard to computer crimes. There seems to be a rise in the crime rates involving computers. Law enforcement has had a seemingly hard time trying to follow the laws, jurisdictions, and clearly define what they can and cannot do. Plus, they are limited on resources. The Oklahoma Computer Crime Act, although only eight pages long, has diminished some of the gap and eliminated some uncertainty. To begin, a strength in the act is that it clearly defines the term access and computer. The term computer, however, can also be used to describe a cell phone. Cell phones nowadays are really just small computers, yet they …show more content…
When reading the section about conviction, I find it reasonable that violation of the act (felony) be a large fine and possible stay at the State Penitentiary for approximately 10 years. I also agree with what it says about punishment for a misdemeanor. I do not understand paragraph C in section 4. I think that they need to have more clarity in that paragraph. I believe that another strength is section 4, paragraph 5. It is nice that they included jurisdictional issues. It is so easy to take a computer from one to the other. If the law did not elaborate on the issue, then it would cause numerous problems for law enforcement and individuals. I do think that they need to address more issues with regard to jurisdictions. Furthermore, this act is, for the most part, well written. I like how it is not super long and how most terminology is clearly defined. With the world getting more advanced in technology, it is very necessary to update amendments and include acts dealing with computer crime issues. I think that what we have, is not good enough. There still seems to be lots of issues across the globe as far as what law enforcement can and cannot do, what is illegal and what is not, and of course the famous jurisdictional issues. Someday soon, they will need to amend this act and several …show more content…
As mentioned earlier, cell phones are more like small computers nowadays. I would either include the term cell phone in that paragraph, or make it clear that cell phones are different. Another weakness is that they included calculators in the act. I do not find calculators relevant to the Computer Crime Act and would remove that from the section. In addition, the term electronic impulses is not clearly defined and may cause confusion. Moreover, in section two, adding the first paragraph seems somewhat irrelevant and I would remove it, or edit it to make it clear that it means criminally. As mentioned before, I could have misunderstood that