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                                                      PRINTER'S NO. 3300

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA


HOUSE BILL

No. 2282 Session of 2008


        INTRODUCED BY GOODMAN, BELFANTI, CALTAGIRONE, CASORIO, COHEN,
           DeLUCA, FREEMAN, GEORGE, HALUSKA, HARHAI, HARKINS, HENNESSEY,
           KORTZ, KOTIK, KULA, LEACH, McCALL, McGEEHAN, MELIO, MOUL,
           PASHINSKI, RAMALEY, SIPTROTH, K. SMITH, SOLOBAY, STERN,
           SURRA, SWANGER AND YOUNGBLOOD, MARCH 5, 2008

        REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, MARCH 5, 2008

                                     AN ACT

     1  Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
     2     Consolidated Statutes, prohibiting cyberfraud.

     3     The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
     4  hereby enacts as follows:
     5     Section 1.  Title 18 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated
     6  Statutes is amended by adding a section to read:
     7  § 4121.  Cyberfraud.
     8     (a)  Prohibition.--It shall be unlawful for a person, with
     9  the intent to mislead, deceive or defraud, to commit an act of
    10  cyberfraud or to direct, order, authorize or cause another to
    11  commit an act of cyberfraud.
    12     (b)  Grading.--A violation of subsection (a) shall constitute
    13  a misdemeanor of the first degree.
    14     (c)  Applicability.--This section shall not apply to a domain
    15  name registrar, registry or registration authority.
    16     (d)  Transfer.--In addition to any other remedies available


     1  under law, a court may order the transfer of a domain name as
     2  part of the relief awarded for a violation of this section.
     3     (e)  District attorneys.--The district attorneys of the
     4  several counties shall have the authority to investigate and to
     5  institute criminal proceedings for a violation of this section.
     6     (f)  Definitions.--The following words and phrases when used
     7  in this section shall have the meanings given to them in this
     8  subsection unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
     9     "Cyberfraud."  A knowing and willful act concerning a website
    10  that is committed with the intent to deny a person access to a
    11  website, deny a person the opportunity to register a domain name
    12  for a website or cause a person reasonably to believe that a
    13  website has been posted by a person other than the person who
    14  posted the website. The term includes any of the following acts:
    15         (1)  Intentionally diverting or redirecting access to a
    16     website to another person's website by the use of a similar
    17     domain name, meta-tags or other electronic measures.
    18         (2)  Intentionally preventing or denying exit from a
    19     website by the use of frame hyperlinks, mousetrapping, pop-up
    20     screens or other electronic measures.
    21         (3)  Registering a domain name that is similar to another
    22     domain name for a website.
    23         (4)  Intentionally preventing the use of a domain name
    24     for a website by registering and holding the domain name or
    25     by reselling it to another with the intent of preventing its
    26     use, or both.
    27     "Domain name."  Any alphanumeric designation that is
    28  registered with or assigned by any domain name registrar, domain
    29  name registry or other domain registration authority as part of
    30  an electronic address on the Internet.
    20080H2282B3300                  - 2 -     

     1     Section 2.  This act shall take effect in 60 days.




















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