President Obama wants Congress to increase prison sentences for hackers

The Obama Administration is calling on Congress to increase prison sentences for hackers and to expand the definition of hacking.

During the upcoming 2015 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama is set to publicly urge increased prison time and other changes to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act -- the statute that was used to prosecute Internet activist Aaron Swartz before he committed suicide in 2013. President Obama said, "We want cybercriminals to feel the full force of American justice, because they are doing as much damage -- if not more, these days -- as folks who are involved in more conventional crime.” Penalties under President Obama's plan would increase from a maximum five-year penalty to 10 years for pure hacking acts, like circumventing a technological barrier. What's more, the law would expand the definition of what "exceeds authorized access" means. A hacker would exceed authorization when accessing information "for a purpose that the accesser knows is not authorized by the computer owner."