http://www.timesofindia.com/170401/17info19.htm
17 April 2001
KUALA LUMPUR: Computer hackers in Malaysia will face up to four years'
jail or a fine of up to 250,000 ringgit ($65,790) - or both penalties
- under a tough draft data protection law, a newspaper has reported.
The New Straits Times said that people who obtained personal data from
hackers and then sold it would face up to three years' jail or a fine
of 200,000 ringgit or both.
If a company commited a data offence its top officials could also be
liable unless they could prove they knew nothing about the hacking,
the report said. Official comment was not immediately available.
The draft law provided for the appointment of a commissioner for
personal data protection to enforce it, the newspaper said.
Home affairs minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi had said last week that
more than 1,700 cases of hacking were reported between August 1997 and
March this year, and that many involved official websites.
Supporters and opponents of jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim
last year waged a cyber-war by defacing each other's websites.
Anwar's followers have established a variety of websites to press his
case.
Prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has developed an ambitious
Multimedia Super Corridor south of Kuala Lumpur to attract IT firms,
has promised not to censor the Internet.
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Received on Wed Apr 18 01:17 CDT 2001