In  our  society we find ourselves more and more  dependent  on

          computers.  Their presence  is  felt everywhere we turn.  Whether

          we  are  crossing the street via a computerized light  signal  or

          making  a  bank  transaction  from  a  computerized  teller,  the

          presence of computers is felt everywhere.  But this dependence on

          machines  leads  to  a  plethora  of  risks.  If the computer  is

          disabled, it can entirely halt certain activities and cause great

          monetary loss, as in the case of an  airline reservation system's

          being  disabled,  it  can  even  result in the loss of  lives  as

          computers  are  increasingly being used in  critical  situations.

          The nations aging air traffic control computers have failed  many

          times  and  have  been  cited  by  air  traffic  controllers  and

          Congressional   investigators  as  posing  a  danger  of   midair

          collisions.[1]


            Still  another  potential  threat  is computer crime  in  which

          information in a computer is manipulated to  harm a company or to

          steal money, which is increasingly being stored and transfered as

          electronic blips.[2] The  spread  of personal computers has given

          more people access to computers, thereby increasing the  risk  of

          computer crime.[3]


            Instances of computer crime occur  time  and  time  again,  and


          ----------

          1. Burnham, August 11 1983

          2. Burnham August 11,1983

          3. ibid



                                        - 1 -










          effect all of us either  directly  or  indirectly.   The  obvious

          hotbead of this type of crime is the silicon valley.  The silicon

          valley has become a bazaar where  tens  of  millions  of  dollars

          worth of electronic  equipment,  some  with military applicaions,

          are  being  stolen  annually and  shipped  abroad.[4]  Government

          officials estimate that over the  past  five  years  one  hundred

          million  dollars  worth  of  hardware  and  technology  has  been

          stolen.[5] But the problem is not the foreign governments who buy

          the contraban, it is the greedy  americans  who  will  do  almost

          anything for  money.[6] Many electronic brokers sell equipment to

          Canada and  Switzerland  knowing  they will find their way to the

          Soviet Union.[7] Obviously, these crimes are not just limited  to

          the silicon valley.  There have been many will  publisized  cases

          of computer crime.  The FBI sting operation which  caught a group

          of  Hitachi  executives  atempting to  buy  stolen  International

          Business Machines computers secrets is an  example  of  one  such

          international  incident.  The Hitachi executives were caught  red

          handed attempting to buy  IBM  secrets  which  would  ha