INTERNET AND CYBER CRIMES DEFENSE

As computers, smartphones and internet based technologies and services have continued to evolve and grow, law enforcement has committed more resources and many new laws have been passed to deal with the corresponding growing levels of technology-based criminal activities.

As a result, criminal law defense has grown significantly and become much more specialized to meet the need for a large increase in people being charged with these types of crimes.

In Colorado, multiple new laws that relate to computer and internet based communications, file sharing services, webcam, text transmissions, and social networking sites have been enacted over the past several years. These new laws came with a surge in internet-based sting operations, child pornography, and electronic evidence related cases.

Many times, there are no actual victims of these crimes, and in others, the person who has been charged may not even be aware they downloaded or communicated something illegal. Despite this, the penalties upon conviction for these new types of crimes can be daunting, up to and including life sentences under current Colorado laws.

Because of their complexity and the relatively short time frame that these laws have been on the books, it is extremely important to retain the services of an attorney who already knows the laws and can back up that knowledge with real world experience defending clients.

At Decker and Jones, we are highly experienced in this new and rapidly changing area of criminal defense. We have developed a specialized practice model to effectively handle these types of cases. From constitutional challenges to accessing critical statutes and innovative legal and evidentiary legal pleadings on behalf of our clients, the law firm of Decker and Jones has gained peer recognition and achieved successful results many times over.

Some of the internet and cyber-crime cases we handle include:

A person can be charged with internet sexual exploitation of a child if they promote, invite, or entice through communication via an electronic network or system with a person they believe to be under 15 years of age and at least four years younger than the individual, to expose or touch either person’s intimate parts while communicating with the individual via an electronic network or system. It is also a crime to observe the actor’s intimate parts via an electronic network or system.

Internet sexual exploitation of a child is a class 4 felony.

A person can be charged with internet sexual exploitation of a child if they promote, invite, or entice through communication via an electronic network or system with a person they believe to be under 15 years of age and at least four years younger than the individual, to expose or touch either person’s intimate parts while communicating with the individual via an electronic network or system. It is also a crime to observe the actor’s intimate parts via an electronic network or system.

Internet sexual exploitation of a child is a class 4 felony.

A person can be charged with computer crime if they commit any of the following acts:

• Access a computer, computer network, or computer system without authorization, or exceed authorized access to such items.
• Access any computer, computer network, or computer system to devise or execute any scheme to defraud.
• Access any computer, computer network, or computer system by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, through which money, property, services, passwords or similar information may be accessed.
• Access any computer, computer network, or computer system to commit theft.
• Without authorization or in excess of authorized access alters, damages, interrupts, or impairs the proper functioning of any computer, computer network, computer system or computer software program.
• If a person causes the transmission of a computer program, software, information, code, data, or the like by means of a computer, computer network, or computer system with the intent to cause damage to or to cause the interruption or impairment of any computer, computer network or computer system.
• If a person implements a software application that runs automated tasks over the internet to access a computer, computer network, or computer system that circumvents or disables any electronic queues, waiting periods, or other technological measure intended by the seller to limit the number of event tickets purchased by any one person.

Depending on the circumstances of the case, a computer crime can be a felony or a misdemeanor.