Broadband Tech > Security > Security > Using a net proxy in crime could add 25% to sentence

"Proxy" servers are an everyday part of Internet surfing. But using one in a crime could soon lead to more time in the clink.

A key vote Wednesday on new federal sentencing guidelines would classify the use of proxies as evidence of "sophistication," increasing sentences by about 25 percent — which could mean years or even decades longer behind bars, depending on the crime. It's akin to judges handing down stiffer sentences when a gun is used in a robbery.

"It sends a bad message about protecting your own privacy," said John Morris, general counsel for the Center for Democracy and Technology. "This is the government saying, 'If you take normal steps to protect your privacy, we're going to view you as a more sophisticated criminal.'"

The U.S. Sentencing Commission is to vote Wednesday on a series of amendments to the sentencing guidelines, which heavily influence the sentences that judges hand down. The amendment in question would treat the use of proxies as evidence of "sophistication" in planning certain types of crimes, from embezzlement to forgery and other types of fraud.

If the commission approves it, the change takes effect Nov. 1 unless Congress takes the rare step of blocking it beforehand.

The Justice Department pushed for the change as a way to exact a harsher punishment on criminals who set up extensive proxy networks in multiple countries to evade law enforcement. Investigators can spend months, if not years, unraveling the networks. Sometimes, it's impossible if they can't get cooperation from foreign governments.

DuBose said the change is meant to punish people who knowingly use proxies to hide their identity and execute a criminal scheme.

The U.S. government has dropped — for now — a plan to classify the use of "proxy" servers as evidence of sophistication in committing a crime.

But after digital-rights advocates complained that the proposed language was too broad, the commission struck the controversial language from the amendments it voted on Wednesday. They wanted language clarifying that the amendment only applied to people who used a proxy specifically to commit a crime.