President Obama’s proposal to update the computer fraud and abuse act could put white-hat hackers at risk of prosecution as members of organized crime, the SchmooCon hacking conference was told.

Under Obama’s proposal, simply sharing passwords with friends – something hackers do routinely – could be enough to indicate that the person doing the sharing is involved in an organized criminal activity. That would set them up for punishment under the federal law designed to prosecute crime kingpins, the racketeer influenced and corrupt organizations (RICO) act.

“It seems to criminalize sharing information that aids an attack,” Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist at the Center for Democracy & Technology, a Washington, D.C.-based group lobbying for Internet rights, told the SmooCon hacker conference.

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