Federal Bureau of Investigation
From The IT Law Wiki
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) principal mission is to investigate criminal activity and defend the [[security] of the United States. It has identified 10 priority enforcement areas, including cybercrime.[1] IP enforcement is included in the cybercrime area, but it is ranked 5th out of FBI’s 6 cybercrime priorities.[2]
FBI conducts investigations of IP-related criminal activity, including [trademark infringement|infringement of trademark]] and copyright law, as well as theft of trade secrets. Within its IP enforcement efforts, FBI’s priorities are, in order, trade secret theft, copyright infringement, trademark infringement, and signal theft, and one of FBI’s IP enforcement goals is for its field offices to initiate IP investigations that affect public health and safety.
FBI's Cyber Division oversees the agency’s IP enforcement efforts even though not all of its IP investigations are cyber-related.[3] A single unit within the Cyber Division, called the Cyber Crime Fraud Unit, has operational and management oversight for all of FBI’s cybercrime activities. IP-related investigations are primarily carried out in FBI’s 56 field offices.
[edit] References
- ↑ As of 2006, FBI had 10 priority enforcement areas. The first 8 in order of importance are to: (1) protect the U.S. from terrorist attack; (2) protect the U.S. against foreign intelligence operations and espionage; (3) protect the U.S. against cyber-based attacks and high-technology crimes; (4) combat public corruption at all levels; (5) protect civil rights; (6) combat transnational and national criminal organizations and enterprises; (7) combat major white collar crime; and (8) combat significant violent crime. In addition, FBI aims to (9) support federal, state, local, and international partners; and (10) upgrade technology to successfully perform FBI’s mission.
- ↑ Cyber Division’s six priorities are, in order of importance: (1) computer intrusions involving counterterrorism, (2) computer intrusions involving counterintelligence, (3) other computer intrusions, (4) innocent images (child pornography), (5) IP enforcement, and (6) Internet fraud. In April 2006, the Cyber Division lowered the priority of IP enforcement to 5th rank and elevated the priority of child pornography to 4th rank. Despite this decrease in stated priority, Cyber Division officials said that IP investigations remain a major focus of their program, particularly investigations targeting health and safety issues.
- ↑ This division also conducts investigations of computer intrusions and child pornography.
