The Australian government is planning to get tough on cyber crime.

Stepping in to replace laws that were originally drawn up in the 1980s, a bill to go before Parliament shortly will lift the maximum penalty for computer crime to at least ten years in jail. Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison said Monday that targets specifically include computer hacking and will establish new criminal offences for spreading viruses, cyber-stalking and electronic fraud. Law enforcement authorities will be given extra powers to access people's computers when investigating cyber crimes. The proposed investigatory powers had been checked out with Australia's privacy commissioner, the Minister said. Ellison earlier this year released a Model Criminal Code Report aimed at helping state and federal authorities deter and punish computer crime. New offences recommended in the code paper specifically targeted denial-of-service attacks as an offence to be billed as "unauthorised impairment of electronic communication." Offenders could be jailed for up to ten years. The report also included a new "sabotage" offence, covering all kinds of terrorist attacks, including those initiated by computers - maximum penalty, 25 years. It was not clear Monday whether this provision will be included in the new bill. Other offences will include: the possession of or trading in programs and technology designed to hack into other people's computer systems, with a three-year penalty. The proposed offences are said to be consistent with international developments such as last year's Council of Europe draft cyber crime convention. The code paper is on the Web at: http://law.gov.au/publications/Model_Criminal_Code/index.htm .