When Bill Gates described computer crime, he likened computer networks toneighborhoods and small communities. He said cities and towns are tied together by streets, roads, highways, and interstates.   Likewise, communities of computers are linked through local, regional, and national networks. Rather than transport food and equipment like highways do, computer networks move ideas and information.

Unfortunately, just as American communities are threatened with drugs and violent crime, the Nation's computer networks are threatened as well.   They are threatened by thieves robbing banks electronically; they are threatened by vandals spreading computerviruses; and they are even threatened by spies breaking into U.S. military systems.

White-collar crimes in general--and computer crime in particular--are often difficult to detect and even more difficult to prosecute because many times they leave no witnesses to question and no physical evidence to analyze. And, because computer technology is such a rapidly evolving field, law enforcement has not yet developed a clear-cut definition of computer crime.   Nevertheless, two manifestations of computer crime are

obvious:   The first is crime in which the computer is the vehicle or tool of the criminal, and second, crime in which the computer and the information stored in it are the targets of the criminal.