Oklahoma
State Senate
Communications Division
State Capitol
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105
For Immediate Release: January 26, 2009
Sen. Dan Newberry
Newberry Authors Business Data Protection
Bill
State Sen. Dan
Newberry has filed legislation to strengthen the state’s
laws on business data protection. SB 1013 adds copying customer
lists and business records without authorization to the state’s
criminal statutes concerning larceny of trade secrets.
“We have examples every day of individuals stealing information
that should be kept private, and using it for personal gain. Theft
like this can have serious consequences for the companies that
fall victim to it,” said Newberry, R-Tulsa. “We need
to strengthen our laws to help protect the rights of our businesses
and their owners.”
The bill also amends the definition of “copying” to
include the transferring and emailing of trade secrets. Business
customer lists and records stored in a computer format or otherwise
would be considered trade secrets under the new legislation. Those
found guilty of copying, transferring or emailing such articles
without authorization with the intent to deprive or withhold control
of those trade secrets from the business owner or to use them
for personal use would be charged with larceny.
Newberry gave an example where an employee took the client database
from the company’s server and emailed it to his personal
email. He then attempted to delete the files from the company’s
server. Since he was an employee at the time, he could only face
civil charges. Newberry said his bill would change that.
“My bill will ensure that these criminals are prosecuted
to the full extent of the law. “
