One of the reasons for the backlog on crimes such as computer assisted extortion, fraud and impersonation is that the police have been preoccupied with the major paedophile investigation dubbed Operation Ore.

BBC: NEWS | Technology | Police 'need more e-crime skills'

The backstory of the lost fourth-gen iPhone prototype acquired by Gizmodo last week is certainly already the stuff of some legend, but hold on tight, because it just got even wilder: Giz editor Jason Chen's house was apparently raided by California's REACT computer crimes task force under the authority of a search warrant on Friday night and his computers and several other items were seized.

ENGADGET: Police investigating lost iPhone prototype raid Gizmodo editor's home

Speaking to reporters at the task force ribbon-cutting ceremony, Mike Dorsey, a special agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service who is working directly with the JTF-CND to investigate computer crimes against DOD networks, said unauthorized attempts to access DOD systems are on the rise but that DOD does not have the resources to respond to every incident.

CNN: Extensive security gaps persist in DOD networks

The law is just beginning to gets its arms around the concept of computer hacking, but in a way that Granick says errs on the side of extreme punishment for crimes when considered in context are not often that serious.

FORBES: The Lawyer Hackers Call