First Anti-Phishing Law Enacted in California

Steve writes "Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California, signed a bill yesterday that makes phishing a civil liability. According to MSNBC, the new law is the first of its kind in the country: "The bill, advanced by state Sen. Kevin Murray, is the first of its kind in the United States and makes 'phishing'... a civil violation. Victims may seek to recover actual damages or $500,000 for each violation, depending upon which is greater." This is an expensive penalty for phishers who are litigated against, but do the lack of criminal accountability and the burden of action on the victim hinder the effectiveness of this bill?"

Comments

Here we go again...

[QuaintRealist]

New laws (all laws) have unintended consequences, and fraud is already illegal. TFA provides no details, but I am always skeptical of new regulations which seem to "protect us" from something which is already covered by existing statute.

The real difficulty is that phishers tend to operate from outside jurisdiction and for very brief periods of time. I fail to see how a new "anti-phishing" law will do much to solve the problem - but elections are soon...I doubt that is coincedence.

Re:Useless

[jurgen]

Huh?

Ok you're saying: a) it's too expensive to go after the criminals, and b) it's the victims own fault.

What kind of defeatist BS is that?

But what's more, this law addresses precisely those points... for a) it creates an economic incentive for someone to at least /try/ to go after the perps, and for b) it lets the intended victims (even if they were never actually stupid enough to fall for it) fight back.

Seems like you should agree with those goals.

:j