First Anti-Phishing Law Enacted in California 137
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?"
Bah. Environmentalists (Score:2, Funny)
Awesome! (Score:3, Funny)
$500,000 (Score:4, Funny)
Aw man: I just deleted about $6,000,000 worth of opportunities, er, scams last week.
Phishing (Score:3, Funny)
The Phishers will be Terminated... (Score:1, Funny)
Re:The police are not doing the job (Score:3, Funny)
Re:$500,000 (Score:4, Funny)
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PC Manufacturers can educate users. (Score:3, Funny)
The PC manufacturers can configure a start up sequence. When a user starts their computer, a series of screens appear which demonstrate the various Internet evils and countermeasures. One can show information on spam, another on phishing, etc.
As each screen is displayed, the user must click on a "I understand" button before going to the next screen. Only after each screen is viewed will their PC fully boot.
How simple can it be for the PC manufacturers to do this? At least the user cannot say "I didn't know".