phishy lawchange

President George Bush recent signed a bill for harder sentencing on phishing/Identity theft.

Phishing is nicely described by McCullagh (the author) in his article, "For lawmakers, identity theft a kettle of phish."

Quote:

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The latest innovation in identity fraud typically begins with an unexpected e-mail message from a financial institution proclaiming something like: "Your account information needs to be updated due to inactive members, frauds and spoof reports."

Anyone who clicks on the included hyperlink and types in their personal details is unwittingly connecting not to their own bank, but to a scam artist engaged in the sport of "phishing" for illegally obtained credit card numbers, bank account information, and Social Security numbers.

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Full Article:

For lawmakers, identity theft a kettle of phish

That would be nice if this will detour online criminals, however it seems unlikely because criminals will work smarter and find loopholes in the system.

- MilitantEidolon

It's not only directed at online theft. It's also directed at Terrorism and gang bangers who use fake IDs to mull around society. Getting caught passing a fake ID that belongs to someone else, i.e. "identity theft" could bring 2 years in custody and if linked to terrorist acts 5 years.