Bush Signs New Law to Fight Cybercrime & ID Theft
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by Doug Pollack
This week President Bush signed into law the Identity Theft Enforcement and Restitution Act of 2008. As reported in the Washington Post, this law will:
“make it easier for prosecutors to go after cybercrooks, while ensuring that identity theft victims are compensated for their time and trouble when convicted identity thieves are forced to cough up ill-gotten gains.”
It can take the victim of ID crime hundreds of hours to restore themselves to pre-theft condition. This law enables them to be compensated for this time at a level:
“equal to the value of the time reasonably spent by the victim in an attempt to remediate the intended or actual harm incurred by the victim from the offense.”
The FBI has set up a clearinghouse for addressing cybercrime complaints called the Internet Crime Complaint Center. It works closely with a range of law enforcement agencies and private sector organizations.
