Originally published July 2 2005
Public should stand against laws that leave loopholes in privacy protection, columnist says
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The laws aimed at protecting consumer privacy are outdated, rages Information Week columnist Bob Evans, and since legislators are doing nothing to upend these laws that allow privacy invaders to get off almost completely free, Evans says public advocacy concerning these laws is the only way consumers can protect themselves.
Well, it seems the state of Florida and the Federal Trade Commission have, in spite of substantial odds, come up with a way to aid and abet the loathsome bastards who are using cyberterrorism to steal from and cause other harm to American businesses and consumers.
Well, not when you consider that this cyberslug has an estate valued at $2.4 million.
So why doesn't Florida and/or the FTC do whatever's necessary to take all or most of that estate to make at least partial restitution to the thousands of people Harry bilked, rather than settling for less than 10% of the damage and loss he caused?
Claburn explains it this way: "Harry gets to keep the bulk of his $2.4 million estate thanks to Florida's homestead and asset-protection laws.
Though the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, signed into law in April, includes homestead-protection limitations that might have enabled the FTC to seek more of Harry's assets, the agency decided in a 4-to-1 vote not to risk the almost half-million-dollar settlement for a potentially larger sum."
Intermix Media said it would pay $7.5 million to settle the lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer that claimed the Los Angeles Internet marketing company illegally distributed adware.
As we take steps to protect our own companies from cybercrime, and as we take further steps to protect our customers from the repercussions of such crimes, perhaps it's also time for us to initiate some public advocacy concerning outdated and, yes, asinine laws that run counter to those anti-cybercrime efforts of ours.
No matter how hard law-enforcement officials work to help us identify, pursue, catch, prosecute and punish cybercriminals, if those same criminals end up with wrist-slaps because of antiquated and/or stupid laws, then the problem falls right back in our laps.
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