Internet Safety Awareness Legislation
Earlier today, the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection considered a bill, HR 3461, the Safeguarding America’s Families by Enhancing and Reorganizing New and Efficient Technologies Act of 2007. The bill, as originally drafted, would authorize $10 million annually for the Federal Trade Commission to “to increase public awareness and provide education regarding Internet safety, for families, businesses, organizations, and other users”.
Debate centered on two issues. First, Republicans objected that the bill was redundant since the government already conduct such activities - specifically, the FTC already operates OnGuard, which provides “practical tips from the federal government and the technology industry to help you be on guard against Internet fraud, secure your computer, and protect your personal information.” Second, the level of funding was argued to be too substantial. Though some objections remained, even after the Subcommittee Chairman offered an amendment to cut the funding in half, to $5 million annually, the bill was passed by voice vote.
Certainly, internet safety is important. There is not too much that the government can do to actively protect individuals and their networks from internet threats, such as worms, viruses, scams and phishing. Unlike realspace security, it is unreasonable to expect a cop to stand guard around the most threatened computers or users. While many cybercrimes are at higher, more lucrative levels in the commerce system, many individuals remain at risk. The federal Internet Crime Complaint Center found, in its 2006 annual report, that “from January 1, 2006 – December 31, 2006, the IC3 website received 207,492 complaint submissions”, and though “this is a 10.4% decrease when compared to 2005 when 231,493 complaints were received”, this is still a substanial number. Further, according to the report, 2006 was the first year in which complaints decreased (though the financial impacts increased) - “up from $183.12 million in total reported losses in 2005”. “The total dollar loss from all referred cases of fraud was $198.44 million with a median dollar loss of $724.00 per complaint.”
The report notes that only 1 in 7 cases reported is ever followed up by enforcement or regulatory agencies. Therefore, more awareness would help prevent individual users take measures to increase their own security and safety online, and the legislation is well-intentioned. With prosecution and enforcement of cybercrime challenging and limited, awareness and preparedness are more feasible courses of action, particularly for individuals. Firms, on the other hand, typically have greater resources (relative, of course, to their size), and are better poised to provide their own security.