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Legislators Looking for Way to Fight Phishing

KSL-TV - Salt Lake City, UT, USA has been reporting that Utah Legislators say they don't know how to beat a growing internet security problem: Phishing. ...

Rep. Brad Daw, (R) Orem sez: "As a legislator, what do I do? We've tried at the prosecution route, and we will continue to pursue that, but we've got to find other ways to shut these people down." (MORE)

But they're obviously not trying very hard

The news is peppered with various senators, congressmen, governors and state's AGs looking for solutions, trying 'new' approaches and 'cracking down' on Internet crime, phishing and spam. But all of the stories (which you know I've been covering for UGN Safenet,) seem to lead down a dead end, showing no kind of advancement on any degree of success. One recent legislator even went so far as to compare their efforts to "fighting a fire with a tea cup." But with careful examination of all the various reports it becomes painfully obvious that government, legislation and law enforcement are combatting this new technology (digital) problem with old-fashioned (analog) tools. Either they haven't yet seen the logical solution, or they care not to. On the 17th, I dipped my hands into the world of government to learn the lesson again -- first hand.

The Governor comes to town

Virginia Governor Tim Kaine was in town Tuesday in the culmination of his two-day series of Community Cabinet Days, and luckily, my invitation to the reception had arrived earlier in the day. I made a point to be present at Blue Ridge Community College to see if I could actually make some contacts in the Gov's cabinet.

After the customary political words and welcome messages by various dignitaries, about 50 local attendees and the Gov's entourage of cabinet and cabinet advisors were invited to mix and mingle, get acquainted and "discuss" issues.

First on my list of contacts was John W. Marshall, Secretary of Public Safety, and law enforcement. However, by the time I made rounds, Marshall had already left. I worked my way around to the Gov., introduced myself and offered my congratulations on recent accolades for Virginia's leading position in IPv6, and information technologies. Having broken the ice on a positive note, I broached the issues of internet crime. He indicated it is high on the technology agenda, and then introduced me to Aneesh P. Chopra (P), Secretary of Technology, noting "here's the guy you need to talk to."

Chopra has been playing an active role in Virginia's technology development, particularly business. Locally, James Madison University's technology campus (CISAT), the Shenandoah Valley Technology Council (SVTC), and Virginia Tech's Information Technology (it.vt) and the Blacksburg Electronic Village (BEV.net) represent the bleeding edge of IT advances. Harrisonburg, as a leading site for IPv6 adoption, and Northern Virginia's internet community represent world leaders, so of course, Chopra was well in tune with those loops as well.

But my agenda was to find out were he was in terms of online crime. He was up to date on Congressman Goodlatte's High-Tech Working Group for the 109th Congress and Internet Caucus (www.netcaucus.org,) but to my disappointment there was little indication of deeper knowledge of online crime. He did refer me to two companies currently developing IT solutions and filters -- but from a business solutions approach rather than public safety.

Overall, the experience was positive -- yet somewhat disappointing. Again, I proved to myself that people in high places are still approaching online crime with traditional crime-prevention mentality, with an ear to business entities big enough to make a splash. Administrators and legislators seem to be disconnected with the problems of online crime and quite confident that law enforcement is dealing with it. Which is about the opposite of reality.

On a brighter note, there are some encouraging headlines which I'll cover in separate news bytes... stay tuned by clicking on "Safe Netting" link at the right menu, or by checking in at the UGN SafeNet home page

Fred Showker, Editor/Publisher UG Net News, UGN Safenet

*** Listen to : Governor Tim Kaine - "Virginia Leading the Way – The Role of Innovation" (mp3, 9.44mb)

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