The Anti Phishing Act Of 2005 Sponsored - 1310 Words

Phishing is an attempt to acquire personal information by masquerading as a trustworthy entity through an electronic communication. [ Compl.  ¶ 28, ECF No. 1.] ( http://www.ncsl.org/research/telecommunications-and-information-technology/state-phishing-laws.aspx ) The Anti-Phishing Act of 2005 sponsored in the Senate by Patrick Leahy (D-VT) is a bill that calls to criminalize fraudulently obtaining personal information. This essentially focuses on criminalizing two actions: [ref: http://definitions.uslegal.com/p/phishing/ ]: 1. Establishing and creating web sites with the intent to gather information from victims to be used for fraud or identity theft 2. The creation or soliciting of e-mail that represents itself as a legitimate business†¦show more content†¦Many phishing scams registered that caused thousands of dollars loss to victims. U.S. Law Enforcement took actions time-to-time against phishers. Some of the popular cases are as follows: Cases Discussion – 3 cases -United States v. Hill (S.D. Tex., sentenced May 2004); FTC v. Hill (S.D. Tex., preliminary injunction December 2003) -Romanian Arrest (2003) -United States v. Kalin (D.N.J., Nov. 2003) U.S. Federal Criminal Statutes applicable for Phishing Although phishing is common tactics used by criminals over internet, there is no single federal statute that directly criminalizes phishing. Realizing this, many states have drafted law that specifically address phishing. California was first to implement state ant-phishing law 2005. [ref: https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/inbox/state_anti-spam_laws ] Even though there not all states have anti-phishing law, this issue is covered under many other laws related to computers and internet. Similarly, phishing is addressed in federal statute under following laws: - Identity Theft – 18 U.S.C. 1028(a)(7): Under this section, knowingly unlawfully possessing or transferring somebody’s means of identification with the intent to commit illegal activity is considered crime. Below is the definition of elements of this law from phishing aspect: [ref: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1028 ] - Knowingly – plaintiff should have be well-aware of the phishing email sent to the victim. - Means of