With computer crimes becoming more prevalent as more people obtain computers and similar networking devices, state and federal governments are enacting new laws to respond to the increasing number of crimes. The Obama administration recently announced a new proposed law dealing with various cyber security issues. The new law would address several areas. It would establish a national, standardized data breach reporting system for businesses to notify customers when they have had a breach of their security systems where financial or identification information may have been lost. Currently, various states have different laws that may or may not require a company to notify a customer when there has been a breach in their security and potential loss of people’s financial and identification information.
The law would also set minimum sentences for people convicted of computer crimes related to hacking into networks and stealing information.
Finally, as we have seen in other contexts, the lines of communication among the various governmental departments that deal with cyber crimes are not exactly open, and it can be unclear which government agency is responsible for investigating the matter. When one government department will not share information with another, complicated cyber crimes often go unsolved. The new law will attempt to rectify that problem so the government can be more efficient in dealing with cyber crime. We’ll see how that goes.