2 Million Online Fraud Complaints - And Growing...
A dubious milestone was recently reached at the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). IC3, which sounds like an arthritis and sore muscle liniment, was formerly known as the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, and is a U.S. governmental partnership between the National White Collar Crime Center, FBI, and Bureau of Justice Assistance.
Sadly, however, November 9, 2010 marked the 2 millionth consumer complaint filed with the IC3 in response to suspected or actual online criminal activity. See Press Release here. This milestone is all the more notable because it took seven years for the IC3 to receive its first million complaints between May 2000 and June 11, 2007. The second million arrived in less than half the time - just under 3.5 years. According to the IC3, complaints filed with it are “processed and may be referred to federal, state, local or international law enforcement or regulatory agencies for possible investigation,” and whereas this milestone relates to online crime against consumers, the IC3 also recently took part in releasing a joint task force advisory addressing the rise of cyberthefts from corporate bank account takeovers.
Continue Reading...Social Networking: Setting Boundaries in a Borderless Brave New World
The explosive growth and morphing applications of social media such as Facebook and Twitter create new opportunities and challenges for individual users, parents, employers, organizations, governments, and marketers. Where a social phenomenon has such a wide and unpredictable impact, it almost inevitably attracts a retinue of lawmakers and regulators, as well as lawyers and HR managers struggling to craft appropriate policies for employees. And given the globalization of social media, those policies have to take account of the evolving rules in multiple jurisdictions.
Continue Reading...
