21st Century Technology Law Reform
United States Constitution: Fourth Amendment
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers
and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated...
United States Constitution: Fifth Amendment
...Nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Over the years congress has put forth little to no effort in addressing our constitutional rights of security and privacy.
Millions of Americans become victims every year of stolen identity,
cyberstalking, cyberbullying, false or misleading information, scam
artists, and websites such as Intelius gladly giving anyone, for a
small fee our life history. Google taking snapshots of us, not to
mention, viruses and computer hackers.
These types of
crimes are not only costing Americans time, money and the incredible
stress related to these crimes, but far more dangerous costing lives.
There
is little regulation or law to protect us. Credit card issuers do not
care, the three major credit reporting agencies do not care, law
enforcement has not the time and tools to care, the predatory sites that sell our information do not care, and most disturbingly congress does not care! As we constantly state, that includes both the republicans and democrats.
While
I am personally a believer in the rights of states, there is no
uniformity and we will point out that this is actually part of the
problem. Following are some ideas on legislation which we would
immediately work on when we are elected.
- Predatory information sites: Web entities such as
Intelius, Knowx and Docusearch, to name only a few should be against
the law and taken completely offline. These sites endanger the lives of
many Americans. Criminals and stalkers, through the information they
purchase from these sites, are enabled to commit any number of crimes
including bodily injury, crimes against children or death. Although men are victims we find this especially troubling for women and the elderly, not to mention the safety of our children.
If a potential employer is that concerned with a prospective employee
they need to pay a (legitimate) law enforcement entity for allegedly
needed information. This has been another excuse commonly used to
violate our rights.
- National Databases: A.) We should have (one)
national database similar to the "national do not call list" where we
can sign up to have NONE of our personal information made public
online. Many of us are finding out the hard way that the extra money we
pay on our phone bills to be "unlisted" can be found easily through
online white pages. UNACCEPTABLE! B.) We should also
set up a national database where Americans are able to sign up for
alerts in (real time) to the latest scams, and internet breaches. We
Americans lead very hectic lives and have little time to search out
this type of information. C.) A national database
that we are able to put our name into that will alert us (in real time)
if anyone is searching out our name and most importantly whom.
While there are legitimate reasons for some searches, we should have
the right to know and be able to file a complaint if said search is not
legitimate. We have the technology for this; especially on a federal
level, this can be made safe and secure.
- Search Engine Privacy Act: Technology that enables
anyone to track the movements, routines and details of our homes, such
as Google, should ONLY be available to members of law enforcement.
There is absolutely NO good reason for just anyone to have the ability
to track us or our children, or where we live, what our house, vehicles
and yards look like, etc.
- ONE National Cyber Crime Law Enforcement Entity:
We have many agencies which currently are a part of or assist in Cyber
Crime, and they are doing the very best they can. Unfortunately that is
also a part of the problem, thus we should have a single entity in
which ALL information from other agencies go into. This will enable a
more pre-emptive and pro- active approach rather than a re-active and
post investigative approach.
- Jurisdictional Legislation: "Inter-state and
international boundaries are irrelevant to Internet criminals.
Jurisdictional issues can enhance their criminal efforts by impeding
investigations with multiple victims, multiple states/counties, and
varying dollar losses. These statistics highlight the anonymous nature
of the Internet."Source;Bureau of Justice Assistance 2008 Internet Crime Report.
Possible Solutions:
- Uniform Federal laws
- Countries which refuse to cooperate in our efforts to thwart various internet crimes should face
sanctions.
(This includes hacking from foreign countries into our various
government agencies, which is currently becoming a dangerous problem.)
This would also include extradition issues.
- Mandatory Federal Sentencing Laws: We should have
mandatory minimum sentences whereby the time fits the crime. We must
send a loud and clear message that crime via the internet is not
acceptable!
- New and REAL Credit Reform: We will go more in depth via separate legislative ideas in another format. However NOBODY
should have access to your credit information unless you are applying
for credit or a (security clearance) type of job position. This is a
practice that has been highly abused by potential employers and subject
to the potential for less than honorable members of management involved
and a potential breach by another employee to cause us harm. There is
simply no way currently for any of us who have been victims of credit
fraud to know what the actual source or breach was. (more on this in
our American Credit Reform legislative ideas.)
In closing, while some of our solutions may appear to be too restricting; my personal belief is that the SECURITY and PROTECTION of "We the People" should always
come first. We have no doubt that many of these companies, which STEAL
our information and INVADE our Constitutional right to privacy, those
who commit liable and slander against others, will use the pitiful
excuse of the first amendment. This simply does not work in my most
sincere opinion. The first amendment was not set up as a tool to
(legally commit crime.) Yes we all need to take responsibility to
protect ourselves; however, we also need to hold congress accountable
to ensure that we are given every single tool necessary to protect
ourselves. Cyberspace has become so vast that none of us can know
everything out there which can harm us. Indeed our LIFE, LIBERTY, AND OUR PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS have been attacked and are on the line now in frightening ways.
We would also like to give a big THANK YOU to Jayne Hitchcock, who is
the president of W.H.O.A (Working to Halt Online Abuse.) The web site
is www.haltabuse.org.
This site is filled with a plethora of information, tips on protecting
yourself and this group helps with filing complaints if you become a
victim of cyberstalking, cyberbullying, etc. Ms. Hitchcock was kind
enough to speak with us and there is so much more we could discuss on
this issue.
We must however elect representatives who
will take a much overdue legislative stance on these issues and get
with the 21st. century and help good people like Ms. Hitchcock fight
this battle.
|