Cyber Sweep could help prevent fraud

Operation Cyber Sweep is going global.

In an effort to cut down on fraud, Attorney General… Operation Cyber Sweep is going global.

In an effort to cut down on fraud, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced a new campaign that would examine Internet users and abusers not only in the United States – where the Operation has been in effect for a month – but also worldwide, according to a Nov. 20 Voice of America News release.

To do so, the United States has gotten the cooperation of other countries, such as Nigeria and Ghana. Yes, you read that right – the Bush Administration has been able to a) successfully locate Africa on a map and b) conclude that it is a continent with many independent nations, worthy of attention and interest.

The Operation – which has led to 125 arrests in the United States for such crimes as credit card theft, securities fraud and illegal hacking, according to Computerworld – now stands to tentacle its way into other countries.

Giving the already omnipresent Ashcroft domain over other countries’ Internet transactions seems sketchy, especially considering that the VoA cited Clean Sweep as “an essential element in the global campaign against terrorism.”

But the Operation seems targeted mostly at fraud, especially when combined with traditional mail fraud schemes, under the guise of being part of the war against terrorism. Moreover, the United States cooperating with – and not simply imposing itself on – other countries, would improve desperately needed global comity.

The Internet is like a country unto itself, one that emerged without any form of self-regulation. Anyone with a phone line and a laptop can become a citizen, upright or not. But no one can completely govern an inherently ungovernable entity.

The United States does not have eminent domain over the Internet. It is the global community’s responsibility to install safeguards – ones that provide penalties, without the facade of complete governance – against fraud, just as there are against mail crime. In a Nov. 20 Department of Justice press release, mail fraud and Internet fraud are seen as two extensions of the same crime – ripping people off. By bringing in various agencies, including the Postal Service and Federal Trade Commission, and other governments, the United States is acknowledging the pervasiveness of such crimes – hopefully, they won’t screw it up.