Empire State lawmakers have filed what experts believe is the first bill designed to thwart modem hijacking.
The law would allow telcos and the New York state attorney general to sue modem hijackers. The bill should face a vote in June.
With modem hijacking, scammers trick users into clicking on pop-ups that – unknown to users – download modem software onto their computer. Hijackers then access the software remotely and charge international calls back to the victim.
No word on how prevalent this problem is, though the AP writes that Verizon is investigating complaints from users. The AP says users can head this off at the pass by getting a dedicated line for their dial-up and blocking international calls on that line. That seems unlikely. If a user is too cheap or doesn’t use the ‘Net enough to get broadband, why would they spring for an extra $30 a month for a separate line?
Via My Way News
