California has just taken aim at identity theft from both sides, with a new law which makes phishing illegal. Yay.

The law makes it illegal “for any person, through the Internet or other electronic means, to solicit, request, or take any action to induce another person to provide identifying information by representing itself to be a business without the approval or authority of the business.”

This means that not only is it illegal to steal your identity by pretending to be, say, PayPal or eBay, but it’s illegal to steal their identity to do it.

Identifying information, under the new phishing law, includes “social security numbers, driver’s license numbers, bank account numbers, credit or debit card numbers, PINs, an automated or electronic signature, an account password, or “Any other piece of information that can be used to access an individual’s financial accounts or to obtain goods or services.”

Interestingly, the law…

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