THE CENTER (sic) for American Progress (CAP) reports that US law enforcement agencies have failed to stop the spread of spyware, viruses and phishing.

Such illicit online activity cost consumers a total of $7.1 billion in 2007.

Reece Rushing, CAP's director of regulatory and information policy, explained that state attorneys generals were “not doing a whole lot about Internet consumer protection.”

Indeed, the Attorney General's bimonthly Cybercrime Newsletter recorded a mere 55 prosecutions of Internet fraud during 2006-2007. 26 of the cases related to online sales, 15 involved identity theft and 14 dealt with spyware, spam or phishing. µ