Bono Mack introduces bill to extend FTC's online fraud powers

Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.) introduced a measure on Thursday to reauthorize the Safe Web Act, a 2006 law that expanded the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) authority to go after online scammers.

The law is scheduled to expire at the end of next year. 

Bono Mack argued that the Safe Web Act has been an effective tool for combating fraud, spam and spyware, and she urged Congress to reauthorize it.

“Frankly, I’m very concerned that e-commerce will cease to grow and flourish if consumers lose faith in their ability to be protected from online predators, jeopardizing future innovation as well as our nation’s fragile economic recovery," she said in a statement.

Bono Mack is the chairwoman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's subpanel on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade, which has jurisdiction over the FTC. The panel's ranking Democrat, Rep. G.K. Butterfield (N.C.), signed on as a co-sponsor of Bono Mack's bill.

In a statement, Butterfield said the Safe Web Act has been "highly effective in protecting the American people from international frauds and should remain part of the FTC’s fraud fighting tool kit.”

The Safe Web Act expanded the types of fraud that the FTC can pursue, gave the agency the authority to share information about cross-border fraud with foreign governments and authorized the agency to make criminal referrals if the activity violates U.S. criminal law.

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