California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger flexed his muscles in signing California bill 355 into law on Friday September 30th making phishing offenses punishable by law to the tune of either actual damages, or $500,000(USD).  I'll take the latter thank you very much.  Now the problem is actually left in find a phisher that stands still for their punishment.  California Bill 355 is viewable here.

I hope it's not long before Virginia has an equivalent law on the books.  If not, I'll petition for it and ask that the default maximum amount be set to 1mil(USD).  Hey, Why not?