July 25, 2016
In 2014, a Federal Trade Commission report on consumer complaints put identity theft at the top of the list for the 15th consecutive year; as this book points out, U.S. lawmakers have taken almost that long to develop and implement a comprehensive policy to protect government, commerce, and citizens from digital crime. In this exhaustive overview, Mitchell, editor and cofounder of Inside Cybersecurity, an online news source dedicated to Internet policy in Congress, compares the online security discussions in Congress of the past decade to the evolution of environmental policy in the early 1970s. He traces the evolution of U.S. Internet security policy beginning with President George W. Bush, who established the first National Cybersecurity Initiative by signing two policy directives in early 2008, with most of the book focusing on the Obama Administration. The book draws largely from the author's daily reporting for Inside Cybersecurity; Mitchell livens the writing up with pop culture references to William Faulkner and the political satire film The Interview, but it's best suited for serious policy wonks seeking to understand the complexities of digital security policymaking in Washington.