Albert Gonzalez's Impact On The United States Government

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Albert Gonzalez was a man that has both helped and hurt the United States government, the citizens of the United States, and possibly citizens of the world. Gonzalez was first convicted of credit card fraud in 2003 when NYPD officers happened to stumble upon him using an ATM. He was dressed like a woman trying to withdraw large sums of money from a large number of debit cards. The Secret Service then caught wind of the notorious Gonzalez being caught and decided to offer him a job instead of going to jail. The market for buying and selling credit card data online was a growing problem in the US. Since Gonzalez was more knowledgeable on the topic, his cooperation would mean the United States government could have new insights in tackling this …show more content…

The fact that Albert Gonzalez was only caught both times he was arrested because investigators stumbled upon him or information linked to him, says a lot about the government in regards to cyber security. Technology is constantly changing and it is hard for anyone to keep up with the multitude of advancements taking place on a daily basis. For the government to try and gain the upper hand and be one step ahead of the criminals in the world is tough. This was likely the main reason why they offered Gonzalez a job in the first place. In an article published in the New York Times, an agent in the Secret Service is quoted saying that the informants they hire go and commit crimes all the time. It is understood that a criminal will be a criminal. While Gonzalez's crimes ultimately caused a lot of losses in his time as an active member of credit card fraud groups, can that loss be outweighed by the gains the federal government got from working with him? Can the Secret Service be held reliable for Gonzalez's actions while he worked under their supervision? Is it the government's job to set security standards for everyone to follow or should that be left to individual companies? The rest of this paper is aimed at addressing some of these points, with a specific emphasis on the following issue: was it morally sound for the government to hire Gonzalez in the first place, knowing what he is capable