Can Cyber Privateers Help Us Combat Cybercrime?

Rick Bennett

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Last month, Arizona congressman David Schweikert introduced the Scam Farms Marque and Reprisal Authorization Act of 2025 (H.R. 4988) to the House of Representatives. The bill would “authorize the President of the United States to issue letters of marque and reprisal with respect to acts of aggression against the United States by a member of a criminal enterprise or any conspirator associated with an enterprise involved in cybercrimes, and for other purposes.”

With this power, the president could empower private citizens or private companies to attack cyber scammers.

The structure is similar to how pirates and privateers once attacked foreign enemies at sea on behalf of their government. In fact, the practice may have won the Revolutionary War for the United States. Estimates suggest that the 1776 Continental Navy had a mere 64 ships, compared to 1,697 licensed and bonded privateer vessels. Those 64 ships had 1,242 guns, compared to 14,872 privateer guns. As a result, the Continental Navy captured only 196 ships compared to the 2,283 ships captured by the privateers.

Could this practice of privateering end the current cyber war? Should the United States consider mobilizing privateers in today’s cyber war? Couldn’t government resources do the job? The answer to questions such as these may be found in your own email inbox.

First, consider how many scamming, phishing, or spoofing emails you receive each day. Forget headlines about ransomware paid, or about the billions of dollars lost every year to increasingly clever miscreants. How often have you been inconvenienced or downright victimized by cybercrime? Have you found success reporting such invasions to the FBI or other legal authorities? Probably not. Yet, if you tried to wreak your own revenge on the scammers, you’d be in violation of federal law.

Back in 2010, I started promoting cyber privateering as I worked on a novel called Daddy’s Little Felons which drills into the concept. It’s taken about 15 years for the idea to gain traction. Earlier this year, my Utah senator Mike Lee proposed that Congress bring back letters of marque and reprisal. But it took until August 2025 for H.R. 4988 to be introduced.