* Paying a ransom is literally facilitating a criminal enterprise which is already illegal in almost all other aspects in most of the world.
* In a ransomware attack there is no guaranteed assurance the criminal enterprise will restore the data once paid, because this an unreported expenditure to a criminal party.
* Legally compelling parties to cooperate with law enforcement provides addition investigative materials for future law enforcement investigations.
* The more frequently reported a crime becomes the more investigative attention it receives with increased investigative budget. Federal investigators aren’t compelled to take this problem seriously so long as it is drastically under reported.
* The Justice Department is compelled to criminalize ransomware payments as a consumer protection, because the loss of data ultimately hurts the impacted consumers most.