legislation

legislation

More on the Spy Act

Posted on June 13, 2007 - 16:53 by egeorge

Yesterday, the blog BoingBoing highlighted an analysis of the Spy Act by the Electronic Frontier Foundation that raises troubling questions about the Spy Act, an anti-spyware bill which recently passed the U.S. House.

The EFF's analysis questions the wording of Section 6 of the Spy Act, which describes the proposed act's effect on other laws. Section 6 would allow the Spy Act, as federal law, to preempt existing State laws which, according to EFF, are in some cases stronger in their provisions against spyware.

Most troubling, Section 6 also would prohibit private citizens from suing spyware producers and distributors, reserving that right for state Attorneys General and the FTC. As the EFF's Fred von Lohmann notes, this provision would have made impossible the EFF's action against Sony over badware rootkits that installed along with Sony's digital restrictions management on music CDs.

Also see StopBadware's previous post on the Spy Act, which raised concerns over a focus on regulation over criminal enforcement.

Tags: 
legislation, spyware

More spyware regulation passes House

Posted on June 8, 2007 - 17:45 by egeorge

On Wednesday, the U.S. House passed a second piece of anti-spyware legislation, known as the Spy Act. Unlike the I-Spy Act which passed the House in late May and which focuses only on ensuring criminal penalties for spyware purveyors, the Spy Act adds a layer of regulatory requirements for software vendors. The act would require websites to obtain proactive consent from users for all collections of personal information, a provision several technology companies are concerned could become overly burdensome.

StopBadware applauds lawmakers for recognizing the problem of spyware and working towards solutions. However, we are concerned that a focus on regulatory requirements may prove detrimental to innovation online. We believe the best legislative approach to protecting consumers is to focus on consumer rights to online privacy, and on criminal penalties for those who violate those rights by distributing spyware, rather than on regulations for all software producers.

You can read more at CNet, or see the bill here.

Tags: 
legislation, spyware

Kudos to Congress: House Passes Anti-Spyware Bill

Posted on May 24, 2007 - 17:15 by egeorge

Earlier this week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation aimed at fighting the fraudulent use of the Internet through spyware and other harmful scams. Spearheaded by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the Internet Spyware Prevention Act, if signed into law, would impose criminal penalties for those who access a computer, without authorization and with the intent to commit fraud, and for those who transmit personal identification information over the internet with the intent to injure to commit fraud. The bill also authorizes $40 million for the Department of Justice to combat other computer-related scams.

The bill does not include controversial proposed language that would have required software distributors to notify and seek consent from software users. Those provisions were generally viewed unfavorably by the software developer community as overreaching policy that would have become stifling to innovation.

For more information, see this Security News article.

Tags: 
legislation, spyware