legitimizing spyware from big commercial vendors<\/a> while not doing a heck of a lot to the folks who are already breaking the law.<\/p>\nAnd, of course, it will preempt any state laws on the subject. Swell.<\/p>\n
H.R. 2929, currently called the Spy Act, is moving through the House so fast it’s hard to keep track of what it says. The version now headed to the House floor (after being approved by the same House committee that approved what became Can Spam) does at least have a requirement that the user be notified in plain English what the spyware\/adware does. Unfortunately, it also very pointedly pre-empts the much stronger Utah law. Even worse is the fact that it leaves enforcement solely to the FTC, even though FTC officials have made it clear they have neither the will nor the means to go after any but the most criminal offenders.
\nIt’s a good bet that, once the lobbyists are finished with it, the Spy Act will read more like the Sneakwrap-Sanctioned Spyware Protection Act. Software industry lobbyists are already attacking the law’s rather mild notice-and-consent requirement as being too burdensome. In fact, organizations that have long championed the sneakwrap licensing approach now claim they are trying to save users from having to read too many notices. For example, the Business Software Alliance issued a statement saying the notices the bill mandates won’t allow consumers to distinguish between legitimate vendors and the bad actors. “We are concerned that the ‘one size fits all’ notices approach will not help to inform consumers about how their personal information is being used, and will become just another screen to click ‘I agree.'” BSA CEO Robert Holleyman said in the statement.
\nI can’t begin to tell you how ironic it is for someone who watched UCITA’s creation to hear the BSA argue that users should not be required to mindlessly click OK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What did Congress do when folks started getting persnicketty about spam problems? Pass the CANSPAM Act, which both legalized certain (still irkstome) forms of spam and preempted state laws on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spam"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7485,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/02\/23\/spy_vs_spy.html","url_meta":{"origin":5919,"position":0},"title":"Spy vs. Spy","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 23-Feb-05 7:03am","format":false,"excerpt":"I don't know if it's because all the hackers and spyware types are busy either focusing on Micro$oft's new offerings, or else building Ominous Rootkits of DOOM, but I just...","rel":"","context":"In "Spam"","block_context":{"text":"Spam","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/computer-security\/spam"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":40,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/07\/08\/slamming_spam_t.html","url_meta":{"origin":5919,"position":1},"title":"Slamming spam, the legislative way","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 8-Jul-03 1:48pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Spam is in the news these days, as anti-spam bills flutter through Congress. In the lead, currently, is the all-too-cute Reduction in Distribution (RID) of Spam Act. It has the...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogging & Internet"","block_context":{"text":"Blogging & Internet","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7667,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/01\/20\/spam_spam_spam.html","url_meta":{"origin":5919,"position":2},"title":"Spam, spam, spam and phish","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 20-Jan-05 6:59am","format":false,"excerpt":"Intersting -- and alarming -- note on how phishers are getting more sophisticated. \"Phishing\" is an attempt, usually through e-mail, to get you to reveal confidential account information. The most...","rel":"","context":"In "Spam"","block_context":{"text":"Spam","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/computer-security\/spam"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3594,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/10\/21\/competition_by.html","url_meta":{"origin":5919,"position":3},"title":"Competition by any other name","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 21-Oct-02 9:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The Direct Marketing Association has long opposed anti-spam laws. After all, their members make a living through direct marketing ... i.e., spam. Problem is, \"big fleas have lesser fleas,\" and...","rel":"","context":"In "Spam"","block_context":{"text":"Spam","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/computer-security\/spam"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6391,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/09\/13\/braaaaiinnnnsss.html","url_meta":{"origin":5919,"position":4},"title":"BRAAAAIINNNNSSSS …","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 13-Sep-04 6:39am","format":false,"excerpt":"Imagine if those annoying teen-agers and vandals that spray-paint your house and leave burning bags of dog poop on your front doorstep suddenly realized that they could simply walk in...","rel":"","context":"In "Spam"","block_context":{"text":"Spam","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/computer-security\/spam"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4907,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/12\/09\/shep_bad_dog.html","url_meta":{"origin":5919,"position":5},"title":"Shep! 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