Anti-Spyware Bill Introduced
 

Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor wants to make it illegal for companies to install spyware on PCs without consent.

By K.C. Jones
InformationWeek
Jun 15, 2007 01:44 PM

Accusing the technology industry of failing to regulate itself, Arkansas Senator Mark Pryor introduced a bill on Thursday that would make it illegal for companies to install spyware on PCs without consent.

Pryor said that unwanted software hurts economic, security and privacy interests of businesses and consumers.

"The industry has failed in self-regulating," Pryor said in a prepared statement. "It's time to step in and enact serious consequences against those who use this invasive and deceptive practice."

The Southern Democrat is targeting spyware installed with other software, as well as so-called "drive-by downloads," in which a software is covertly installed when an Internet user clicks on a link.

Pryor pointed out that the unwanted software can be extremely difficult to remove. He cited an AOL study that concluded 80% of computers in a test group were infected and 89% of users were unaware that spyware had infected their machines. Pryor introduced the Counter Spy Act of 2007 after holding hearings on the issue. He said it would deter companies and fraudsters from embedding of spyware on users' computers without first obtaining their consent.

The bill would make installing spyware an unfair or deceptive practice. It covers hijacking, spam, denial of service, pop-ups, changing default home page and security settings, Web proxies and toolbar setups as well. Additionally, it would give the Federal Trade Commission enforcement power over violators, who could face civil or criminal penalties, including fines and imprisonment.

"Spyware is a serious infringement upon basic levels of privacy and security," Pryor said. "There are very few, if any, legitimate reasons for this practice to continue but countless reasons for it to be stopped, including identity theft and sluggish computer performance."

Similar measures have passed the House of Representatives. The Information Technology Association of America has opposed such legislation in the past but did not provide immediate comment on the latest attempt to pass federal laws to stop spyware.

http://www.informationweek.com/news/...ubSection=News

I hope they enforce it.

If they try and stop companies from using pop up, it's going to get a lot of a hell of a lot of companies in mainstream etc. against it...

Honestly.. I really hope there's never anything against pop ups.. Why?? Because everyone using them will just switch to those on page overlays which are far more irritating IMO.

Pop ups suck and are extremely annoying. But spyware, installs etc there is absolutely no excuse for it and should carry jail time for repeat offenders for destruction of personal property.

About time.

:thumbsup

Good News, imho.

there goes Lars' business model

Finally they start doing something about it

If one of these passes, there's going to be some GFY users who take a real big hit in their business model.

About fucking time, let's hope it passes. :thumbsup

Maybe they mean popups intitiated by the spyware itself, and not by websites (like the Zango popups).

They mean popups from a third party program. Most spyware software does this..

Yeah, just like that(from what I was just reading). But zango is consensual.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Time to call your local politco and tell them you support this bill.

do you think it will really be passed and signed in to law?

About time, I hope this law comes in

Even if it's ratified, it'll do dick, and shit. Virtually none of the companies running such programs are actually in the United States.

...unless the US has usurped Europe..

Merphi's law: good laws never pass :(