Hollings Introduces Privacy Bill

Dynedain writes "Senator Disney (aka Hollings) is apparently trying to get on techies' good side. ZDnet is reporting he is proposing a bill for 'net privacy' requiring opt-in agreements when companies want to sell 'sensitive' information (medical history, sexual preference, etc.) and opt-out agreements when selling non-sensitive (buying habits). US Chamber of Commerce is opposing this." Another article on Newsbytes notes that there are likely to be several privacy bills floating around, offering different levels of actual protection.

Comments

I like this ..

[SirSlud]

> The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) said it continues to support industry self-regulation on privacy.

I get the feeling they've already mailed out 50,000,000 emails and 40,000,000 smail mail flyers to convince the public of this.

You deserve neither.

[www.sorehands.com]

You deserve neither!

Re:This is good, sort of

[Ctrl-Z]

Of course, I already wrote "already" in that last sentence before I already got ready to write "already" again. I should preview twice before I'm all ready to hit that Submit button already.

Re:This has nothing to do with the CBDTPA

[No One]

That said, this bill probably has as much respect for the tenth ammendment as the SSSCA.

Common complaint, but I disagree in this case. The question is one of ownership. Who owns my personal information? I find it hard to credit any claim that anyone except myself does. Now, what right do these companies have to use or to sell my property without my express consent? Given that the Internet is fundamentally interstate (international, actually, which really removes it from state jurisdiction), the commerce clause should give Congress the right to pass a bill preventing corporations from abusing the property of others.

So no, unlike the CPTDABCWTFA, I don't think this would fall afoul of the 10th Amendment.