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Senator Prevents Action on Online Privacy Bill
securitas writes "The NYTimes tells us Senator Trent Lott forced the Senate Commerce Committee to adjourn this morning as it was on the verge of adopting an online privacy bill requiring ISPs and commercial Web sites to get customers' permission before they could disclose important personal information. That would include financial,
medical, ethnic, religious and political information along with Social Security data and sexual orientation. I urge Trent Lott's constituents to make your voices heard on this. Same goes for readers whose senators serve on the Senate Commerce Committee." Salon and EPIC have written about
Hollings' bill.
Using this procedural rule is actually quite common for Lott. He has invoked this rule several times over the past year to tie up the business of the senate. He did this after the nomination of Judge Pickering was defeated in Committee.
Of course, Lott also snipes at Daschle constantly for not clearing legislation in a timely manner. Go figure!
This is not the sig you are looking for...
You really should call his office and complain, although it is already 5pm there now.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
Likewise with the Online Personal Privacy Act. It is masquerading as pro-consumer when in fact it is pro-business. The new legislation is similar to laws passed in Europe that divide your personal information into two types. The first is "sensitive" information, such as your financial and medical history, race, lifestyle, religion, political affiliation, and sex life. The second is "nonsensitive" information, and among that will include your name, address, and records of anything you buy or surf on the Internet. Under the act, business can't collect or divulge the sensitive bits without your express consent, but anything classified as nonsensitive can be freely collected and sold at will.
I guess anything that Hollings touches is evil.
In the eyes of the law, it is. The Supreme Court ruled about a hundred years ago that a corporation has almost all the same rights as a natural (i.e. human) person has. Coproations can own property in their names, sue and be sued, engage in political speech, etc. ad nauseum.
You think Skynet and the Matrix were scary-- just wait until the coprorations become sentient...
Before you get up in arms about the injustice of this move you might want to *READ* the salon article mentioned. Yes, this bill is something that's needed, but just like the Microsoft anti-trust settlement what you have after the fact could be more dangerous than before
This law would make them get you to opt-in for what is considered "secure" information.
HOWEVER, it is very loose on what is considered "secure" information and gives free reign for those same people that it's trying to supposedly stop a legal right to sell and/or give away personal information
vote 3rd party...you are guronteed that they will do somthing diffrent....try the greens...they are hugly anti-corpreations.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Read the bill, or at least the comments WHY he shut it down.
I think that it shouldn't happen. This bill legalizes sharing of much personal information WITHOUT authorization.
It also legitimizes those constantly changing TOS that "by continuing to use the service you agree to"
This is NOT a personal privacy bill, this in an anti privacy bill.
Disagree with me if you want, but at least see what the bill and issues are BEFORE you go off half cocked complaining about this.
The Senator from Disney is sponsoring this bill, which many others have pointed out.
The current system in North America just doesn't work.
I've thought about this a lot, and it seems to me that the "right" thing to do is run yourself. Start small and work your way up to where you can make a difference.
So then I ask myself, why don't I run for office? I'm too lazy, and it's easier to put up with the crap being dealt me than it is to do something about it. Shameful but true.
The solution is to exercise your rights as a member of a free and democratic society. This includes the right to free speech. Instead of whining to the choir in a forum like Slashdot, go out into the world and talk to normal people about, people who don't know how our government has been bought out by corporate interests. Exercise your right to inform yourself.
Go out and read some of Nader's books, like _Crashing the Party_ about how the Republicrats and their corporate masters did everything possible to keep him out of the 2000 election. If you aren't a progressive, find some right-wing activist you like and read what he/she has to say. You've got to move beyond songs (however moving they may be) and get facts to back up your arguments, so you can be more persuasive to your friends.
The next step is to actually vote. Yes, there is a possibility (I personally believe it's a very very small one), that if a third party starts to gain power, its leaders will be killed or otherwise muzzled by plutocrats who currently run our country. I can tell you though, if that does happen, there will be outrage! There will be violence and revolution, and things will happen. The United States wasn't formed by people sitting around and whining that King George was a tyrant, but that there was nothing to do so they'd just wait around until housewives (housewives?) got fed up with things. They petitioned. They wrote articles. They tried to pass the laws that needed passing in their assemblies. They contined to escalate their protests until they clearly had no choice other than armed revolution. When they saw they had no choice, they did what had to be done. Do I think revolution is necessary? No. I think if people actually got their minds together and voted against corporate ownership of our government, no one would be silly enough to use force to stop the rightfully elected government from taking power. Why? Because a government that cares about the people might be bad for business, but the possibility of armed revolution would be a heck of a lot worse.
So, you've informed yourself on the issues. You went out and talked to all your friends, and after years of grass-roots activism, someone reasonable gets elected. What's to stop them from turning into an other corporate-owned carbon-copy of the Republicans? You are! Continue your activism. Continue to watch your government to make sure they act in your interests. Continue to talk to your friends to make sure they watch the government too. If they go bad, repeat the process until you find someone who will work for you.
It's called democracy. People power. The people have the power in our system of government, but it works only if they actually exercise that power. They've got to stay informed, watch their government, and exercise their right to speak against and vote against their government if necessary. If also helps if they go out and work in their community. People are less likely to be apathetic about our political system if they see that it encourages people to get involved and do something themselves to make the world a better place. Democracy isn't about electing a government every once in a while and then sitting around and ignoring them. It also isn't about people rebelling against authority. It's about people realizing that they are the authority. It's about people exercising their power every day of their lives, not just not election day. It's not easy, but few things that are worthwhile are easy.
Probably because Bush insists on nominating hardliner types that no sensible person would want on the bench.
Geez, you people make me sick. The Republican party isn't perfect but they sure care a lot more about privacy, the FREE market, and individual rights than the Democrats. Stop being spoon fed what you read in the liberal media. Somebody has to be correct about this matter, why not read up and make your own decision.
Trent did the right thing.
/.ers.
The whor^H^H^H^HSenator from SC is not to be trusted to ANYTHING in the publics interest. He did a nice job naming it though, Orwellian doublespeak at its best. Even fooled some
These days, even the party of Bill Clinton seems willing to trade our rights for a few campaign bucks.
What's the world coming to?
Don't anthropomorphize computers, they don't like it.