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Spyware Notification Bill Introduced

cheinonen writes "According to this article at News.com, Rep. Mary Bono has introduced a bill that would require software manufacturers to notify you if they plan to install spyware on your machine. I might not be a legal genius, but won't they just get around this by noting this in the EULA, which many people already do, since you're supposedly required to read and agree to that anyway? Will this bill do anything at all?"

3 of 25 comments (clear)

  1. big surprise. by Unknown+Poltroon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Let me guess, the bill will have no teeth, and yeat the senator comes off looking like someone whos doing a good thing. Smoke and mirrors, the foundations of current politics

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  2. "conspicuous location" by ClosedSource · · Score: 4, Insightful

    From the article:

    "The bill would require companies to post an agreement in a conspicuous location telling computer users that spyware is being installed."

    I doubt that the burying it in the EULA would qualify as "conspicuous", but the devil is in the details of the bill.

  3. More informed users, less Kazaa? by s4f · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Didn't the act that created virtual perpetual copyright come from Mary Bono? (Or Sonny get that one done before he became one with that tree?)

    In any case, what's the most popular SpyWare? Kazaa?

    Who's the favorite whipping boy of the "copyright industry?", Kazaa?

    Who derives most of their profits from SpyWare? Kazaa?

    Who would be most inconvenienced by a law that forced them to tell their customers that they're installing SpyWare? Kazaa?

    Who among the the average userbase would choose to install SpyWare on their systems if it was made plainly obvious to them that it was happening? I'd say less than do now.

    Less users, less profit, less Kazaa to annoy "Big Media."