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House Passes Another Spyware Bill

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the federal-pound-me-in-the dept.

SkippyTPE writes "The AP reports that the US House of Representatives has unanimously passed a law criminalizing Spyware. This is the second such bill in two days (the first imposing civil penalties, whereas this bill imposes criminal penalties). Information on the bills (HR2929 and HR4661) can be found here and here respectively."

11 of 285 comments (clear)

  1. and so... by scaaven · · Score: 5, Funny
    And so marks the end of Real.

    evil empire...

    --
    I know I'm going to be modded up on this
    1. Re:and so... by grolschie · · Score: 1, Funny

      Yeah, lets hope [buffering...] so, eh?

  2. How come they never... by lukewarmfusion · · Score: 3, Funny

    "...has unanimously passed a law..."

    How come they never pass any laws posthumously?

    1. Re:How come they never... by drinkypoo · · Score: 2, Funny

      No, people only vote posthumously.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:How come they never... by jinxidoru · · Score: 2, Funny

      How come they never pass any laws posthumously?

      Don't give them any ideas. These politicians screw us over enough during their lives; do you really want them screwing us over from beyond the grave.

  3. The CAN-SPY Act by RealProgrammer · · Score: 2, Funny
    Rep. Zoe Lofgren [...], D-Calif., said spyware was "quickly becoming one of the biggest threats to consumers on the Internet." She cited estimates that up to 90 percent of computers contain some forms of spyware. Lofgren said her daughter was recently victimized by electronic thieves in a phishing scam, persuading her in a forged e-mail to disclose personal information.

    90%, huh? That seems awfully high. People always say 90% of computers are running Windows, too. No, wait -- you don't think those figures could be related, do you?

    And I thought the CAN-SPAM Act was supposed to fix all of these email forgery problems.

    It's a good thing Congress is on top of it. At least they are when it affects their kids.

    --
    sigs, as if you care.
  4. Re:sorta OT by Lord_Slepnir · · Score: 5, Funny
    the best way I found was:

    c:\>format c: /y

    or, if you want your system to boot up afterwards:

    c:\>format c: /y /s

    Works every time

  5. Does this mean... by farzadb82 · · Score: 3, Funny
    Internet Spyware (I-SPY) Prevention Act of 2004 - Amends the Federal criminal code to prohibit intentionally accessing a protected computer without authorization, or exceeding authorized access, by causing a computer program or code to be copied onto the protected computer, and intentionally using that program or code: (1) in furtherance of another Federal criminal offense; (2) to obtain or transmit personal information with intent to defraud or injure a person or cause damage to a protected computer; or (3) to impair the security protection of that computer.

    Does this mean that having a software application that automatically updates itself with a newer version that has bugs that compromise the security of the computer and all information within can now be considered a criminal offence for the software developer ?

  6. Riders and pork by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I wonder what/how many riders are on this bill?... Like, say.. at the bottom in tiny print it says: "Section (15), Paragraph (3). Linus Torvalds, shall be sentenced, for a duration not less than ten (10) years, to incarceration in the federal corrections system, for the crime of "irritation" of a Congressional sponsor, one Mr. William H. Gates III."

  7. just like SPAM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Whew!! Now no more Spyware!!!

    Taken care of just like they did when they made SPAM illegal!!

    I was glad to get rid of that...

    er..

    desiv :-)

  8. Re:sorta OT by c.r.o.c.o · · Score: 2, Funny

    I found that

    dd if=/dev/null of=/dev/hda

    works wonders too...