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House Passes Another Spyware Bill
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."
Let's think about these laws before we cheer - say to yourself will the world be a better place with yet another law. I applaud the efforts of the government protecting the people but marketing comes has to come from somewhere; like Nielsen rating system by which advertisers use to by spots on TV, somewhere there has to be a way to understand what works on the internet. The law bill clearly states that installing tracking devices on someone else computer will be punishable by imprisonment - you will no longer to be able to track logins via cookies or be running a risk from court interpretations of the law.
As for the second part of the law, phishing:
Zoe Lofgren D-Calif. - 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
It is good thing that 10% of the market is either running an alternative browser and/or operating system preventing those infections. But being victimized via email I tend to say that email isn't secure therefore nothing in email can be trusted - thus let the buyer (user) beware. Over the long haul, Darwinism will balance things out and the law will be just a hoop and dance show for elections.
Spyware will just move offshore. More governmental bullshit.
It would add penalties of up to five years in prison for people convicted of installing such programs without a computer user's permission.
If this is really the case, this law isn't going to do a damn thing--all it means is that spyware developers will need to put a sufficiently dense bunch of legalease on page eight of the EULA. (It was noted somewhere--NPR, I think--that the typical EULA is measurably longer than the Constitution of the United States...)
"From time to time, Awesomeness2004!!! Pro may gather usage statistics and other information and transmit this information to the ShadyCorp central server."
"By clicking 'I Agree', you grant ShadyCorp permission to install Awesomeness2004!!! Pro. To take advantage of certain advanced features, Awesomeness 2004!!! Pro requires SnifferExeDllBuddy. SnifferExeDllBuddy may track and report usage statistics and other information."
"ShadyCorps is concerned about your privacy. Your personal information will only be made available to ShadyCorp and approved ShadyCorp partners."
Forget teeth--this law'll be lucky if it can manage to gum hungrily at the bastards' ankles. How about a law that renders post-POS EULAs null and void?
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
Spyware installs surreptitiously and degrades you performance.
What spyware outfit do you work for?
Well, I really would like to see the death penalty brought in as punishment for spammers and distributors of viruses and spyware, but I also think that the expansion of law in this area has the potential for being over-broad and being abused. We need to take a long hard look at these solutions and decide whether we want to let the government try and take care of this, or let industry try to weed it out.
The government can't enforce a large portion of the laws it already has enacted. So they sit there helping no one, all the while they are waiting to be used in ways they were never designed for. I'm just real uncomfortable with it.
How about we educate users on good internet habits, and let the industry develop better ways to eliminate spyware.
Which means, by inference, that you can spam as many ads as you want onto a victim box, provided they are able to close each of the ads by clicking on them. Note that this does not prevent an infinite number of closable ads, just as an infinite number of copyright extension laws is still not infinite copyright.
Note also -and this is important- that they've made no distinction between a program which resides on the box (actual intrusion) and Javascript. This means that Last Measure and other browser shock sites are illegal. Think about it.
If guns kill people, then CmdrTaco's keyboard misspells words.
seriously, I used IE for a while and got fed up with closing pop-ups and saying NO to installing INTERNET GAMBLING.EXE or PORNVIEWER.EXE. firefox is a breath of fresh air.
I know I'm going to be modded up on this
With all the articles I've read recently, I'm thinking we are going about this all wrong. While I don't disagree with making this illegal, I believe the laws will be near impossible to enforce and overlook those ultimately responsible.
M$ makes Internet Explorer and Windows to be inherently insecure making spyware and viruses possible. I nearly choked when I saw that M$ may be getting into the antivirus business. If they wanted to do that, all they'd have to do is make their product more secure. About the only reason there is an antivirus and anti-spyware market and a spyware law is because M$ makes them possible.
No, I'm not a karma whore. I'm just stating what I believe.
But why is the rum gone?
Yes! :)
Stop using IE = problem solved
www.mozilla.org
--
"WebTV: bringing the Internet into the shallow end of the gene pool since 1995" - Martin Bishop
The Problem is that, this law is really unenforcable. Atleast, not to the point where it is financially practical. The only way to stop it is either to build better programs, or not to go to sites where this stuff begins. I am a lucky one, I DONT (as in not 1 piece) get SPAM. I dont go to these sites and I stay clean. People always forget, the internet is just like the hooker from Thailand. They are both dirty and before you use them you need protection.
If I wanted water, I'd ask for DiHydrogen Oxide!
"who exactly goes to jail?"
This is the perennial problem of the corporation.
Since the corporation is a legal person, 'it' might be responsible, but then how do you send a corporation to jail?
Personally I think that the 'corporation as a legal person' is one of the great lies of our time; it seriously fucks the law right up.
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
They spam computers.
'Setup your MSN Passport'
'Click here for MSN messenger'
'Use this wizard to sign up for MSN internet service'
Blah, Blah, Blah.
WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell