Anti-Spyware Bills Pass House

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Randall <rvh40 () insightbb com>
Date: May 28, 2005 8:42:19 PM EDT
To: Dave <dave () farber net>
Subject: Anti-Spyware Bills Pass House




http://tinyurl.com/dcybj

Anti-Spyware Bills Pass House, Move to Senate


May 27, 2005

By  Caron Carlson
The U.S. House of Representatives last week overwhelmingly passed two
separate anti-spyware bills, but as the measures now move to the Senate,
legislators will find most of the hard questions unresolved—a familiar
scenario in Congress, where similar House bills withered last year
following Senate inaction.

The SPY ACT (Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass), authored
by Rep. Mary Bono, R-Calif., takes the more active approach, requiring a
conspicuous notice to users before transmitting spyware.


The SPY ACT largely resembles the Senate's SPYBLOCK (Software Principles
Yielding Better Levels of Consumer Knowledge) bill, sponsored by Sens.
Conrad Burns, R-Mont.; Ron Wyden, D-Ore.; and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.
The sponsors are awaiting a date for a committee hearing on the bill and
hope to have one before the end of the summer, an aide to Burns said.

Alternatively, the Internet Spyware Prevention Act, authored by Rep. Bob
Goodlatte, R-Va., focuses on penalties for fraudulent or deceptive
behavior without targeting any particular technology—an approach favored
by the IT industry.

Goodlatte's bill, which passed the House 395-1, makes it a crime to
intentionally access a computer without authorization by causing code to
be copied onto the computer and using it for malicious purposes.


> From the industry's perspective, the Goodlatte approach avoids the
possibility of ensnaring legitimate software downloads, such as security
patches.

IT managers, who are employing a growing array of technologies to combat
spyware themselves, widely applaud the legislative initiatives as a
supplement to their own efforts.

Jeff Smestuen, network manager at Blue Bell Creameries L.P., in Brenham,
Texas, said spyware and other unwelcome traffic have increased
exponentially on his network in the past 18 months.

"Most of [the data mining programs] are crap software. They take up a
lot of resources on your machine, and they can take a machine down to a
crawl," Smestuen said.

As for the legislative approach to reducing spyware, Smestuen said he
supports both a notice requirement and tough criminal penalties.

Click here to read more about attempts to outlaw spyware.

"The only way you should get those kinds of programs is if you agree,"
Smestuen said. "I think of spyware and spam as theft and an intrusion.
It's costing me money and productivity. The laws need to be strict, and
the penalties have to be severe."

Check out eWEEK.com's Security Center for the latest security news,
reviews and analysis. And for insights on security coverage around the
Web, take a look at eWEEK.com Security Center Editor Larry Seltzer's
Weblog.







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