http://www.politechbot.com/2004/06/24/spyware-vote/ The House Commerce committee today approved a highly regulatory bill related to spyware and adware. An excerpt from my article at News.com: > The Spy Act includes 21 pages of dense regulations that specify what software can and can't do and under what circumstances it must seek explicit permission from the user to proceed. It covers activities such as taking control of a computer, modifying browser settings, installing a keystroke logger, and bypassing antivirus software... High-tech companies had unsuccessfully tried to block or delay the vote, warning that the Spy Act was written so sloppily that it could imperil Internet service providers and restrict legitimate applications embedded in computer operating systems. Over two dozen changes were made to the bill in the last 24 hours. Among the changes: Network providers may use monitoring software to guard against network security and fraud; software vendors may choose from certain specific notices when asking for permission; and the anti-spyware regulations do not apply to software located on a server. Some of these are pretty big deals. Here's the final text, a summary, and the changes that were made. (Supplied by the congresscritters, not written by me.) Posted at 2004-06-24 19:08:51 by Declan McCullagh _______________________________________________ Politech mailing list Archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Moderated by Declan McCullagh (http://www.mccullagh.org/)
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