The Leahy privacy bill: coddling the criminals?
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Networld World's Scott Bradner has gotten a good look at the Personal Data Privacy and Security Act Of 2007. He's much, much less than impressed.
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Under the guise of reining in the Bush administration's warrantless eavesdropping program, the Senate Judiciary Committee approves a bill that would dramatically expand the government's domestic surveillance capabilities, and usher in a new age of rampant monitoring. By Ryan Singel.
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(InfoWorld) - An antispyware bill that the U.S. House of Representatives passed this week earned praise from cybersecurity groups, but faces an uncertain future in the Senate. The bill, which would create penalties of up to five years in prison for some spyware-like behavior, is a "needed piece of legislation in order to protect consumers," said Kevin Richards, federal government relations manager for Symantec Corp. Many online identity theft schemes start with spyware on a victim's computer, he said. Though versions of the Internet Spyware Prevention Act (I-SPY) have passed through the House in the last two sessions of Congress, they stalled in the Senate. The House passed I-SPY and a second spyware bill in May 2005. But the Senate failed to act, partly because of concerns that the second proposal, called the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act or SPY Act, too broadly defined spyware. The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee also became hung up on what approach to take for a spyware bill -- a criminal penalties approach similar to I-SPY or a broader approach attempting to define spyware technologies similar to the second House bill. Concerns over the SPY Act remain. Last month, theÂ Electronic Frontier Foundation issued an alert about the SPY Act, saying it opposes the bill because it would preempt tougher state laws against spyware and hacking. "In fact, having been massaged by lobbyists for the software and adware industries, the bill would actually make things worse, insulating adware vendors from more stringent state laws and private lawsuits," wrote EFF lawyer Fred von Lohmann. Any bills that have not passed through the House and Senate during their two-year session must be reintroduced. This year the SPY Act has been approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee but has not faced a vote on the House floor. On the other hand,Â there seems to be less opposition to I-SPY. I-SPY has "broad support from the industry," said Geoff Gray, legislative consultant for the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, a trade group. "It concentrates on bad actions as opposed to bad technologies." I-SPY now goes to the Senate for consideration. Two champions of antispyware legislation in the Senate, Republicans George Allen of Virginia and Conrad Burns of Montana, were defeated in last November's elections. Meanwhile, supporters of the I-SPY Act say they will push for passage in the Senate. Symantec is engaging senators about the need for a spyware bill and other cybersecurity measures, Richards said. Several senators seem open to cybersecurity legislation, he said. "I think there's interest there," he said. "But senators are focused on a big plate of issues." Although Burns and Allen are gone, I-SPY has a "decent" chance of passing the Senate, added Gray. The House may have given it a better shot by not passing the more controversial SPY Act at the same time, he said. "A little steam has gone out of it on the Senate side, but maybe some of the conflict as well," Gray said. A spokesman for Representative Zoe Lofgren, one of the primary sponsors of I-SPY, said it's early to gauge the bill's chances in the Senate. The California Democrat will begin pushing for the bill in the Senate soon, the spokesman said. Representatives of tech-focused senators said their bosses are looking at antispyware legislation. "It's one of our priorities," said a spokesman for Senator John Ensign, a Nevada Republican and cosponsor of an antispyware bill in the last session of Congress. Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, is also looking into the issue, a spokeswoman said. Wyden, cosponsor of the broader antispyware bill in the Senate last Congress, is "looking into what he feels the correct course should be legislatively ... based on the way the spyware issue has evolved over the last two years," said spokeswoman Melissa Merz.
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Also: Privacy: The problem that won't go away. Read these stories and more from around the Web on News.com Extra.
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A recent court case dealing with key loggers installed by the feds invites the question: will security companies put the interests of their customers first?
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Some experts doubt whether the California law will have much impact on illegal spyware activity. By George V. Hulme. A new California law aimed at curbing spyware, software applications that surreptitiously
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The government has many tools at its disposal to poke around in your business in search of criminal behavior. You have basically only one weapon in your defense - The Bill of Rights.
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One bill safeguards wireless phone numbers; the other targets malicious snoops.
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First of its kind ... but not the last A bid by the US government to force a child porn suspect to surrender his encryption password has sparked fierce debate about whether the move violates constitutional protections against self-incrimination.â¦
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A bipartisan bill would force sex offenders to provide their e-mail addresses to a national database so MySpace and similar sites could more easily ban them. But the proposal would apply to minor deviants, while exempting some serious offenders. In 27B Stroke 6.
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Trojan row A piece of software which allows a user to track another person's mobile phone use would be almost impossible to use in the UK without breaking the law, according to a surveillance law expert.â¦
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By HOWARD FISCHER, CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES  PHOENIX - Facing a choice between privacy and fighting crime, state senators on Thursday chose the latter.
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New York state's attorney general and legislative leaders introduce legislation to protect people online.
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New bills introduced in Congress this week target the privacy fallout from data breaches as well as the problems of pretexting and spyware.
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Introducing the 'Automated Targeting System' Whenever the US government runs afoul of public opinion with some data-mining scheme threatening to invade the privacy of millions, it changes the name and then goes ahead as planned. We had the "Total Information Awareness" (TIA) federal scheme to mine official and commercial databases, which morphed into the MATRIX, an interconnected state scheme to mine official and commercial databases, to which the federal government has access.â¦
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Calling video voyeurism the new frontier of stalking, the House on Tuesday approved legislation to make it a crime to secretly photograph or videotape people, often for lascivious purposes.    Under the legislation passed by voice vote, video voyeurism on federal lands would be punishable by a fine of not more than $100,000 or imprisonment for up to one year, or both...
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Calling video voyeurism the new frontier of stalking, the House on Tuesday approved legislation to make it a crime to secretly photograph or videotape people, often for lascivious purposes.