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House Passes
Bill Imposing Hefty Fines Over 'Spyware'
By TED BRIDIS
- The Associated Press
October
5, 2004
WASHINGTON
(AP) - Companies and others that secretly install "spyware" programs on people's
computers to quietly monitor their Internet activities would face hefty federal
fines under a bill the House passed Tuesday.
The most egregious behaviors ascribed to the category of such software -
secretly recording a person's computer keystrokes or mouse clicks - are already
illegal under U.S. wiretap and consumer protection laws.
The House proposal, known as the "Spy Act," adds civil penalties over what has
emerged as an extraordinary frustration for Internet users, whose infected
computers often turn sluggish and perform unexpectedly.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mary Bono, R-Calif., provides guidelines for
technology companies that distribute software capable of most types of
electronic monitoring. It requires that consumers explicitly choose to install
such software and agree to the information being collected.
The House voted 399-1 to approve the bill. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who often
votes against spending measures, cast the lone dissenting vote Tuesday.
The House separately was expected to approve another anti-spyware bill as early
as Wednesday. That bill, sponsored by Rep. Robert Goodlatte, R-Va., provides for
additional criminal penalties.
The chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas,
said Goodlatte's anti-spyware bill was preferable because of its criminal
sanctions, and Barton said he will work to combine both proposals for a final
vote by year's end.
Barton acknowledged that experts had recently found more than 60 varieties of
spyware installed on the panel's own computers. He said all the spyware programs
had been installed without the permission of computer users.
The committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. Jan
Schakowsky of Illinois, called the proposal approved Tuesday "a bill
whose time has come."
"People are increasingly finding their home pages have been changed or their
computers are sluggish," she said. "Their computers are no longer their own, and
they can't figure out why."
The House bill approved Tuesday explicitly permits snooping software built by
the FBI or spy agencies secretly collecting information under a court order or
other legal permissions affecting federal departments.
The bill's bans against spyware would begin 12 months after it becomes law and
would automatically expire after 2009.
The House bill approved Tuesday is H.R. 2929; the bill expected to pass as early
as Wednesday is H.R. 4661.
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