To no one’s real surprise, the House approved the Bono spyware bill (H.R. 2929) yesterday, by a 399-1 vote. The less-comprehensive Goodlatte bill (H.R. 4661) is also expected to pass today. TLF regulars know the problems with these bills. Here’s a piece released from Heritage last week. For more vitriol, see Jim’s Harper’s vent here. I also just posted this resource page on the topic, with more links than you can shake a curser at, earlier this week.
No one, of course, really expects legislation to solve the spyware problem–the bad guys will probably escape its reach, those that can’t fall under one or another current law. And the private-sector is coming up with solutions at warp-speed. So why is Congress rushing in? The basic political problem is the “don’t stand there, do something” syndrome. It’s hard to get elected by letting markets work–its always better to have voted for a law, any law. Even if, no, especially if the problem is being solved anyway.
In any case, the whole spyware controversy may only be an opening act for a much bigger Internet privacy battle. Ari Schwartz of the Center for Democracy and Technology is quoted in today’s Internet Daily saying that the spyware bills is only “one of the first privacy bills we’ve had [pass] the House”, and calling for more comprehensive privacy legislation to follow. Stay tuned. The show is just beginning.
The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
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