by Greg Beck
Ed Foster at Infoworld analyzes H.R. 964, the Spy Act, Congress' latest response to spyware, and finds it seriously lacking. The bill includes exemptions that would allow hardware and software vendors to spy on their customers and collect private information, without notice, "for network or computer security purposes, diagnostics, technical support, or repair, or for the detection or prevention of fraudulent activities." Worse, the law explicitly preempts state laws regulating unfair or deceptive conduct similar to that covered by the law. All private rights of action will be eliminated, and enforcement authority will be exclusively vested in the FTC and state attorneys general.
It is pretty apparent that the law is not designed to protect consumers, but to protect companies from liability for spying on their customers. For example, it appears that Sony would be immune from liability under the law for its secret installation of its software "rootkit" on customers' computers, which in 2005 opened the computers up to attacks by viruses and sparked multiple lawsuits.
The bill was approved last week by a subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee and now goes to the full committee for approval with strong bipartisan support.
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