House Pushes SPY Act Again

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

28 January 2005

Following the re-submission earlier this month of the SPY Act (Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass) to the new Congressional session, it has emerged that the legislation is expected to be voted upon by the House Energy and Commerce Committee next month.

The legislation, which passed in the House of Representatives by 399-1, prohibits common spyware practices such as keystroke logging, the hijacking of homepages, and phishing, and puts in place an opt-in regime for software which legally collects personal information from internet users. Despite the strong positive response that the Act received in the lower house, however, it stalled in the Senate last October.

Speaking with regard to the re-introduced legislation, which is virtually the same as that approved last year, the Act's co-sponsor, Rep. Ed Towns (D-NY) explained that:

"By getting a much earlier start, we can get a bill on the President's desk [in 2005]."

According to reports in the US media, representatives from leading technology firms such as Microsoft and EarthLink spoke in support of the legislation at Wednesdays Energy and Commerce Committee hearing.

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