Utah's Anti-Spyware Act Delayed By WhenU Suit

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

26 April 2004

It emerged last week that a lawsuit brought by spyware advertising provider, WhenU.com against the state of Utah over the latter's proposed anti-spyware bill has delayed the implementation of the legislation.

Earlier this month, WhenU filed a lawsuit with Utah's Third District Court arguing that that state's Spyware Control Act, passed earlier this year, violates its constitutionally protected right to advertise.

Under the Utah law, it is illegal to create or install software which monitors the internet activity of users and sends them elsewhere without their consent. The Act also places stringent restrictions on the uses of pop-up advertisements in general, and can impose fines of up to $10,000 per violation.

However, WhenU, which provides free software bundled with a program which tracks internet use and matches surfing activity with particular advertisers in order to provide targeted pop-up ads, argues that the legislation does not, in fact, do much to protect the privacy of internet users.

Arguing that its software is only installed with permission, and therefore does not represent a violation of the privacy rights of internet users, WhenU urged the Utah District Court to prevent the Spyware Control Act from coming into force early next month.

According to reports in the US media, the implementation of the new law has been moved from May 3 to May 28 in order to allow time for a hearing to take place, at which WhenU is expected to apply for a preliminary injunction.

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