US House Panel Approves Bill to Combat Spyware

[Jonathan]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=581&e=2&u=/nm/20040617/tc_nm/tech_congress_spyware_dc

A key U.S. congressional panel on Thursday endorsed a bill designed to crack down on deceptive "spyware" that hides in users' computers and secretly monitors their activities.

Lawmakers on a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee voted unanimously for a bill that would require purveyors of spyware on the Internet to notify people before loading new software on their machines.

*rofl* Isn't gonna help but I think its
a step in the correct direction...

[gloint]

This Wont Help

We can have all the legislation and all laws passed here in the U.S. but it still wont help. The people responsible for Spyware, Viruses and DOS, etc, etc and etc 87% (and many are US citizens perpertrating these crimes) are doing all this well outside the U.S. jurisdiction. We have the Chinese and other countries providing bullet proof servers for those nasty spammers. We have the ruskies and brazilians hacking our websites. We have the Germans DOS our servers for fun. The islands providing rip off internet casinos a safe haven(By the way I am making up who is doing what these are just IF WHAT examples so please take no offense to this since many users of Dathorn are from countries around the world and the United States) The only way to fully protect everyone and everything is to ban the IP's (Internet Access) of other countries from accessing our network. But then you would be blocking legitimate users, 46% of the Internet traffic which terminates from countries residing outside the US Internet Cloud.

Here is a good example of something that happens everyday on the Internet. Its illegal for a Chinese citizen to host a website in his/her country and express opinions not reflective of that country policy(Government). But that country allows Internet Service Providers(i.e. hosting companies which are controlled by the government by the way) to host spammer email servers. I went to China last year for a trade show. China has really come a long way especially when it comes to exports of goods made within the country (they are becoming a some what democratic/capatilistic or some type of government like that and once again PLEASE TAKE NO OFFENSE of what I am saying, this is from my observation) They have eased up many of the regulations from the past about foreign trading etc. Back to my main point I went off track there for a bit. All telecommunications companies, etc are government controlled but they allow the ISP's in China (to make money) to spam the world since those emails do to not reflect or state policies of the chinese government. And most spammers host outside the US and find safe havens where U.S. authorities have no jurisdication but on the other hand you find many foreign nationals to host websites in the United States so they will not be condemned on what they host (opinions, news, etc) and the reliabilty of Internet Connections. Many governments such as China, Russia, Korea and other countries can turn off Internet Access with a flip of a switch. Many governments are very restrictive of what type of communications are allowed in the country and that goes for the U.S. also. God forbid you speak some keywords on the phone you will find the FBI at your door.

And for everyone in the U.S. and other countries. A good example is the owner of Ron Jons surf emporium. You may know the name but the owner is no longer allowed in the country for his supposed indiscretions and business practices like many other U.S. citizens. And another website that is very popular ConsumptionJunction many of the owners are now in panama because our government does not like views either. The U.S. is cracking down on our freedom of expression and that should all worry you. And once again these are the ramblings of someone just venting frustration and speaking out a bit. I know I am off subject but just remember dont let big brother get in the picture or you will find yourself not able to do anything also.

I am completly off topic so please dont hold this against me.