Computer Spyware

Last year, I passed legislation on computer spyware (e.g., programs surreptitiously loaded onto a user's computer to do something the user doesn't want). I'll introduce another bill on spyware shortly and will post a copy of it on this site as soon as it is available.

One great thing about being in the legislature is the people I get to know. Last year, I was helped on the legislation by Ben Edelman, a law school/economics PhD student at Harvard. Though Ben has many tremendous accomplishments, including doing the foundational research for state and federal legislation, the coolest thing to me is that he was the National Football League's expert witness in a copyright case when he was 18 years-old. Recently, I had the opportunity to work with Ben on a pro bono project that all Harvard Law School students must perform to graduate. Ben's project involved analyzing disclosure statements (or lack thereof) of a big spyware company (Gator) and, also, documentation of apparent violations of the recently passed California anti-spyware legislation.

It has been a pleasure to work with Ben and many others who appreciate the problems presented by spyware (such as, 1-800Contacts and Overstock.com). Spyware is a menace to the Internet, to commerce, and to individuals. I'm pleased that many leaders in the computing industry (such as, Time Warner/AOL and eBay) have recognized the problem and, this year, are stepping forward to address it.