Spyware II

My spyware bill passed out of committee yesterday. Because they properly characterize the bill, I don’t have any big beefs with the articles written about the bill. However, I do feel the need to clarify that I did not concede that last year’s bill was hastily written, because in no way would I care to diminish the efforts or skills of all those who worked on that bill. To the contrary, I predict that last year’s bill someday will become the standard – that data mining will require disclosure. Now, though, I think the topic is hands-off because of overly-restrictive dormant commerce clause interpretations; later, as judges become more familiar with technology, I think they will understand that states do have a role to play.

What I did say about being early was adequately captured by Brice Wallace:

[T]he sponsor, Rep. Stephen Urquhart, R-St. George, said Monday that Utah was "maybe a touch early" with its legislation. Some businesses at that time were being affected by outside pop-ups, but now the "bigs of the world" are being affected by spyware that generates pop-ups, he said.

We were a touch ahead of the curve. This year, though, the public is better-informed and more frustrated with spyware, and businesses are ready to act. Time Warner/AOL (which was opposed to last year’s effort) has done a tremendous job of coming to the table and digging into the issue.