Congressional committee takes aim at spyware

• The powerful House Commerce Committee on Wednesday made anti-spyware legislation a top priority, with members hoping to vote it out of committee in the next two to three weeks.
• "This is on the fast track, and we hope to be marking this bill up in the very near future," said committee chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas).
• The committee devoted its first hearing of the new session to exploring anti-spyware bill HR29, or the Spy Act.
• The bill is expected to garner wide support in the House because it's basically a reintroduction of the former HR2929, which passed the House by a 399-1 vote in the last session.
• As with HR2929, HR29 is sponsored by Rep. Mary Bono (R-California).
• The bill exponentially increases fines against abusers as well, authorizing the Federal Trade Commission to fine violators up to $3 million per infraction.
• HR29's significantly lower bill number this session "shows you how the priority has shifted" among lawmakers increasingly alarmed and irritated by the prevalence of spyware throughout cyberspace, Barton said.
• Several at Wednesday's hearings recounted spyware horror stories involving family members, with Barton commenting that he was forced to buy a new computer for his daughter after spyware clogged its operating system beyond repair.
• "We don't want to necessarily stop those third-party cookies from working," said Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Florida), chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.
• Ari Schwartz, associate director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, said the FTC needs more resources to nab violators.
• "Raising the penalties gives them more power, but it won't be effective if they can't use it," he said.
• Several lawmakers, meanwhile, said any spyware bill should also include criminal penalties.