SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
Link: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/aptech_story.asp?category=1700&slug=Calif%20Spyware%20Swapping%20Law

Thursday, September 30, 2004 · Last updated 9:17 a.m. PT

Calif. OKs anti-spyware, swapping laws

By JIM WASSERMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed separate legislation designed to combat spyware and the illegal online swapping of copyright material.

One bill requires people who share movies, videos and recordings on file-sharing services to provide their e-mail or physical addresses, while the other bans unauthorized installation of spyware on individual computers.

But questions abound about the enforceability of both.

Sponsored by the Motion Picture Association of America, the file-sharing law authorizes fines up to $2,500 and a year in county jail. The San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation believes that to the extent the law does get enforced, "it becomes more dangerous."

"Every time a 14-year-old girl trades a song file and has to include her true address, that's a target for a stalker," EFF policy analyst Annalee Newitz said.

The law, sponsored by a former talent agent at the William Morris Agency, Democratic Sen. Kevin Murray, limits fines for minors who don't provide their e-mail addresses to $250, or $1,000 after three violations.

Murray said the law's goal is more about discouraging file sharing than "to catch a bunch of kids."

The spyware law bans collecting personally identifiable information through keystroke logging, gathering web browsing histories, opening pop-up ads and interfering with a user's efforts to identify or remove the spyware. Under the law, consumers can sue for damages.

Link: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/aptech_story.asp?category=1700&slug=Calif%20Spyware%20Swapping%20Law

yahoo emails count?

So next time a 14 year old girl wants to share lullabies or star spangled banner, it's nice to know i can figure out where she lives.

the problem with the spyware ban is who you're going to go after: the company who put out the program with the spyware on it, the company who made the spyware itself, or the person who wrote the spyware code?

Who in their right mind would giver their real (ISP Email address) email address? I wouldn't, I would give them my usal one 123#123.com or joew@joe.com.

i don't know who jarjarbinks@hotmail.com is, but he gets all my spam

Legislation against spyware is difficult, because the user is usually informed exactly what the spyware will do. This takes the form of a paragraph hidden two-thirds down a ten-page EULA which noone is expected to read. But legally, the victim has not only been told, but actually agreed to be monitored.

The law, if I recall correctly, isn't p2p-specific. It covers transmission of a media file regardless of transmission mechanism. It is, of course, unenforcable. Not to mention pointless: Those who the law is supposed to be helping to catch are, by definition, not entirely law-abiding when copyrights are concerned.

"Murray said the law's goal is more about discouraging file sharing than 'to catch a bunch of kids.'"

Since this is now law, who will inform kids about this, our legislators, the Govenor, or as usual, no one!!! If kids don't know about it then it has no deterrent effect!!!

Impeach Arnold!