IP Democracy: MPAA Fingered as Anti-Pretexting Bill-Killer

Wired News’ Ryan Singel has this juicy piece that spells out how a tough California bill barring the use of deceptive pretexting ruses was hauled off to the dead legislation graveyard with a little help from the Motion Picture Association of America. The bill, SB1666, introduced by state Senator Debra Bowen, sailed through the Senate with a 30-0 vote but capsized when it hit the assembly, which voted it down 33-27 days before the HP pretexting scandal hit last August.

An aide to Bowen (Bowen is now Secretary of State) confirms what everybody in Sacramento probably already knows but doesn’t tell the press — the MPAA, a huge political power in the state, made it clear that it opposed the legislation. It seems that the studios use pretexting all the time in trying to trap to online swappers of unauthorized content.

Actually, the MPAA wasn’t alone in its opposition to the bill (which sounds like it might have been overly broad). Singel quotes the past president of the California Association of Licensed Investigators as saying his association didn’t like the vague legislative language and that sometimes pretexting helps capture bad guys such as deadbeat dads and scam artists..

But the bill was killed and, as Good Morning Silicon Valley John Murrell notes, “the entertainment consortium retained its ability to use fraud and deceit in its moral and legal crusade.”

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on December 1, 2006 3:42 PM to IP Democracy