Two arms of the U.S. legal system took diametrically opposed approaches to online privacy this week. First, a federal judge requested that P2P service TorrentSpy begin creating logs of its users’ activities in order to create a record for the MPAA, which is suing TorrentSpy.
One key problem is that this order violates TorrentSpy’s privacy policies. But the more troubling ramification is that the order could set a precedent for other courts, which could in turn force other Internet-related companies to track user activity to create a record for lawsuit plaintiffs. As EFF’s Fred von Lohmann said “We shouldn’t let Web site logging policies be set by litigation.” TorrentSpy is appealing the judge’s order and the user tracking is on hold for now.
On the other end of the privacy spectrum is a spyware bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives this week. The Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act, which passed the House on Wednesday by a vote of 368 to 48, would, among other things, make it illegal for web sites to take control of computers to send unsolicited information and would further make it illegal to collect personal information without first gaining the user’s permission.
The Direct Marketing Association and other business groups have decried the bill as overly restrictive claiming that its scope would make such things as targeted advertising or cookies illegal by requiring web sites to get a user’s permission every time a user’s history is tracked. (If this in fact is how the legislation would play out, we’re all in trouble because I don’t know any web site that doesn’t use cookie-based tracking programs to quantify, at the minimum, visitor traffic.)
The EFF, on the other hand, doesn’t like the bill because it’s not as strong as some state-level privacy laws and it would take away the rights of private citizens to sue spyware companies.
Cynthia Brumfield at 10:07 AM|Comments(0)
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