House Again Shoots For Spyware Law

Dubbed the "Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act" (SPY ACT), Bono's bill would prohibit a wide range of spyware- and adware-style activities, including keyboard logging, home page hijacking, and persistent on-screen ads. SPY ACT would also forbid practices such as collecting information without the user's consent or intentionally diverting a browser from its intended destination, and requires software to offer up a "no thanks" dialog so installation can't be done without consumers' knowledge. Programs must also have an easy-to-find uninstall option.

Violators could face civil fines up to $3 million.

Although the bill passed the House in October by a vote of 399-1, the Senate's anti-spyware bill, called SPYBLOCK (for Software Principles Yielding Better Levels of Consumer Knowledge), went nowhere, even though two of its three co-sponsors -- Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.) -- were the pair who pushed through the federal government's first anti-spam law.

"We're confident that this year we will see a spyware bill in the law books," said Rep. Bono in a statement.