Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act

SECURELY PROTECT YOURSELF AGAINST CYBER TRESPASS ACT -- (House of Representatives - October 05, 2004)

Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2929) to protect users of the Internet from unknowing transmission of their personally identifiable information through spyware programs, and for other purposes, as amended.

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of a strong consumer and privacy protection bill, H.R. 2929, the Securely Protect Yourself Against Cyber Trespass Act or the SPY ACT.

First, I would like to thank my colleagues, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton), the ranking member, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell), the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stearns), the gentleman from New York (Mr. Towns) and the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Bono), for their work on the SPY Act. I would like to commend them for the manner in which this bill was handled. The process was open. There was a sincere willingness to address each other's concerns and the work was organized around the goal of creating a strong and effective consumer protection bill. I think we have accomplished our goal.

The SPY ACT is a bill whose time has come. As we have learned from our constituents, friends and family from our own experiences, people are increasingly finding that their home web pages have been changed or that their computers are sluggish. They will get pop-up ads that will not go away no matter how many times they try to close them. They find software on their computer that they did not install and that they cannot un-install. Their computers are no longer their own, and they cannot figure out why. They think that the problem is with their computer, with a faulty program they installed, or with their Internet service provider.

But more and more often, it is becoming clear that they are the unwilling victims of spyware. Software that can collect personal information, track web usage and adversely effect computer performance. While some of the above examples may be written off as merely annoying, there are serious privacy and security issues at stake.

The tracking capability of the software is so powerful that it can record every keystroke a computer user enters. It can snatch personal information from a consumer's hard drive. People can see their bank account numbers, passwords and other personal information stolen because they quite innocently went to a Web site or clicked an agreement which downloaded spyware onto their computer.

Although we do not want to stop legitimate uses of the underlying software, like allowing for access to online newspapers without having to register every time the Web site is visited, we do want consumers to know what is happening with their constitutes and personal information and to stop truly nefarious abuses of the programs, like keystroke logging which can track and transmit every keystroke entered to an unintended recipient.

The SPY ACT ensures that consumers are protected from truly bad acts and actors while also preserving pro-consumer functions of the software. It prohibits indefensible uses of the software, like keystroke logging and homepage highjacking. Additionally, it gives consumers the choice to opt-in to the installation or activation of information-collection programs on their computer, programs that are not spyware, but only when the consumer knows exactly what information will be collected and what will be done with it.

Furthermore, the SPY ACT gives the Federal Trade Commission the power it needs, on top of laws already in place, to pursue deceptive uses of the spyware. The SPY ACT puts the control of computers and privacy back in consumers' hands, and I am glad that I was able to be a part of the process that brought this bill to the floor today.

Again, I thank my colleagues for this pro-consumer, pro-privacy and bipartisan piece of legislation.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I would like to join the gentleman in thanking our staff, as well, for the hard work and the good work they did on bringing this legislation now to fruition.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Towns), one of the people most responsible for this consumer protection legislation.

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Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, if I could inquire if there are any other speakers on the other side.

Mr. BARTON of Texas. We think we have the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Upton), subcommittee chairman, on his way; but other than that we have no other speakers.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I have no other speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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