The War Against Spyware Is A Waste

Congress is at it again. Wasting their time, your tax dollars and playing Don Quixote. What are they doing this time, you ask? They are going after Spyware.

Now, let me be clear, Spyware is a "PIA". It sucks the life out of your computer, and compromises your personal privacy. It is also done without your knowledge.

That being said, did any other bill that was passed by the Congress regulating the Internet do anything? Remember the anti-spam bill? I get thousands of pieces of spam each day. Who exactly won that war?

How bout the "Do Not Call" registry? Are you like me, and still getting calls, from your phone company, the chimney people, and the banks? I do, and every phone I own, including my cell phone numbers, are on that list!

Techweb News (April 30, 2004) said this:"Like the Senate, where a trio of lawmakers have introduced a bill to limit spyware, the House has introduced legislation that would require that consumers receive a conspicuous notice prior to downloading spyware. House bill 2929, dubbed "The Safeguard Against Privacy Invasion Act," or SPI Act, was sponsored by Rep. Mary Bono (R.-Cal.)."

Mary, I love you babe, but be real. It ain't going to do squat. And more importantly, who's going to investigate and prosecute?? The FBI? Don't they have more important things to do, like catch Terrorists? Aren't there already laws stating that if you don't have $10,000 in damages, the Fed's won't investigate, which means they won't prosecute?

I have a State Senator who is also busy writing bills that do nothing but capture sound bytes. He even put me on his mailing list (that was a big mistake, because I take him to task on every PR e-mail he sends) and then announces an anti-spam bill. Let's be real here!

So, my advise is ask your legislator to either stop wasting your tax dollars, or spend zillions of dollars here, and not overseas in foreign aid, to people who hate us, and put all these spyware and spammers in jail.

Or maybe, as my friend Roseanne Rosannadanna used to say, we should just "never mind."0