FTC And Congress Begin Turf Battle Over Fighting Spyware

from the funny-timing dept

While there have been legal actions against spyware makers, they've mostly been from users, or from state governments. The federal government hasn't done nearly as much. In fact, the Senate is planning to hold a hearing trying to figure out just how much power the FTC really has when it comes to spyware. With that in mind, is it any surprise that the FTC has announced, this very morning, a crackdown on a spyware company? Of course, it's not entirely true that the FTC hasn't been involved in the fight. They have gone after a few spyware firms already. This is really about how Congress wants to pass new laws against spyware, because they look good for politicians, while the FTC is saying that those laws won't actually do any thing. In fact, some politicians who want to bask in the publicity associated with "ending spyware" are upset with the FTC for pointing out (truthfully) that such laws will likely do very little.

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