Hollings Introduces Privacy Bill

Dynedain writes "Senator Disney (aka Hollings) is apparently trying to get on techies' good side. ZDnet is reporting he is proposing a bill for 'net privacy' requiring opt-in agreements when companies want to sell 'sensitive' information (medical history, sexual preference, etc.) and opt-out agreements when selling non-sensitive (buying habits). US Chamber of Commerce is opposing this." Another article on Newsbytes notes that there are likely to be several privacy bills floating around, offering different levels of actual protection.

History Repeats itself

[plemeljr]

"I fear the Greeks, even when bringing gifts"
-Virgil (70-19 BC)

Disney was burned not frozen

[yerricde]

Eisner is sweating bullets that someone will access Walt's medical data and find out that he was scheduled for revival in 2001

Myth Busters! Walter Elias Disney wasn't frozen [snopes.com] but instead cremated two days after he died.

Trojan Horse

[rlp]

Just wait for it to get out of committee and have Hollings tack on an amendment that looks amazingly like the CBDTPA. Senator Leahy killed the CBDTPA by refusing to let it out of committee. Hollings could have had a change of heart, and suddenly become interested in individual privacy rights - but I wouldn't bet that way.

Senatorial chessgame

[peacefinder]

Remember that the US Senate is one of the great bastions of political gamesmanship.

It's probably a safe bet that Hollings hasn't suddenly switched his basic pro-media position. If that's so, then this bill may well be a maneuver to counteract someone else's bill.

For instance, in the recent campaign finance reform debates, the opponents of CFR floated a *better* bill, that they knew would not pass, as a way to divide the support for a CFR bill that might pass. This could well be a similar maneuver.

Pay close attention to the men behind the curtains. :)

This has nothing to do with the CBDTPA

[anthony_dipierro]

From the LA Times article [latimes.com] (google, you continue to impress):

Two years ago, Hollings sponsored a bill that would have required Web sites to get permission before collecting or disclosing personal information, a process known as opt-in.

This bill has nothing to do with Hollings trying to get on the good side of techies. He appears to sincerely hold these beliefs. That said, this bill probably has as much respect for the tenth ammendment as the SSSCA. I haven't seen the details, so I can't say for sure.

An older version

[anthony_dipierro]

Here is an older version of a similar bill [loc.gov] which was sponsored by Hollings in 2000.

Section by Section analysis

[dcgaber]

We [ccianet.org] have prepared a section-by-section analysis of this bill that can be found here [ccianet.org].

Enjoy!