Minnesota bill lets Internet Users Block Disclosure

Tux Racer writes "A KMSP article is reporting that 'Internet users in Minnesota would get unprecedented control over their personal information under a bill moving through the Legislature. The bill would give customers control over whether their service providers disclose or sell their personal information, including their e-mail addresses and what Web sites they visited...'"

Java

[QuodEratDemonstratum]

Until they install Java [slashdot.org] of course.

Re:Java

[dpete4552]

http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=328 33&cid=3543736 [slashdot.org]

redsherrif is NOT part of JRE

[Jammer@CMH]

Funny comment, but redsherrif is not part of the Sun runtime, it's a spyware applet used by lamer websites.

See this [slashdot.org] earlier post.

About time.

[littlerubberfeet]

Can they just sort of pass this in the US congress? Or perhaps if enough states pass bills like this, the ISPs will be locked into following these laws....Now, I wonder.....how hard would it be for a bunch of people in an area to start their own ISP with a T1 line and modems to make it easy. Are there co-op ISPs out there? Perhaps I should start one...

Re:About time.

[alsta]

There is federal legislation about healthcare industries, so I don't think it would be too much to ask of ISPs and other businesses to treat customer records in a similar fashion. Every once in a while we see a pioneering step from some part of the world in making man free. It's good to see that.

Re:About time.

[hagardtroll]

The privacy bill that is being proposed in congress now SUPERSEDES any state law. That is, if MN has a more restrictive privacly law, then the US bill being proposed would eliminate any protections provided by this bill.

The current version of the privacy bill being presented by the FTC requires consumers to OPT-OUT of information sharing.

Some more info

[BigDaddy]

Heres a link to the exact bill itself:
House of Representatives [state.mn.us]
Senate [state.mn.us]

If you live in MN and want to talk to your reps (I know I do), find out who represents you. [state.mn.us]

No true privacy laws?

[essdodson]

Maybe its time that some hard laws are laid down concerning privacy. Everything I've seen indicates that its meerly implied rather than stated.

"Lets": Pretend.

[jzitt]

The headline attempts to lure us into the mistaken idea that: Minnesota bill lets Internet Users Block Disclosure

Hmm... it looks like whoever wrote this headline is unclear on either English grammar or American law.

In no sense can it be said that a bill "lets" something happen. At most, the bill proposes that something happen. Only when the bill is passed and becomes law does it have any effect.

A trivial difference? Ask anyone who has received a gerjillion SPAMs that contain the embedded lie that a US bill, never passed, allows them to crap in our in-boxes.

but how to take advantage of the law?

[GoatPigSheep]

How can one take advantage of this law when much of the software and people that steals and deals personal information is being based in countries with weak laws against this sort of thing (like russia)