[privacy] MPAA Kills Anti-Pretexting Bill

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72214-0.html?tw=rss.index

A tough California bill that would have prohibited companies and individuals
from using deceptive "pretexting" ruses to steal private information about
consumers was killed after determined lobbying by the motion picture
industry, Wired News has learned.

The bill,
<http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/05-06/bill/sen/sb_1651-1700/sb_1666_bill_2006080
7_amended_asm.html> SB1666, was written by state Sen. Debra Bowen, and would
have barred investigators from making "false, fictitious or fraudulent"
statements or representations to obtain private information about an
individual, including telephone calling records, Social Security numbers and
financial information. Victims would have had the right to sue for damages.

The bill won approval in three committees and sailed through the state
Senate with a 30-0 vote. Then, according to Lenny Goldberg, a lobbyist for
the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, the measure encountered unexpected,
last-minute resistance from the Motion Picture Association of America.

"The MPAA has a tremendous amount of clout and they told legislators, 'We
need to pose as someone other than who we are to stop illegal downloading,'"
Goldberg said.

Consequently, when the bill hit the assembly floor Aug. 23, it was
<http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/05-06/bill/sen/sb_1651-1700/sb_1666_bill_2006083
0_history.html> voted down 33-27, just days before revelations about
Hewlett-Packard's
<http://www.wired.com/news/technology/computers/0,71727-0.html> use of
pretexting to spy on journalists and board members put the practice in the
national spotlight.

Legislature records confirm that the MPAA's paid lobbyists worked on the
measure. An aide to Bowen, who was forced out of the legislature by term
limits and was elected Secretary of State, said the MPAA made its
displeasure with the bill clear to lawmakers.

"The MPAA told some members the bill would interfere with piracy
investigations," the aide said. The association "doesn't want to hamstring
investigators."

The MPAA declined to comment for this story.

...

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