By John Scorza, CCH Washington Staff Writer

The House of Representatives on October 5, 2004, overwhelmingly approved a bill designed to protect computer users from spyware by a vote of 399-1.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) defines spyware as software "that aids in gathering information about a person or organization without their knowledge and that may send such information to another entity without the consumer's consent or that assert control over a computer without the consumer's knowledge."

The bill offers several consumer protections. "The legislation before us would prohibit the sets of practices like hijacking a consumer's homepage," explained Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "It would prohibit keystroke logging. It would prohibit sending ads that cannot be closed except by shutting down the computer. It would also provide for a prominent opt-in for consumers prior to downloading any monitoring software under that consumer's computer. I believe that consumers should be given notice and have the right to consent before monitoring software that collects information about them is added to their computers," said Barton

Under the bill's opt-in requirement, consumers would have to receive clear warnings about spyware programs. They would have to provide affirmative consent before spyware programs could operate on their computers. The bill would require that consumers be given the option of easily disabling any harmful spyware programs on their computer.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) would be given the authority to enforce the act. But the FTC has questioned the need for the legislation. The agency at a hearing earlier this year suggested that enforcement could be difficult because spyware is a vague term used to describe a wide variety of software. The FTC maintained that it already has the necessary tools to combat abuses of spyware.

On the Senate side, the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved a similar bill on September 22. Like the House bill, the Senate measure would require clear disclosure to computer users of software features that may pose a threat to user privacy. The Senate has not yet scheduled a full vote on its version of the bill.