Privacy Legislation Leads Group's List of Bad Proposals

NetChoice, an Internet industry group, has released the latest version of its i-AWFUL list of legislative proposals that it says could hamper the growth of e-commerce and the Internet.

Included on this list is the draft privacy bill offered by House Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA)and a similar bill from House Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush (D-IL). NetChoice Executive Director Steve DelBianco said by conflating personally sensitive information such as financial or medical data with marketing data collected about Internet users for the purpose of targeted ads, the Boucher and Rush measures would "constrain one of the few growth industries," online advertising. Among the provisions the group finds particularly onerous include one in Rush's bill that would provide users with a private right of action, language in Boucher's draft that would require consumer consent before a company could send follow-up e-mails to consumers and legislation in the measures giving the FTC rulemaking authority. "If the bills move forward, they will make [Internet] advertising more expensive," DelBianco said.