House Clears Bills Aimed At Deceptive Online Tactics, 'Spoofing'

The House cleared two technology-related bills including one that aims to crack down on firms that engage in deceptive online marketing tactics. By voice vote, the House passed a Senate bill known as the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act. It would prohibit companies from using misleading post-transaction advertisements and require them to clearly disclose the terms of their offers to consumers and obtain credit and debit card information directly from a consumer purchasing the service or product. It would bar online retailers and other websites from passing on consumers credit, debit or other billing information to third-party sellers. The legislation, offered by Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller (D-WV), emerged from a Commerce Committee investigation into aggressive online marketing tactics by three firms in particular, Affinion, Vertrue, and Webloyalty.

The House also cleared another Senate bill by voice vote that would place new restrictions on caller identification "spoofing," which involves changing the number or name that appears on caller ID during a phone call. The legislation would ban the use of the technology for the intention to "defraud, cause harm, or wrongfully obtain anything of value." Supporters say the technology used to deceive a caller's true identity is easily found on the Internet and is being used by scam artists for identity theft and other crimes and in some cases to cause physical harm.