Bad News for Website Administrators

[op6]

http://www.techimo.com/newsapp/index.pl?photo=14315

Anyone who runs a Web site with registered users and receives income from it (Blogads and Google Ads count) should be concerned. The Specter-Leahy bill says that if that site's list of user IDs or e-mail addresses is compromised, each registered user must be notified via U.S. mail or telephone. Refusal to do so can be punished with $55,000-a-day fines and prison time of up to five years.

That's remarkable but not as extreme as the second requirement: The Web master or mailing list operator might have to "cover the cost" of 12 monthly credit reports of each person whose e-mail addresses was lost or purloined. For a popular site with 10,000 registered users, that would be a princely sum. If monthly credit reports cost $15 a person, that's $1.8 million over a year.

[Toucan]

Hmm, so how do you contact someone who has closed there email account and never gave you any more info than "Hi, I'm Mr.Ed".

[Beef]

Wow. That's a lot of money for a website. There going to be receiving thousands upon thousands of letters or calls. That fine seems a bit strange though. $55,000 a day?

[Schwitzer]

What the... ?

That's just stupid. Surely websites can get around it by using disclaimers at registration? Something like, "Although we will never disclose personal data and endeavor to maintain your privacy, in the unlikely event that our security is compromised we cannot be held responsible for any concentually given data being stolen. By completing this registration, you absolve the owners of this website of any legal responsibilities should this site be attacked by a third party. If you do not agree to these terms, do not register."

[GrassDragon]

That's ridiculous. If all a web admin has is a list of usernames and email addresses (like this site for example) how could they even attempt to contact all of its members?

[bluemicrobyte]

This is probably the result of one stupid persons actions..... again...... This world is starting to become infested with stupid, spoiled people who know more about how to sue someone for money than how to earn money at a job. Yes it is sad.

[ZeroCross]

Apparently, they have ligitmate reasons. No, wait, let me rephrase that. They MIGHT. Of course, as far as we know, someone in charge of a forum somewhere could easily cash in all the email adresses of it's members, to some bunch of spammer.coms and shit. It might make them some good money if they can strike up a deal of sorts. Think about it, AJ could sell all our email accounts to oe of those damn spamming websites to send us tons of shit, then he could sell it to at least 4 of five other people if he knows how to strike up a good deal. By the end he might make a few thousand dollars at least. Now, thnk about people who own abso-f*cking-lutly huge forums with tons of members.

[TheBB]

Sometimes I wonder just WTF politicians (american ones primarily, but also others :P) smoke during their disclosed orgies or whatever. Really...

[stealthey]

Ehhhhh.... This does not look good... if this is fake, though, what a big relief. If not, well...

[AJ]

Tracy Schmaler, a Leahy spokeswoman, said that the bill could be changed before a final vote. "We don't want to place any undue limitations on mailing lists, Web sites, and so on," Schmaler said. "The intent of this is not to make listservs or bloggers pay for credit reports."

I'm going to hope for some changes. And it's not as though this bill has passed, just has been submitted.

edit: it is most definitely not fake, stealthey, here's the cnet article.
http://news.com.com/2010-1071_3-5772012.html

[hammocksleeper]

Y'all should read the bill (they're fun to read anyways :)). Scroll down to Title IV on page 46, and read Subtitles A and B.

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/pdf/ne/2005/Specter-Leahy.pdf


That's ridiculous. If all a web admin has is a list of usernames and email addresses (like this site for example) how could they even attempt to contact all of its members?

"If more than 1,000 residents of the United States require notice under section 421 and if the business entity or agency maintains and Internet site, conspicuous posting of the notice on the Internet site" is an appropriate method of notification.