Enhanced Consumer Protection Against Spyware Act of 2005
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
Enhanced Consumer Protection Against Spyware Act of 2005 - Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) combating spyware should be established as a matter of high priority for Federal Trade Commission (FTC) action; and (2) the resources and tools available to the FTC should be enhanced and expanded to increase the breadth and strength of the FTC's spyware enforcement efforts.
Declares that it is a violation of the Federal Trade Commission Act (FTCA) to install through deceptive acts or practices software on protected computers.
Subjects such practices to: (1) enforcement as a proscribed unfair or deceptive act or practice; (2) triple the penalty amounts prescribed in the FTCA; and (3) FTC authority to order disgorgement and seizure of ill-gotten gains.
Preempts state and local law or remedies.
Denies a private right of action in either federal or state court.
Authorizes state Attorneys General to bring enforcement actions in federal court. Prohibits state Attorneys General from bringing an action under this Act if either the U.S. Attorney General or the FTC institutes an enforcement action.
Specifies federal and state law enforcement, investigatory, national security, and regulatory activities exempt from liability under this Act.
Extends the meaning of unfair or deceptive acts or practices subject to FTC enforcement to any such acts or practices involving foreign commerce that cause or are likely to cause reasonably foreseeable injury, or involve material conduct occurring, within the United States.
Amends the federal criminal code to prescribe criminal penalties for illicit indirect use of protected computers.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on May 11, 2005. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on May 11, 2005: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 109th Congress (2005-06), 482 of the 10,701 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 4.5 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
GEORGE ALLEN (R-VA) introduced it on May 11, 2005, and 5 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 5 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 11, 2005, 7792 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 7792 days ago, on May 11, 2005.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 109th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2007 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers