With every file-sharing program you download and install, you may be giving away your online privacy piece by piece, and it may get worse if the Online Personal Privacy Act goes through.

Our good friend Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-SC), whom you all already know from the link]">SSSCA debacle, last week introduced a bill called the Online Personal Privacy Act to the floor. Designed to protect your privacy against those ever scornful hackers out there, the bill would require that certain information, such as your financial and medical history, race, lifestyle, religion, political affiliation, and sexual preference stay private and out of the hands of marketers and anyone else who might do nasty things with it. This is deemed by the Senator as "sensitive" information for a person, and rightly so. However, what is NOT classified as "sensitive" information is something a bit more disturbing, for the sheer fact that it isn't included in the list: your name, phone number, address, email and your digital history of purchases on the Internet. This is considered by the OPPA to be "nonsensitive" information and is considered fair game to anyone who wants it online. There is something inherently wrong with this I believe, but it just seems to be the every day norm these days, as our privacy (especially online) continues to be eroded away by business interests that want to harvest it.

Hollings idea in proposing this bill was that billions of dollars were not being spent on e-commerce every year, because people were providing bogus data that throws off companies that want to try and get you to buy more things. Hollings argues that if you "protect" certain information online, you create a sense of security for the user that their personal information won't be exploited and that they should feel safe buying that kinky sex book off of Amazon. However, this veil is incredibly threadbare - sure consumers might feel safe knowing that a company won't know what race they are, but in this age of telemarketers, spam and the harvesting of personal information, how can he expect them to feel safe at ALL when they know exactly where you live and what you buy? Enter into this fray "spyware". Spyware is software such as Gator, Bonzai Buddy, OnFlow, New.net, etc that comes bundled usually with the most popular file sharing programs out there, such as Kazaa and Morpheus. These programs are installed often by users who click through the install process without bothering to read what comes along with their file sharing tool. The file-trading companies make money by including this software in their programs, through a marketing deal arranged well in advance. What got them their heinous name however, is what they do. Programs like Gator and OnFlow track where you go online, under the supposed "useful" premise of completing passwords and remembering favorite sites. They then relay this information, supposedly anonymously, to a central server where they sell it to marketers. Most users have no idea what hit them or why they keep getting so much junk mail all of a sudden. Once the outcry against spyware and what these companies were doing grew in force however, the file sharing companies backed off and are trying to make it more clear to users what they are getting. The majority of users, I'm sure, would like nothing better than to see this parasitc bloatware gone from their harddrives, but Hollings bill seems to be doing the exact opposite of that: encouraging it.

Essentially, the OPPA would make it legal for companies like Gator to take even MORE information than what they take now: your name, address, phone, etc on top of your surfing habits and where you buy things. By having a name to go with the supposed anonymous data, the amount of information they can sell to junk marketers increases ten fold and they can make serious money off of the users. Anyone who gets spam knows how hard it is to get off those lists, to keep your inbox from filling up. But imagine what would happen if the spams started getting more exact and more targeted, seeming to know everything about you and what you do online and selling to you that way? I can't imagine a more invasive crushing of privacy than that, but if the OPPA becomes law then I'm sure someone will find a way to dig deeper. Masquerading as something to help protect consumers, all Hollings is really doing is selling out the growing numbers of e-shoppers to the ravenous, blood sucking marketers out there, who already hassle us on the phone, in stores and in email anonymously. By putting the final piece of the puzzle together for them, Hollings is likely to drive away more potential customers than he is likely to bring in.

Privacy online shouldn't be a gray area, with certain amounts of data distinguished by classification. A person should be able to go online, buy something knowing that they won't be inundated a few days later with junk mail and phone calls. Any less standard than that for Internet users is unacceptable. Marketers may argue that they already have access to our personal information through phone books and other public lists - to that I say great, but that doesn't mean that we are willing to just willingly provide it to you without our even knowing. If they want it so bad, they can do the leg work to get it. I strongly urge you to write your representative and tell them NOT to support this bill without significant revisions. If you don't, expect to see the amount of spam in your inbox triple in the next few weeks, simply because you installed the new version of Bearshare...