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    Who are the NERD fund donors Mr Snyder?

    Raise the curtain.

    Quandary


    By Crippy, Section News
    Posted on Tue Oct 19, 2010 at 03:57:57 PM EST
    Tags: Carl Levin, Debbie Stabenow, Mark Pryor, S3742 (all tags)

    I received an email from Defend Our Freedoms dot org regarding a piece of legislation, pending in the senate, S.3742: Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2010.  This bill was introduced by Mark Pryor (D-AR).  The email is vague but from what I gather, Defend Our Freedoms is supporting S.3742.



    Here is the text of the email:
    • Since the 1990s, courts have posted various records online to manage cases
    • more efficiently and provide easier access.

    • Victims, jurors and witnesses fear criminals can easily identify and find them. Others worry about identity theft.

    • Public information that was once kept in a file cabinet is now available online.

    • State and Federal officials need to revamp open records laws now that people's lives have become "digital dossiers".

    • People and groups that support and lobby for open records laws usually are doing it for a specific, self-serving reason. Law enforcement doesn't    need people's lives open, they have access to all information they need. The only people that seem to benefit are nosy neighbors, potential predators and criminals who surf the Web for names and ages of children, addresses and the layouts of their homes.

    • Many people, by nature, don't have good intentions. People's privacy goes beyond stolen identity. We are now speaking of personal safety.


    At the end for the message is a five column matrix.  The columns from left to right contain the following information respectively, senator's name, party affiliation, state, amount of money received from lobbying groups in support of the bill, and amount of money received from a lobbying groups opposed to the bill.



    Naturally, as a Michigander, I scrolled down the matrix until I found Debbie "The Heat Miser" Stabenow and Carl "Marx" Levin.


    Here's what I found:

    The Heat Miser received $1,000 from groups that support the bill and $203,118 from those that oppose it.

    Marx received $1,000 from groups that support the S.2742 and $62,879 from those that oppose it.


    Analyzing the figures and seeing that both Marx and The Heat Miser received exponentially more money from groups that oppose S.3742, I was, naturally and logically, inclined to support the bill.  However, after reading the text of the bill at govtrack  dot us, I'm not so sure.

    Here is the text of the bill:

    "Data Security and Breach Notification Act of 2010 - Requires the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to promulgate regulations requiring each covered entity (proprietorships, partnerships, estates, trusts, cooperatives, and nonprofit and for-profit corporations) engaged in interstate commerce owning or possessing data containing personal information to establish specified security policies and procedures to treat and protect such information. Requires the regulations to include methods for disposing of both electronic and nonelectronic data. Requires information brokers to submit their security policies to the FTC in conjunction with a notification of a security breach notification or on FTC request. Authorizes the FTC to conduct information security practices audits of brokers or require brokers to conduct independent audits. Requires information brokers to: (1) establish procedures to verify the accuracy of information that identifies individuals; (2) provide to individuals whose personal information it maintains a means to review it; (3) place a conspicuous notice on the Internet instructing individuals how to request access to such information; and (4) correct inaccurate information. Directs the FTC to require information brokers to establish measures which facilitate the auditing or retracing of access to, or transmissions of, any data containing personal information. Makes it unlawful for information brokers to obtain or disclose personal information by false pretenses (pretexting). Requires a covered entity to notify the FTC and affected individuals of information security breaches. Sets forth requirements concerning such notification, including method of notification requirements and timeliness requirements. Allows an exemption from notification requirements if the covered entity determines that there is no reasonable risk of identity theft, fraud, or other unlawful conduct. Preempts state information security laws."


    This bill appears to be expanding the FTC's already vast power to include writing the rules to "regulate" internet, data privacy, and this, like any expansion of governmental power, I reject categorically.

    These circumstance have created a personal quandary, however, as I ask myself, "Why would lobbying groups opposed to this power grab funnel money to The Heat Miser and Marx for whom opposing a usurpation of this magnitude would be an egregious blasphemy against their putrid orthodoxy?"


    Perhaps the lobbyists know, better than a commoner like me, that these two curs will turn their back on anything, even on their religion, for the right price?


    Whatever the case may be, I find myself in the potentially horrifying position of being on the same side of an issue as Marx and The Miser.

    Hopefully, the bill will never come up for a vote.

    God help us!

    -Crippy
    < Dingells Last Stand? | LIVE Streaming Of New Media Event Tomorrow! 10-21-10 >


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    Display: Sort:
    As they say.. (none / 0) (#1)
    by JGillman on Tue Oct 19, 2010 at 04:39:27 PM EST
    Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.. right?

    • You are... by Crippy, 10/19/2010 05:53:34 PM EST (none / 0)
    Display: Sort:

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