The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asked the US Congress Wednesday for expanded authority to combat spam, or unsolicited e-mail advertisements that some claim are choking the Internet.
The FTC already investigates spam if it involves fraud, the agency said it is seeking authority for broader cooperation with foreign investigators and the ability to conduct secret probes into spammers.
The proposal was delivered to committees of the Senate and House of Representatives by FTC Chairman Timothy Muris.
One change proposed by the FTC would allow the agency to more easily share information with foreign law enforcement agencies, because much of the spam is sent without regard to borders, Muris said.
"The FTC's law enforcement experience shows that the path from a fraudulent spammer to a consumer's in-box frequently crosses at least one international border and often several," he said.
Additionally, the FTC proposal said that hackers and spammers who take over someone else's Internet account or e-mail should not be afforded the same privacy protection as other users.
Muris also said the FTC should be allowed to keep its probe of spammers confidential to keep the target of the probe from changing tactics.
"The FTC's experience is that when fraud targets are given notice of FTC investigations they often destroy documents or secrete assets," Muris said.
But Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center said it would be wrong to conduct secret probes and end the privacy protection that exists for the Internet.
"Arguments for denying notice to the target of an investigation could too easily be made with respect to targets in the US," Rotenberg testified.
"The proposed changes here not only set a bad precedent but would also send a bad message to consumer protection agencies in other countries about the conduct of investigative actions by democratic governments."
The FTC further asked that it be able to obtain information from Internet service providers (ISPs) about possible spam cases, noting that courts have ruled the amount of information ISPs can turn over is limited.
Spam is believed to account for about half of all e-mail traffic and is seen as a growing threat to confidence of the Internet.
Legislators and regulators have been seeking ways to crack down on spam, and a number of lawsuits have been filed seeking to halt unwanted e-mails.
Spam is seen as an annoyance to individual users, but a major cost to many companies, which collectively spend billions of dollars in an effort to keep out the unsolicited e-mails that could choke their networks.
Additionally, authorities and Internet companies are concerned that the junk e-mails for penis enlargement or breast enhancement, or those directing users to porn sites, can be fraudulent or turn users away from the Web.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
‘ARMED GROUP’: Two defendants used Chinese funds to form the ‘Republic of China Taiwan Military Government,’ posing a threat to national security, prosecutors said A retired lieutenant general has been charged after using funds from China to recruit military personnel for an “armed” group that would assist invading Chinese forces, prosecutors said yesterday. The retired officer, Kao An-kuo (高安國), was among six people indicted for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法), the High Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement. The group visited China multiple times, separately and together, from 2018 to last year, where they met Chinese military intelligence personnel for instructions and funding “to initiate and develop organizations for China,” prosecutors said. Their actions posed a “serious threat” to “national security and social stability,” the statement
RSS