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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><A
href="http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72214-0.html?tw=rss.index">http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,72214-0.html?tw=rss.index</A></FONT></DIV>
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<P>A tough California bill that would have prohibited companies and individuals
from using deceptive "pretexting" ruses to steal private information about
consumers was killed after determined lobbying by the motion picture industry,
Wired News has learned.</P>
<P>The bill, <A
href="http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/05-06/bill/sen/sb_1651-1700/sb_1666_bill_20060807_amended_asm.html"><FONT
color=#183c8a>SB1666</FONT></A>, was written by state Sen. Debra Bowen, and
would have barred investigators from making "false, fictitious or fraudulent"
statements or representations to obtain private information about an individual,
including telephone calling records, Social Security numbers and financial
information. Victims would have had the right to sue for damages.</P>
<P>The bill won approval in three committees and sailed through the state Senate
with a 30-0 vote. Then, according to Lenny Goldberg, a lobbyist for the Privacy
Rights Clearinghouse, the measure encountered unexpected, last-minute resistance
from the Motion Picture Association of America.</P>
<P>"The MPAA has a tremendous amount of clout and they told legislators, 'We
need to pose as someone other than who we are to stop illegal downloading,'"
Goldberg said.</P>
<P>Consequently, when the bill hit the assembly floor Aug. 23, it was <A
href="http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/05-06/bill/sen/sb_1651-1700/sb_1666_bill_20060830_history.html"><FONT
color=#183c8a>voted down</FONT></A> 33-27, just days before revelations about
Hewlett-Packard's <A
href="http://www.wired.com/news/technology/computers/0,71727-0.html"><FONT
color=#183c8a>use of pretexting</FONT></A> to spy on journalists and board
members put the practice in the national spotlight.</P>
<P>Legislature records confirm that the MPAA's paid lobbyists worked on the
measure. An aide to Bowen, who was forced out of the legislature by term limits
and was elected Secretary of State, said the MPAA made its displeasure with the
bill clear to lawmakers.</P>
<P>"The MPAA told some members the bill would interfere with piracy
investigations," the aide said. The association "doesn't want to hamstring
investigators."</P>
<P>The MPAA declined to comment for this story.</P>
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