Utah Could be the First State With a Digital Privacy Law

AlphaAtlas

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Fox 13 in Salt Lake City reports that Craig Hall, a member of Utah's house of representatives, introduced a "Electronic Information or Data Privacy" bill that could be the first of its kind in the nation. Among other things, the bill would extend some legal protections physical items are given to the virtual world. There's quite a bit of text on restrictions and procedures for warrants related to electronic devices and cloud data, and the bill also says that "an individual who transmits electronic information or data to a remote computing service is presumed to be the owner of the electronic information or data," which contradicts the terms of use for many such "remote computing services." Thanks to pogowasright for the tip.

Check out the video report here.

Representatives for Facebook and Google did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment because of the New Year's holiday. Lobbyists for the companies on Utah's Capitol Hill told FOX 13 they were watching the bill with interest. Elizabeth Converse, the director of operations for the Utah Technology Council, a trade group of tech companies, said they were also watching the bill.
 
Good luck enforcing that. The privacy genie has been out of the bottle for a loooong time.
 
Since Utah is the location of the UDC, seems like too little too late from "concerned" parties. According to Wikipedia:

"The data center is alleged to be able to process "all forms of communication, including the complete contents of private emails, cell phone calls, and Internet searches, as well as all types of personal data trails — parking receipts, travel itineraries, bookstore purchases, and other digital 'pocket litter' ".

Expect the data is already out of the bag and stored on the servers therein--perhaps going forward the bill could help in some way.
 
And lawyers from companies that make more than the GDP of Utah claim this is commerce and as a result only Congress can make laws on this, and they already habe enough votes in their pockets to make it not happen
 
All those games and stories when I was young that had these mega corps that spanned planets seemed like so much commie garbage.

In fairness to myself, Circa 2000 compare american governments military, police, currency, education, tax, etc etc power to say walmart and then insist I should be more concerned with walmart instead of the fed I'd justifiably laugh in your face. But circa 2019 compare googles reach and influence to the state of utah. It's like hand me my beret and let's stop these fukin corps.
 
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ToS and EULA basically nullify laws because the user agreed. I know this personally due to a conversation with Webroot back in 2005. We bought a copy of Spy Sweeper for our PC repair service. After installing and using the key about 4 times, I got a message that the key was used too many times. I called Webroot and explain that we were a business and were using Spy Sweeper under (I quoted the law to the CS rep)
U.S. Code Title 17 Chapter 1 Section 117c(1)

(c)Machine Maintenance or Repair.—Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, it is not an infringement for the owner or lessee of a machine to make or authorize the making of a copy of a computer program if such copy is made solely by virtue of the activation of a machine that lawfully contains an authorized copy of the computer program, for purposes only of maintenance or repair of that machine, if—
(1)such new copy is used in no other manner and is destroyed immediately after the maintenance or repair is completed;
I said we install the software, activate it on that one machine, run the software, then uninstall it. The CS rep said we are aware of that, but by agreeing to the EULA, you allow us to disregard that part of copyright law.
So if this is passed, all that is required by big business is a modification of their ToS or EULA and the law is null and void.
 
Except you can't make a ToS or EULA that is against the law, sure you'll have to take the company to court but there are already cases where they don't hold up even if a user agrees because they are against the law.
 
Too bad this is state legislature. Things like the PATRIOT act, NSL's, NSA snooping, and other federal bullshit will take presidence.

Generally, this bill is unenforceable.
 
Except you can't make a ToS or EULA that is against the law, sure you'll have to take the company to court but there are already cases where they don't hold up even if a user agrees because they are against the law.
So that stuff is a scare tactic and not a legitimate claim?
 
So that stuff is a scare tactic and not a legitimate claim?
Yes, as long as the law says you can do something, they can't make an eula/tos saying you can't. But it happens all the time and it pretty much takes a lawsuit to get a company to change, so take that as you will. They are just banking that nobody is going to take them to court.
 
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