News from the States

This online newsletter is a product of NCSL's Communications and Information Policy Committee.

Fall 2000

CONTENTS

Communications and Information Policy Committee Meeting - December 2000, Washington DC
More Identity Theft, More Laws
Bill Tracking Subscription Services
Electronic Government 2000 Enactments
New Federal Government Internet Portal
Model Legislation for the Digital Age -- Update on UETA and UCITA
The New Global Telecommunications Industry and Consumers
Cybersquatters, Beware!
Minors' Access to the Internet at School or the Library
Cell Phones: Facts, Fiction, and Frequency
States Pass "Do Not Call" Telemarketing Legislation

Telecommunications and Information Policy

Last update: 10/9/00

Communications and Information Policy Committee Meeting - December 2000, Washington DC

The Communications and Information Policy Committee will hold its next meeting December 13-15, 2000 in Washington, DC during the joint Assembly on Federal Issues/Assembly on State Issues meeting. Topics of discussion will be Privacy, Identity Theft, Access and Privacy Issues Related to Criminal History Records, and the Impact of Information Technology on Legislative Communications. On Wednesday, December 13th, the Committee plans tours/briefings at the IBM Institute of Electronic Government and AOL. Details are on the Committee's preliminary agenda.

More Identity Theft, More Laws

According to government estimates, 500,000 people a year are victims of identity theft. A thief may obtain a Social Security number; use a blank, pre-approved credit application; or pose as a loan officer to get credit reports with numbers to establish an account using another's identity. Experienced hacker thieves use technology to invade corporate databases and download credit card numbers and other personal data. In addition, names, addresses, dates of birth, telephone numbers, Social Security numbers, or mothers' maiden names may be bought on the Web. When notified, some credit bureaus place fraud alerts on accounts, but individuals with ruined credit records are on their own to reestablish a good rating.

At least 39 states now have laws related to identity theft. Last year, seven states--Arkansas (H.B. 1167 and S.B. 912), Illinois, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oregon and Tennessee--passed laws that specifically label "identity theft" or "identity fraud."

Privacy and consumer advocates maintain that restriction on access to Social Security numbers are key in the fight against identity theft. A California bill, S.B. 1767, proposed by Senator Debra Bowen which did not pass, would have banned banks, health plans and colleges from using Social Security numbers as individual identifiers.

Also, the Financial Privacy Act (H.R. 313) was enacted last year that allows banks, insurance companies and securities firms to access each other's databases but includes a federal crime provision, punishable by up to five years in prison, for any persons misrepresenting themselves to obtain an individual's private financial data.

- Submitted by Rita Thaemert

Bill Tracking Subscription Services

Every state offers free access to bill status and/or bill text via the Internet. Most also provide search capabilities for bills. Several states are now expanding these services to provide customized bill tracking on legislative web sites. At least ten states now offer free e-mail subscription services. At least eight of those ten states-- Arizona, Arkansas, Iowa, Montana, Nevada, South Carolina , South Dakota, and Texas--allow users to keep a personal, customized list of bills that they can check on periodically to follow bill status. Arkansas also allows a user to receive by e-mail a text file with bill status for up to 200 bills.

In California and Utah, once a user retrieves a bill, he or she has the option of subscribing to that bill. As new actions are taken on the bill, the user receives automatic notices of these actions via e-mail.

Several states offer enhanced bill tracking information for a fee. In addition to the free information provided on their legislative web sites, at least seven states have fee-based subscriber services, including Alaska, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, North Dakota, and Virginia.

In addition to bill tracking services, two states provide e-mail notifications of other types of legislative information. North Dakota allows users to sign up for e-mail notifications when interim committee meeting notices and minutes are available on the Internet. North Carolina sends House and Senate Calendars to subscribers of a listserv.

- Submitted by Pam Greenberg

Electronic Government 2000 Enactments

Electronic government is growing leaps and bounds as almost every state legislature dealt with legislation establishing e-government services. The only states that did not address electronic government were those states that were not in session in 2000.

Bills addressing electronic filing received much of the legislative attention as legislators sought to make government more efficient for citizens. Alaska, Arizona, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Missouri, New York, Ohio, and Virginia enacted legislation to facilitate posting public notices on the Internet. And, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, and Minnesota authorized the use of the Internet to post other types of information.

Arizona, Hawaii, Kentucky, Utah, Virginia, and Washington passed legislation to allow lobbyists and political campaigns to file reports and receive information electronically. Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, New York, and Ohio expanded the use of electronic payments for government services.

See the NCSL Electronic Government web page for links to the full text of the legislation mentioned.

- Submitted by Heather Morton

New Federal Government Internet Portal

The federal government launched a new Internet portal to provide one-stop access to all online federal government resources at www.firstgov.gov. Firstgov.gov allows users to access 20,000 federal government Internet sites and 27 million pages of data. Through the index of federal web sites, users can check severe weather, research laws and legislation, search for jobs and training opportunities, look up museums and zoos, make reservations for camping and other recreational activities, apply for loans, monitor Social Security benefits, administer government grants and contracts, and much more. In addition to federal resources, Firstgov.gov provides information about and links to state and local resources.

- Submitted by Heather Morton

Model Legislation for the Digital Age -- Update on UETA and UCITA

Twenty-two states have adopted the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) which gives electronic signatures and records the same validity and enforceability as manual signatures and paper-based transactions. California and Pennsylvania passed UETA in 1999 and twenty more states adopted this model act in 2000. The full text of these new laws are listed at http://www.ncsl.org/programs/lis/cip/ueta.htm.

In June, President Clinton signed into law the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act, S. 761 (E-SIGN). This new federal act establishes the validity of electronic records and signatures, and it permits the states to preempt federal law if the state has enacted the official version of UETA as adopted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL). See the NCCUSL web site for more information about the overlap of the federal law and UETA. http://www.nccusl.org/uniformact_articles/uniformacts-article-ueta.htm

Virginia was the first state to enact the new uniform act governing licensing of software and electronic information developed by the NCCUSL. The Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA) establishes rules for licensing computer software and computerized databases, music, and information whether on or off the Internet. Delegate Joe T. May, co-chairman of the House of Delegates' Committee on Science and Technology, explains that the measure provides an important legal framework for electronic contracting: "The technology which makes these laws almost mandatory is practically brand new and rapidly expanding -- what's not keeping up are the rules and regulations." Critics of UCITA charge that it fails to provide sufficient protection for consumers. Virginia's new law is scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2001, after the Joint Committee on Technology and Science studies the impact of the act and reports its findings to the governor and the legislature. In April 2000, Maryland became the second state to adopt UCTIA. http://www.ncsl.org/programs/lis/cip/ucita.htm. For the full text of the act and background information see the NCCUSL web site http://www.nccusl.org/uniformacts-subjectmatter.htm#business.

- Submitted by Jo Anne Bourquard

The New Global Telecommunications Industry and Consumers

The Institute for Information Policy (IIP) at Penn State University has recently released a paper "The New Global Telecommunications Industry & Consumers." The publication offers an introduction describing in simple terms the complex landscape of the telecommunications industry. Other chapters include: "Technology and Change," "Business Imperatives," "Consumers, Change and the Benefits of Change," and "Projecting the Telecommunications Industry in 2009." The paper can be located at the National Association of Regulatory Commissioners' website at http://www.naruc.org.

- Submitted by Bob Boerner

Cybersquatters, Beware!

Julia Roberts won. Sting tried, but lost. And Madonna is currently in the fray.

What are these celebrities challenging? The right to own their names on the Web. All have deemed themselves victims of cybersquatting, where an individual registers a trademarked or famous name as an Internet address, primarily with the aspirations of selling the domain for profit.

In order to cease this malicious practice, some stars such as those mentioned have taken legal action against possible or existing domains bearing their moniker. Previously, a celebrity had two alternatives for recourse. The first alternative was to file a complaint with the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit organization that manages the Net's addressing system. Under its Uniform Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP), trademarked names are protected against cybersquatters. As the second alternative, Congress passed legislation that established the option to sue such parties, thus granting an additional form of resolution.

Now California has entered the arena and is offering a solution at the state level. In late August, Governor Gray Davis signed a cyber piracy act that prohibits "a person with a bad faith intent to register, traffic in, or use a domain name that is identical or confusingly similar" to a famous personality, living or dead. The California law addresses a federal loophole by protecting names that are not trademarked but are in the "sufficiently famous" realm. "Bad faith" can entail presentation of false information, lack of goodwill or intent for financial gain. Penalties include restoration of acquired money or property, plus potential payment of fines up to $2500.

With the two existing directives and the new California law overlapping, enforcing the law may be difficult, especially in the venue of cyberspace where boundaries are not distinct. Julia Roberts may not care, but now Sting and Madonna have an additional weapon to continue their fight.

- Submitted by Janna Goodwin

Minors' Access to the Internet at School or the Library

Four states this year passed legislation relating to minors' access to obscene or sexually explicit materials on the Internet in public schools or libraries. Colorado's law allows publicly supported libraries, including school libraries, to apply for grants if they equip public access terminals with filtering software and have policies in place to restrict minors from accessing obscene or illegal information. Maryland requires county libraries to adopt policies and procedures to prevent minors access to obscenity or child pornography. Michigan now requires that libraries either 1) provide separate limited and unlimited access computer terminals for children and adults, respectively, or 2) use "a system or method that is designed to prevent a minor from viewing obscene matter or sexually explicit matter . . . " New York's new law simply requires public libraries to establish a policy regarding public access to the Internet.

A South Carolina bill, which would require publicly-funded schools and libraries to develop policies intended to reduce the ability of the user to access web sites displaying obscene material, has been sent to the governor. The bill would also establish a pilot program to assess the feasibility of installing filtering software. The pilot program would evaluate the effectiveness of filtering software.

At least 16 states have enacted this type of legislation since 1997. Most states have passed legislation similar to New York's -- requiring school boards or libraries to adopt a policy regarding Internet access by minors, but Arizona, like Michigan, specifies that the policy must in some way prevent minors' access to harmful material, by, for example, installing filtering software on computers.

- Submitted by Pam Greenberg

Cell Phones: Facts, Fiction, and Frequency

The Consumer Information Bureau recently released a publication on cellular telephones. The report "Market Sense - Cell Phones: Facts, Fiction, Frequency, Helping Consumers Make Sense of the Market" provides a glossary of terms and answers to commonly asked questions about wireless telephones. The publication offers a cost comparison guide and chart to determine the plan that is most cost effective for each consumer. The report can be located on the F.C.C. website at http://www.fcc.gov.

- Submitted by Bob Boerner

States Pass "Do Not Call" Telemarketing Legislation

At least 12 states, Arkansas, Arizona, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Missouri, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas, have statutes that prohibit firms from soliciting consumers over the telephone if the consumers' names appear on a "do-not-call" list. These lists are often similar to the national do-not-call databases and databases created and maintained by state attorneys general or by telemarketing firms. For example, Nebraska § 86-1212 (c) states in part "If a person making a telephone solicitation, or on whose behalf a solicitation is made, receives a request from a residential or business telephone subscriber not to receive calls from that person, the person shall record the request and place the subscriber's name and telephone number on the do-not-call list and the time the request is made."

At least eight states, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Missouri, New York, Tennessee, and Utah considered similar legislation, or modified existing state law, in 2000. Connecticut's governor signed S. B. 365 on May 26, 2000. The new law authorizes the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection to generate the state do-not-call list or to contract with an organization that maintained a national list for at least two years.

- Submitted by Bob Boerner

Telecommunications and Information Policy

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