'Awful' Internet Rules Released

maximus1 writes "NetChoice, a trade group that identifies and fights threats aimed at online communities and e-commerce, released iAWFUL, a list of America's 10 worst legislative and regulatory proposals targeted at the Internet. At the top of the list is a Maine law that would require e-commerce sites to get parental approval before collecting minors' personal information. According to the NetChoice site, 'lawmakers approved the measure despite the fact that Web sites have no means to confirm such consent, and would be effectively forced to stop providing valuable services like college information, test prep services, and class rings.' Coming in second on the iAWFUL list is a city ordinance that would hit Internet users with an extra tax on hotel rooms. Scheduled to take effect in September, the new tax is aimed at consumers who use the Internet to bargain hunt for expensive NYC hotel rooms."

Trade groups suck

[Publikwerks]

The law states its illegal to: "knowingly collect or receive health-related information or personal information for marketing purposes from a minor without first obtaining verifiable parental consent" MARKETING PURPOSES being the operative term here. This looks like a good law to me

Re:Awful?

[Anonymous Coward]

WHY DON'T YOU LINK to the ACTUAL LIST? Instead of an ARTICLE about an ARTICLE about the List?

http://www.netchoice.org/press/misguided-marketing-restriction-and-online-travel-tax-top-list-of-worst-internet-legislation.html

Re:Awful?

[Anonymous Coward]

There's no way to verify that a person is over 18/21 except via credit card transactions... which most people are hesitant to provided for non-purchases.

If you require minors to get "parent consent" before submitting a form... it will either be invalidatable (new words are fun) or simply denied by a large portion of the site's traffic. Sure, you need your parents with you to get into an R-rated movie, but said parents are there physically to allow this transaction. This law basically forces everyone to hit a "I consent that my child may use your services" or for the parents to pony up their credit card info for their children joining MySpace.com

Re:Awful?

[jbezorg]

And WHY DIDN'T YOU LINK to the ACTUAL LIST? Instead of a PRESS RELEASE of an ARTICLE about an ARTICLE about the List after ragging on someone about NOT LINKING to the ACTUAL LIST and to an ARTICLE about an ARTICLE about the List?

http://netchoice.org/iawful/ [netchoice.org]

NYC Hotel taxes

[guyfawkes-11-5]

As if taxes on NYC Hotel weren't enough: As of June 2009, the taxes and other fees added to the daily hotel rate are: * New York State Sales Tax = 4% * New York City Sales Tax = 8.375% * Hotel Room Occupancy Tax = $2 + 5.875% * Additional Fee = $1.50

Re:You know what's awful?

[bishiraver]

Readability bookmarklet is your friend: http://lab.arc90.com/experiments/readability/ [arc90.com]

Re:Awful?

[Anonymous Coward]

FTFA : "the law now says it's illegal for anyone to 'knowingly collect or receive health-related information or personal information' for marketing purposes from a minor without getting parental consent. The law includes a minor's name and address as personal information that cannot be collected without parental consent"

This covers a fairly broad range of information, and as it is entirely unenforceable by the web-sites, it sets up e-commerce sites for almost inevitable failure to uphold the law.

Re:You know what's awful?

[MartinSchou]

If you use Opera, you can also add it to your "Block Content" list - works perfectly as well.