NetChoice, a Washington advocacy group that crusades against policy proposals that it deems a threat to online commerce, is out with its latest “iAWFUL” ranking of the 10 worst federal and state legislative proposals.
(iAWFUL = “Internet Advocates’ Watchlist for Ugly Laws.”)
Topping the list are federal proposals for online privacy legislation that NetChoice believes would severely restrict website operators’ ability to produce and publish free content supported by advertising revenue.
One proposal, offered by Rep. Rick Boucher, the Virginia Democrat who chairs the House Internet subcommittee, would impose burdensome restrictions on firms that collect only benign bits of data from their users, the group argued. (Boucher gets it from both sides — numerous hardline privacy advocacy groups have blasted his proposal for doing little more than preserving the status quo.)