House "spyware" legislation oblivious to Google's "pryware"

The Post Gazette reports today that:

• "The House passed legislation Tuesday to combat the criminal use of Internet spyware and scams aimed at stealing personal information from computer users.

  Spyware, said bill sponsor Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., "is one of the biggest threats to consumers on the Internet." She and other lawmakers cited estimates that up to 90 percent of computers in this country are infected with some form of spyware.

  Spyware is software that secretly collects information about a person or organization and sends it to another entity without the user's consent..."

Well what about Google's "commercial pryware?"

• Google's standard business practice and business model, which I have dubbed "pryware," is scarily close to the spyware practices that the House very appropriately seeks to outlaw. 
• How is that so?
• The leading US privacy group, the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) has an excellent explanation in it's complaint to the FTC on the Google-DoubleClick merger, of how Google's system of "cookies" and algorithms, track, archive, and profile all of consumers web activity with Google through searches, gmail, YouTube, Checkout, and all their many other applications.
• Let me pull some helpful highlights from the EPIC complaint:

• "35. A January 2006 poll of 1,000 Google users found that 89% of respondents think their search terms are kept private, and 77% believed that Google searches do not reveal their personal identities. These numbers indicate that Google’s practices violate the public’s expectation of privacy with respect to the collection and use of search history data."

• "36. The fact that Google collects its users’ search terms in connection with their IP address is not disclosed on Google’s “Privacy Policy Highlightsâ€? page32 or on its full “Privacy Policyâ€? page..."

• "37. Google does not comply with such well established government and industry privacy standards as the OECD Privacy Guidelines."

EPIC goes on to allege under Section V of the FTC Act that Google's activities constitute:

EPIC's conclusion is hard hitting:

• "54. Google’s proposed acquisition of DoubleClick will give one company access to more information about the Internet activities of consumers than any other company in the world. Moreover, Google will operate with virtually no legal obligation to ensure the privacy, security, and accuracy of the personal data that it collects. At this time, there is simply no consumer privacy issue more pressing..."

   My simple question to the Congress and the House is:

• If Congress understands how "spyware" is deceptive and should be restricted, in what way is Google's systematic commercial "prying" into consumers privacy without consumers' permission, not a similar problem warranting Congress' attention?