“US Senator Olympia Snowe introduced S. 2661, the “Anti-Phishing Consumer Protection Act of 2008” (APCPA). The bill was also cosponsored by Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Ted Stevens (R-AK).

The bill threatens to derail domain names as we know them. The bill seems to be hidden under the “Anti-Phishing” title but contains provisions that are largely unrelated to these objectives and that radically and unnecessarily expand the rights of trademark owners to essentially provide them with monopoly rights on registered trademarks to the detriment of millions of individuals and businesses engaged in lawful and legitimate Internet commerce.

More about this overreaching bill here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

(Photo by AP. Image source)

Source: Posted on The Conceptualist by Sahar Sahid — Reprinted with permission — March 5, 2008