--- begin forwarded text Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1999 00:23:24 -0800 Reply-To: Digital Signature discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sender: Digital Signature discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: Daniel Greenwood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: House Rejects Bliley Bill (HR 1714) Comments: cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hello World, The U.S. House of Representatives rejected the Bliley bill this week by a vote of 234-122. The bill aimed to make the world safe for e-commerce by blowing up all current laws and theoretically possible laws that could impede the use of electronic transactions. The target was seriously overshot, however, and the bill was drafted far too broadly. The provisions ran roughshod over several consumer protection and related state and federal laws requiring records and signatures to be in writing or otherwise formatted, delivered or processed in a particular manner. The preemption provisions were also severely flawed (creating conflicts and confusion regarding otherwise valid and important areas of state jurisdiction over contract law and certain aspects of commercial law). In the upper chamber, however, Senator Abraham's bill (S. 761) remains capable of revision and possible movement. Thought you might be interested. Regards, Daniel Greenwood http://civics.com --- end forwarded text ----------------- Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
