The Senate Commerce Committee approved a bill Wednesday aimed at curbing misleading online marketing tactics. Tech Daily Dose reports that the legislation proposed by Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller (D-WV) emerged out of the committee's investigation into a practice known as "data-pass marketing," where firms convince consumers to sign up for services such as discount memberships where financial information is provided to other firms. The bill would bar companies from automatically passing consumer credit or debit card information to third-party online partners and would also require such merchants to disclose the terms of their offers to consumers. "Web sites will no longer be able to trick consumers into signing up for unwanted services and membership clubs," Rockefeller said during the panel's markup session.
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