Ira Rubinstein

My name is Ira Rubinstein and I am an Associate General Counsel at Microsoft Corporation. I want to thank you for the opportunity to share with the Committee Microsofts views on addressing spyware -- an issue on which this Committee has been at the forefront. In particular, I want to thank Chairman Barton and Ranking Member Dingell, Representatives Stearns and Schakowsky, the Chairman and Ranking Member, respectively, of the Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection Subcommittee, and Representatives Bono and Towns, the lead Republican and Democrat sponsors of H.R. 29, the SPY ACT. This Committee has worked tirelessly to raise public awareness of the threat posed by spyware, and to draft legislation that is carefully targeted to address the bad behavior at the root of the problem -- without unnecessarily impacting legitimate software applications. Microsoft believes the Committee has met this goal: we are therefore pleased to support the SPY ACT in its current form, and we look forward to working with Congress as the bill moves forward.