This just in from the "I can't believe this was ever legal" department. After years of consumer advocates urging lawmakers to do something to protect consumers from aggressive online sales tactics, University of Minnesota law professor Prentiss Cox shot me an e-mail to say that the "Restore Online Shoppers Confidence Act" is heading to President Obama's desk. A report from the National Journal says the same.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn), was an original sponsor of the bill, which will protect online shoppers from revenue-hungry companies who stoop so low as to trick customers to purchase unwanted, worthless services with confusing Websites.

Klobuchar shared this statement on Tuesday:

I wrote about this practice, also known as pre-acquired account marketing, last November. When researching the story, I figured the companies engaging in these behaviors would be fly-by-night companies. But that's far from the case. Here's an excerpt:

According to Klobuchar's Website, the bill will accomplish the following:

  • Prohibiting companies from using misleading post-transaction advertisements by requiring them to clearly disclose the terms of the offers to consumers and to obtain consumers' billing information, including full credit or debit card numbers, directly from the consumers.
  • Prohibiting Internet retailers and other commercial Websites from transferring a consumer's billing information, including credit and debit card numbers, to post-transaction third-party sellers.
  • Requiring companies that use "negative options" on the Internet to meet certain minimum disclosure and enrollment requirements, so consumers will not end up paying recurring fees for goods and services they did not intend to purchase.