There was recently a legal spat involving Qwest -- the state's dominant local phone provider -- and the company selling information about its customers to a third party.

Qwest ended up backtracking earlier this year and limiting the customer information it releases.

Now, days after Gov. Jesse Ventura signed into law a bill providing telephone customers from signing up for a "do-not call list" which certain for-profit telemarketers are required to obey, lawmakers passed a similar act for the Internet.

Both the Senate and House overwhelmingly OK'd a plan giving consumers control over what information its Internet service providers can disclose to a third party.

Supporters at the Capitol said it would make Minnesota the first state with such a law, which requires all ISPs to alert their Minnesota consumers when the ISP plans to disclose personal information.

That includes which Web sites the customer has visited, e-mail or home addresses and even telephone numbers.

In addition to alerting customers the reason for the information disclosure, the ISP must say in a "conspicuous" way, telling their customers the required action to prevent the information-sharing from taking place.

The bill would allow consumers to sue businesses that violate the law, with exceptions for giving information to law enforcement.

Lobbyists from America Online and other Internet giants fought the bill, saying state-by-state regulation of the Internet is unwieldy. The bill wouldn't take effect until March of 2003, and any federal law would supersede.

Gov. Jesse Ventura will now decide its fate. He has not indicated a position on the bill.

A second part of the bill follows the lead of other states that have adopted rules to try to control unwanted e-mail. It would require companies sending unsolicited advertisements to include the letters "ADV" in the subject line of e-mails -- "ADV-ADULT" for material of a sexual nature -- to make it easier to filter out.

Meanwhile, the "do-not call" list will allow a phone customers to sign up by standard mail, telephone or online. Telemarketers are required to buy the list every three months and face stiff fines for a violation of calling someone on the list.