Getting a lot of calls/inquiries and general "oh noes da sky is falling" about this, so I'll throw in my .02 cents.
On the Negative Option part of this bill, this is pretty much what Visa/MC have been doing anyways for the past year, the Senate Bill just codifies what is already most merchant account policies anyways, not much new there.
As to all the fears that this will kill upsells, ban free trials/continuities, etc, that isn't the case. This legislation simply prohibits passing on the CC billing details to 3rd Parties. Meaning, the original merchant that rings up the first sale is still allowed to upsell, cross-sell, etc, they can' t just arbitrarily hand over the CC details to a different merchant. More "creative" merchants will just enter into compliant "fee-splitting" arrangements with the 3rd parties that want access and will likely keep doing this, business as usual, anyways.
Realistically, merchants can still cross-sell other merchant's offers, they just have to run it through the initial merchant's account (who can fwd on or split funds in accordance with whatever agreeement they have) as long as the initial terms are disclosed.
Overall, this is probably a good thing for the industry, the guys that were collecting CC info for one sale, then giving away/selling that info to dozens of unrelated merchants to use were bringing a lot of unwanted attention and heat to legitimate merchants that offer continuity and free trials.
