eBay spent $545,000 to lobby in first quarter

The San Jose, Calif.-based company also lobbied on data security legislation, measures to protect children from online predators and proposals to halt piracy and counterfeiting of American-owned intellectual property. In addition, eBay lobbied on legislation to crack down on spyware programs, which are computer programs that can surreptitiously access hard drives to track online behavior and steal sensitive personal data.

EBay also lobbied on network neutrality proposals that would require broadband providers to treat similar types of Internet traffic equally, and legislation intended to drive the rollout of broadband access, according to a disclosure report filed April 21 with the House clerk's office.

The company also lobbied on bills that would make it possible for Internet phone companies to provide emergency 911 service, and on proposals to overhaul the Universal Service Fund, which subsidizes phone service for rural and low-income customers through a surcharge on long-distance bills.

The company also lobbied on measures that would amend federal drug law to mandate that no controlled substance could be distributed via the Internet without a valid prescription by a health care practitioner who had physically examined the recipient at least once.

Besides Congress, eBay lobbied the U.S. Trade Representative, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission and other agencies in the first three months of the year.