For instance, the Consumer Federation of America contends that the bill will create opportunities for fraud and "reignite the abusive securities analyst practices that fueled the tech stock boom and bust," a reference to the 2001 tech implosion, which included Enron.

The legislation also includes a provision that allows startups and small businesses to raise up to $1 million annually "from many small-dollar investors" through web-based platforms, according to the White House. That clause has been called the "crowd funding" or "crowd sourcing" provision.

The legislation had strong bipartisan support in Congress, and Obama, in a statement, said the law "will help entrepreneurs raise the capital they need to put Americans back to work and create an economy that's built to last."

Patrick Thibodeau covers SaaS and enterprise applications, outsourcing, government IT policies, data centers and IT workforce issues for Computerworld. Follow Patrick on Twitter at , or subscribe to . His e-mail address is .

in Computerworld's Gov't Legislation/Regulation Topic Center.