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OVERNIGHT TECH: White House wades into cybersecurity debate
THE LEDE: The White House issued long-awaited legislative recommendations for fortifying U.S. computer networks Thursday in a proposal that notably omitted any talk of a “kill switch” for the Internet. No previous administration had ever released legislative guidance on cybersecurity, which has become a pressing issue now that computer networks have become an essential part of most industries including transportation and communication.
But attempts to deal with cybersecurity in Congress have been bogged down by accusations that the government wants to create a “kill switch” authority for the Web to be used during emergencies. The recent turmoil in Egypt and Tunisia heightened the “kill switch” fears, as the regimes in both countries succeeded in blacking out Internet access in an attempt to quell internal revolts.
A senior White House official said the president has sufficient authority to respond to a cyber-attack and noted that the bill doesn't ask for any expansion to those powers. Alan Paller, a research director at the SANS Institute that specializes in cybersecurity, said there "there isn’t anything at all that smacks of a kill switch" in the White House plan. Read more at Hillicon Valley or in Friday's print edition of The Hill.
Stearns pushes data-breach bill: Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) introduced the Data Accountability and Trust Act on Thursday, which would require entities that collect personal information from consumers to implement security policies to safeguard that data and notify affected consumers if it is breached. There is a growing bipartisan consensus on the need for national data-breach legislation to supersede the current patchwork of state laws.
“This bill represents a bipartisan approach to address growing security concerns, and would protect consumers from security breaches," Stearns said. "As more and more commerce is done electronically, there remains a need for strong and specific security practices for businesses that keep personal information.”
Facebook hires PR firm to go after Google: Facebook confirmed Thursday that it hired Burson-Marsteller to stir up concern over privacy practices related to Google's Social Circles, which displays data from users' Facebook and other social-media profiles. The incident has been labeled a "smear campaign" by some critics and appears to have backfired, with the PR firm led by former Hillary Clinton strategist Mark Penn attracting the most criticism.
Rogue websites bill back on the Hill: Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) re-introduced the legislation formerly known as COICA Thursday as the PROTECT IP Act. The controversial bill aimed at curbing the sale of counterfeit items online has bipartisan support and is supposed to crack down on sites that repeatedly enable copyright infringements, but critics say it will result in online censorship.
The latest edition is updated from last year's controversial effort, which passed out of committee but drew strong opposition from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), in ways that aim to narrow its mandate. For instance, it has a narrower definition of an Internet site “dedicated to infringing activities." Groups representing the entertainment and content industries were predictably supportive.
BREAKING: Google is close to settling with the Department of Justice over allegations it made hundreds of millions of dollars by accepting ads from online pharmacies that break U.S. laws, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal.
Senate Democrats say firms should have to disclose cyber-attacks to investors: Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and several
colleagues wrote to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairwoman Mary
Schapiro on Wednesday arguing firms should be forced to disclose
cyber-attacks that could affect earnings or give competitors' a leg-up
in the marketplace.
The lawmakers ask the commission to issue guidance that clarifies firms must disclose any network breach that could jeopardize the firm's intellectual property or trade secrets in order to provide investors with full transparency. The letter comes three weeks after a hacker attack on Sony brought down two online gaming networks and imperiled the personal data of more than 100 million consumers worldwide.
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