OVERNIGHT TECH: Senators postpone cybersecurity meeting

By Brendan Sasso - 05/15/12 06:45 PM ET

THE LEDE: A bipartisan group of senators had planned to discuss cybersecurity legislation Tuesday morning, but the meeting was postponed until next week.

Sens. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) planned the classified discussion, and all senators were invited.

Mikulski told The Hill that the meeting was postponed because of markup sessions. Whitehouse explained that the meeting was re-scheduled so that the sponsors of the GOP-backed Secure IT Act would be able to attend.

Whitehouse said the purpose of the meeting is to bring lawmakers up to speed on classified information about cyber threats.

"A lot of it is so classified that people are coming into it for the first time in some cases and need a chance to talk to their colleagues," Whitehouse said.

Both the White House's preferred Cybersecurity Act and the GOP Secure IT Act would remove legal barriers that prevent companies from sharing cyber threat information with each other and with the government. The Cybersecurity Act would also set minimum cybersecurity standards for critical infrastructure, such as electrical grids or gas pipelines.

Most people don't trust Facebook: A CNBC-Associated Press poll found that 59 percent of people have little or no faith that Facebook keeps their personal information private. Just 13 percent said they trust Facebook completely or a lot.

But about half of Americans said they think buying Facebook shares would be a good investment.

Split over password protection: There's little disagreement on Capitol Hill that bosses shouldn't be able to demand the passwords to their employee's social networking accounts, but there are now competing bills to ban the practice.

In a Tuesday op-ed in The Hill, Reps. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) touted their Social Networking Online Protection Act. The lawmakers noted that "unlike similar legislation," their bill would also bar schools and universities from asking for their students' passwords.

House and Senate Democrats introduced the competing bill, the Password Protection Act, last week. At a press conference, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said he was open to adding a provision to cover schools, but he said his bill is superior because it relies on the language of existing anti-hacking laws.

He said he expected that lawmakers will find common ground on the issue and move forward with a single bill.

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