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OVERNIGHT TECH: Lawmakers push for data security legislation in wake of LinkedIn breach
THE LEAD: Lawmakers once again called for national data security standards on Wednesday after hackers stole millions of passwords from social networking site LinkedIn.
The company confirmed the breach late Wednesday. LinkedIn said it will disable the passwords of the affected users and instruct the affected users to create new passwords.
Many states already require that firms notify their customers following a data breach, but the standards vary by state, and there is no national requirement.
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.), who have sponsored separate data security bills, both provided statements to The Hill urging Congress to move on their legislation.
"Reports of another major data breach should give pause to American consumers who, now more than ever, share sensitive personal information in their online transactions and networking," Leahy said. "Congress should make comprehensive data privacy and cybercrime legislation a top priority.”
Bono Mack said she is "still trying to get additional information," but the incident "once again brings into sharp focus the urgent need for Congress to pass data protection legislation."
"Nothing threatens e-commerce more than a lack of consumer confidence, and today a lot of people are becoming very antsy about providing their personal information online,” she said in a statement.
But there has been little movement on Capitol Hill in recent months on the data security bills, and it is unclear whether Wednesday's breach will be enough to spur action.
It is possible that the data security standards could be tacked onto broader cybersecurity legislation currently under consideration in the Senate. But disagreements over privacy and government regulations have left the fate of the cybersecurity legislation uncertain as well.
Obama nominates Clyburn for second term: President Obama nominated Mignon Clyburn on Wednesday to serve a second term as a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Clyburn is the daughter of Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), the third-ranking Democrat in the House. The Senate unanimously confirmed the nomination for her first term in July 2009.
Mignon Clyburn is known as a liberal on the five-member commission and is a vocal advocate for media diversity.
Republicans look to block political ad rule: House appropriators voted Wednesday along party lines to block an FCC regulation that would require television stations to disclose political ad buyers online.
Republicans included a provision to spike the FCC rule in the 2013 Financial Services spending bill that passed out of subcommittee Wednesday. GOP appropriators voted down an attempt from Democrats to remove it from the bill.
The Financial Services bill heads now to the full House Appropriations panel and then to the floor. It is based on a lower overall budget allocation than a similar bill in the Senate, and will not become law without extensive negotiation.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
McCain and the White House clashed over security leaks
Nasdaq will compensate investors for Facebook's IPO woes
The Copyright Office is mulling whether to re-new the "jailbreaking" exemption
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