After much anticipation, Sens. John Kerry (D-MA) and John McCain (R-AZ) today introduced the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011. The many drafts that led to this legislation have gone a long way to address many key concerns raised by industry. That said, the bill is still a work in progress and sure to continue undergoing further tweaks during consideration by the Committee and full Senate in the weeks/months ahead. In the House, Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Sbcmte. Chair Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) said Monday that she will continue to lead the charge on this issue.
Bono Mack also said that legislation in this area will only advance if there is a clear need, and if it takes an up-to-date regulatory approach. She expressed concern that government action must not hold back U.S. economic growth or competitiveness and identified regulatory certainty as the key variable. She did, however, note that businesses need to do more in the way of communicating with Internet users and responding to users needs.
Also this week, the train continues to move forward on patent reform, with the House Judiciary Committee scheduling a Markup for the America Invents Act on Thursday. SIIA strongly supports patent reform and will continue working closely with leaders in the House and Senate towards the goal of enacting legislation soon.
Last week, the 3rd NIST Cloud Computing Workshop provided an excellent overview of the opportunities for Federal cloud computing, particularly the key role that NIST is playing in facilitating this process. For more on this, view our post on the workshop.