Supreme Court to Review Access to State Data
At a time when there are overwhelming reports citing the opportunities of data to revolutionize how we do business, communicate and live our lives, there is a major battle taking place in the courts regarding access to state public records information. As surprising as it may seem, the case of McBurney v. Young promises to determine whether a state may preclude citizens of other states from accessing public records that the state affords its own citizens. Last Friday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal of the case. In August, SIIA joined with a Coalition of companies and association in filing a brief urging that a state’s restriction of access to public data is violation of Constitution’s commerce clause and would have a chilling effect on the flow of critical public records data and the innovation that can be derived from them. Read more on SIIA’s Digital Discourse Blog.
White House Reportedly Moving Forward with Cyber EO
In a meeting with key Senate Committee staff last Friday, Administration officials discussed the potential for moving forward with a cybersecurity executive order (EO) to establish standards or guidelines for critical infrastructure providers. As previously reported, the most likely approach is to require regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, to actively help develop standards, possibly making them mandatory in cases where regulation is authorized.
While continuing to stress that an EO would not alleviate the need for comprehensive privacy legislation, the meeting provided an opportunity for the Administration to begin seeking input from Congress and the private sector. Senate proponents of cybersecurity legislation, including Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) and others have signaled support for this approach, while also reiterating that it doesn’t alleviate the need for legislation. While the timing and details are clearly still under consideration, it seems more a matter of “when and how” the Administration will proceed with an EO, rather than “if” they will do so.
NTIA to Convene Fourth Mobile Privacy Meeting Next Week
Several months into the ongoing multistakeholder discussions to develop a code of conduct for mobile transparency, NTIA has kept true to its commitment to be a hands-off convener, steering clear of substantive engagement in the process. Since a declaration in late August that the third meeting would mark a “turn to substance,” there have been a series of briefings that looked at the issue from a high level, and fell short of substantive discussion many engaged stakeholders have been seeking. However, the biggest shift to substance so far came in the form of a discussion draft for a mobile app transparency code of conduct circulated by Venable LLP at one of the September briefings. So while the discussions on substance have yet to take place, there’s still hope that the long awaited “shift to substance” will take place at the meeting next week.
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David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy.