Digital Discourse / Archives for David LeDuc

USITC Announces Seminar on Cloud Computing, Outlook for TPP Deal in 2012 Uncertain, and G8 Leaders’ Joint Declaration Keys on IPR

May 22, 2012 By David LeDuc Leave a Comment

USITC Announces Seminar on Int’l Dimensions of Cloud Computing
The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) this week announced a Seminar scheduled for June 19 to highlight an article recently published by the agency that provides an overview of the global market for cloud services, and an excellent resource for policymakers seeking to answer questions about cloud computing and how to enable greater adoption. The study helps us understand just how damaging trade barriers could be for the growth of our software and computer services firms, providing evidence and concluding that “cloud computing is already a source of significant revenue for U.S. exporters and multinational firms.” Read more about the article on SIIA’s Digital Discourse blog, or for more information about the briefing, contact Philip Stone.

Forced Localization:
The New Protectionism Localization requirements, or governments attempt to restrict the sale of goods and services within their territory to those which have been produced locally, have been around for a long time, but what seemed like a series of isolated incidents has recently become too much of a trend. If left unchecked, this trend could seriously undermine the goal of increasing the flow of goods and services across borders, particularly increasingly cloud-based IT products and services. SIIA and other worldwide businesses and trade associations are seeking an effective response to the growing threat of a new protectionism based on localization initiatives. In a recent post on SIIA’s Digital Discourse blog, Mark MacCarthy highlights these challenges and argues that only a sustained, high-level commitment from the U. S. government will turn the tide against this new form of economic nationalism. SIIA urges that this issue be moved to the highest levels of U.S. government decision making and raised in all significant international venues including economic gatherings of heads of state such as the recent G-8 meeting, meetings of the ministers of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group, committees of the World Trade Organization, OECD working groups and trade discussions such as TPP. Read more.

Outlook for TPP Deal in 2012 Uncertain as Dallas Discussions Conclude
This round of discussions for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement concluded in Dallas on May 16 with indications that a deal might not be possible this year. The sticking points include two of SIIA’s priorities for the negotiation–strong copyright protections and a proposal to ensure the free flow of electronic information across borders. On May 17, the House Foreign Affairs Committee held an oversight hearing on the TPP progress where business representatives confirmed the difficulties in moving ahead with the U.S. proposal on IP protection. Negotiators meet informally in June on the margins of a get-together of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group in Kazan, Russia. The next formal round of negotiations is scheduled for San Diego July 2-10.

G8 Leaders’ Joint Declaration on Global Economy Highlights Importance of IPR
President Obama and the other members of the G-8 leadership released a joint statement this weekend declared the pressing need for diligent protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights while committing to preserve and encourage the free exchange of information. The statement reads, “[g]iven the importance of intellectual property rights (IPR) to stimulating job and economic growth, we affirm the significance of high standards for IPR protection and enforcement, including through international legal instruments and mutual assistance agreements, as well as through government procurement processes, private-sector voluntary codes of best practices, and enhanced customs cooperation, while promoting the free flow of information.” The full G-8 Declaration can be found here.

For SIIA policy updates including upcoming events, news and analysis, subscribe to SIIA’s weekly policy email newsletter, Digital Policy Roundup.

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.

Filed Under: Digital Policy Roundup

USITC Report Explores Int’l Dimensions of Cloud Computing, Examines Policy Challenges and Potential Solutions

May 22, 2012 By David LeDuc Leave a Comment

A recent article published by the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) provides an overview of the global market for cloud services, and an excellent resource for policymakers’ questions about cloud computing and how to enable greater adoption.

At a time when policymakers around the world are struggling to keep pace with the rapid pace of technological change and the growth of cloud computing, the article explores the role of cloud computing in U.S. exports and examines the international dimensions, providing a concise overview of the key policy areas that are implicated as the cloud industry grows globally, and the ongoing attempts to address these challenges. As U.S. industry experts and cloud providers know, the key policy challenges associated with cross-border cloud computing and ensuring the seamless flow of information worldwide revolve largely around concerns associated with data privacy, security and localization requirements.

A major contribution of the study is the new set of estimates regarding the contribution of cloud computing to U.S. services exports. When a U.S. firm or foreign affiliate sells cloud computer or software services to an overseas customer, this counts as an export and favorably impacts the US balance of trade in services. But localization requirements can hurt these exports. As the office of the United State Trade Representative said in its 2012 Telecom Trade report, “…restrictions on data access and transfers are becoming more consequential trade barriers.”

The study helps us understand just how damaging these trade barriers could be for the growth of our software and computer services firms. It finds that in 2010, U.S. firms exported cloud services worth almost $1.5 billion from their U.S. facilities to customers in other countries. In 2009, they exported an additional $1.4 billion of cloud service to foreign purchasers from their affiliates located abroad. The study concludes that “cloud computing is already a source of significant revenue for U.S. exporters and multinational firms.”

In the absence of trade barriers, cloud exports could become much more significant in the years ahead. Cloud provision of software and computer services is the future of the industry and is growing much faster than the overall growth of these markets. Gartner estimates that global revenue from all software sales will increase 8.4% per year through 2015 – from $244 billion in 2010 to $347 billion 2015, while the cloud provision of software will increase much faster – 22.6% per year from $10.0 billion in 2010 to $21.3 billion in 2015 (see ITC study p. 6). Gartner estimates that global revenue from computing services will increase 22.6% per year through 2015 – from $791 billion in 2010 to $983 billion in 2015, while forecasting that cloud computing services will grow from $4.1 billion in 2010 to $22.0 billion in 2015, a dramatic growth rate of 87.3% per year (see ITC study p. 6). The potential growth of cloud exports in a world without trade barriers is enormous.

Importantly, the article highlights that governments around the world have sought to address these key policy challenges through domestic policies, bilateral agreements, and multilateral institutions. On the international level, approaches have included establishing non-mandatory, best-practice guidelines as well as binding commitments. The article cites many sources in describing both approaches as important: the former may be developed rapidly and are more able to keep pace with technological change, while the latter emerge more slowly, but provide investors a greater sense of certainty about countries’ policies.

Additionally, the article compares the role of developed and developing countries, concluding that developing countries have played a smaller role than developed ones in the market for cloud services and international policymaking related to the cloud, citing the developing countries lack of infrastructure and domestic policies to more fully develop their cloud industries. Finally, case studies of India and China provide evidence of the great potential for growth of cloud computing in developing countries, while highlighting the divergent approaches, challenges and opportunities that these countries are seeking to overcome.

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.

Filed Under: Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing Tagged With: ,

TPP Negotiators Discuss IP and Cross Border Data, OMB/NIST Talk Standards Reform, FTC MySpace Settlement Keys on Syncing and Cyber Continues to Slip in Senate

May 15, 2012 By David LeDuc Leave a Comment

TPP Negotiators Convene in Dallas
Negotiators for the nine countries committed to a Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement met in Dallas starting on May 8 for a new round of discussions aimed at opening trade and encouraging investment among the countries that border the Pacific Ocean. SIIA had a presence at the stakeholder event held by the US Trade Representative (USTR) on May 12, which allowed interested parties to interact directly with the negotiators working on their issues. SIIA is supported a TPP agreement that would contain strong copyright enforcement provisions, measures to protect trade secrets and prevent the disclosure of software source code, and provisions allowing the cross-border flow of information and prohibiting mandated localization of cloud computing servers. A significant development at the discussions was the suggestion from several countries that some of the provisions of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) be substituted for the corresponding provisions in the US proposal on intellectual property. In addition, some countries raised privacy objections to the US proposal on cross-border data flows.

OMB Workshop on Voluntary Consensus Standards

Today, NIST hosted an OMB workshop on Federal Participation in the Development and Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards. The workshop explored agency experiences in the implementation of OMB Circular A-119, public and private sector discussion regarding challenges associated with referencing private sector standards in federal regulations and industry case studies from their perspective on federal use of private sector standards and conformity assessment mechanisms. The Workshop is another step in an ongoing exploration of the Government’s participation in standards development, including a recent Federal Register Notice requesting public comment on whether or not OMB should consider supplementing the existing OMB Circular A-119, a memo earlier this year and proposed policy recommendations in October 2011.

FTC Settlement with MySpace has Implications on Syncing
On May 8, the FTC released a settlement with MySpace that has implications for companies that synchronize (“sync”) or link data through unique identifiers. The FTC charged that MySpace broke its privacy promises to consumers by making it possible for an ad network to connect MySpace’s user identifier with the ad network’s own user identifier . As a result, the two data bases of user information could be merged into a single record. In his post on the topic, the FTC’s chief technology officer, Ed Felton, issued a general warning to firms in this area: “If your product syncs pseudonyms or identifiers with third parties, or makes such syncing possible, you might want to ask yourself which information flows, if any, are enabled by the syncing, and whether those information flows are consistent with your privacy obligations.”

Cyber Continues to Slip in Senate
Senate leaders recently confirmed that consideration of comprehensive cybersecurity legislation will not take place this month, but they’re still hopeful this will now happen in June. Additionally, a planned bipartisan discussion among key Senators that was originally scheduled for today has also been pushed back to next week. These most recent setbacks follow major substantive opposition revealed last week when a coalition of civil-liberties groups urged the Senate to reject the legislation because it would allow military spy agencies to gain access to people’s personal information.

ICANN Announces Date to Reopen Applications
The latest from ICANN is that they are targeting May 22 to reopen its application system for new Web gTLDs, with the anticipated new deadline for submitting applications to be May 30.

For SIIA policy updates including upcoming events, news and analysis, subscribe to SIIA’s weekly policy email newsletter, Digital Policy Roundup.

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.

Filed Under: Digital Policy Roundup, Government, Policy, Software

Privacy Debate Returns to Hill, Senate Cyber Bill Still in Flux, and ICANN announces Windfall of Applications and Fees

May 8, 2012 By David LeDuc Leave a Comment

Privacy Debates Returns to Capitol Hill this Week
After a bit of a hiatus from the privacy debate, the Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to revisit the issue this week with a high profile hearing on the need for privacy legislation to provide additional consumer protections, featuring witnesses from the Department of Commerce and Federal Trade Commission to talk about their recent privacy reports. With the clock ticking fast in an election year, and a Republican-led House that doesn’t share the White House and Senate leadership’s desire to pass a “Privacy Bill of Rights,” it doesn’t appear that the hearing will lead to legislation this year. However, the discussion should prove insightful as a comparison of the two similar, but not identical, perspectives on privacy within the Administration.

Senate Cyber Legislation Still Undergoing Changes, Possible Impasse Ahead
Keeping with the goal for the Senate to pass comprehensive cybersecurity legislation this month, Senate Leaders are still exploring tweaks to the Lieberman-Collins Cybersecurity Act (S. 2105) to gain more support. Two of the key issues preventing sufficient Republican support include the proposal’s tougher privacy protections and authorization for DHS to set mandatory security standards for critical infrastructure.

Should the Senate be able to pass this legislation, signs continue to point to a possible impasse: The White House and Senate Democratic leaders have reiterated that the House-passed legislation (CISPA) lacks adequate privacy protections and would fail to protect critical infrastructure, and House Republican leadership has vowed to block consideration of any legislation that creates new cybersecurity mandates. Of course, there is also strong support in the Senate for data breach legislation to be part of the package, and a host of other issues not central to the debate. Stay tuned.

ICANN Announces Windfall of Applications and Fees
ICANN announced last week that 2,091 new gTLD applications had been submitted or were “in process” when ICANN shut down the application system April 12 (the last day for submissions) due to security concerns. It stated it had received approximately $350 million in corresponding application fees. Given that ICANN has stated it will process only 500 applications at a time, it is now a certainty, rather than speculation, that many applications will NOT be evaluated in this first application round (and thus likely would not be evaluated for several years).

SIIA is working with other intellectual property stakeholders in urging ICANN to reconsider its technically complex “digital archery” method for prioritizing applications, and instead to batch them based upon self-election and, if necessary, category (such as community or non-Latin character applications first). ICANN’s TAS application system is still shut down due to the security glitch, and it appears that the new gTLD applications will not be published until well into the summer.

For SIIA policy updates including upcoming events, news and analysis, subscribe to SIIA’s weekly policy email newsletter, Digital Policy Roundup.

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.

Filed Under: Digital Policy Roundup

House Passes 4 key cyber bills, FTC Explores Mobile Payments and House Judiciary Panel Hears Intl. Patent Issues

May 1, 2012 By David LeDuc Leave a Comment

House Passes Four Key Measures during “Cyber Week”
Last week, the House passed four key measures as part of “cyber week.” Most notably, the Cybersecurity Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA, H.R. 3523) passed Thursday night by a vote of 248-168. Of the supporting 248, 42 Democrats were in favor and 28 Republicans against. This was a strong vote and a big victory for SIIA and many of our members that were leading supporters down the stretch. In response to the bill’s passage, SIIA released a statement of support.

The CISPA vote was followed by a unanimous voice vote on HR 4257, widely supported legislation to reform the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA), and the House concluded activities on Friday by passing the two cyber R&D measures: H.R. 2096 – Cybersecurity Enhancement Act, and H.R. 3834 – Advancing America’s Networking and IT R&D Act without significant opposition. Cybersecurity now shifts back to the Senate, where Maj. Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) would like to have the Lieberman-Collins comprehensive Cybersecurity Act (S. 2105) on the floor this month.

FTC is Latest to Explore Mobile Payment Issues
The FTC looked at mobile payments last Thursday, an event that capped several weeks of intense attention to this innovative new technology by policymakers. In March the Senate Banking Committee held hearings. And the Internet Caucus held a Congressional briefing, which SIIA’s Mark MacCarthy chaired. The major issues noted at the FTC’s workshop were privacy, security and consumer redress. While no new regulation or legislation was proposed, it was clear that policy makers expect mobile payment providers to provide adequate protections in these areas. Read more on SIIA’s Digital Discourse Blog.

House Judiciary Panel Hears Intl. Patent Issues
On April 26, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property held a hearing on “International Patent Issues: Promoting a Level Playing Field for American Industry Abroad.” Witnesses from Pfizer, Qualcomm, American Continental Group, and Nebraska College of Law testified on their views of “threats” to procuring and exploiting patent rights internationally.

Among the key topics discussed were the upcoming Special 301 list from USTR, compulsory licenses in many mid- and low-income foreign countries, exclusions from patentability that may violate TRIPs (such as second uses, business methods, certain biological materials and uses, etc.), under-resourced patent offices, weak judicial enforcement, subsidies for local manufacturers (over non-local or “non manufacturing” entities), and the possible, perceived narrowing of patentable subject matter in the United States–which almost certainly would have international implications.

For SIIA policy updates including upcoming events, news and analysis, subscribe to SIIA’s weekly policy email newsletter, Digital Policy Roundup.

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.

Filed Under: Digital Policy Roundup

SIIA DPR: Bills Lined-up for Cyber Week, SIIA Releases Education Interoperability Primer, and ICANN Continues to Postpone

April 24, 2012 By David LeDuc Leave a Comment

Cyber Week Arrives With Slate of Legislation, Proposed Amendment to CISPA Ongoing
House Republican Leadership officially confirmed last Friday the four cybersecurity bills that will be considered this week. Consistent with expectations, those are: H.R. 2096 – Cybersecurity Enhancement Act, Rep. McCaul (R-TX), H.R. 3834 – Advancing America’s Networking and IT R&D Act, Rep. Hall (R-TX), H.R. 3523 – Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, Rep. Rogers (R-MI) and H.R. 4257 – Federal Information Security Amendments Act, Rep. Issa (R-CA). Most of the activity is expected to take place on Thursday, with Rogers’ bill likely to be the most heavily debated. Members were provided until COB Tuesday to file amendments.

Last week, SIIA joined with several other leading technology trade groups in sending a letter in support for these measures. The outlook is still uncertain for two other cyber week hopefuls: Rep. Lungren’s (R-CA) H.R. 3674 -the Promoting and Enhancing Cybersecurity and Information Sharing Effectiveness Act, which saw a slimmed-down version pass the Homeland Security Committee last week, and the data security/breach notification legislation, H.R. 2577 – the Safe DATA Act, Rep. Bono Mack (R-CA). Committee staff shared publicly the latest discussion draft this afternoon, and Rep. Bono Mack is hopeful to advance the legislation through regular order in the coming weeks. So we can possibly expect that to be considered by the E&C Committee soon.

SIIA Releases Primer on K-20 Education Interoperability Standards
This week, SIIA officially released a “Primer on K-20 Education Interoperability Standards” that provides a framework for understanding interoperability standards that facilitate the exchange of information among educational systems and support the integration of content, data, and components from different technology applications. The importance of interoperability is highlighted in the pending initiative to develop online assessments aligned to the Common Core State Standards, funded with federal Race to the Top grants to the SBAC and PARCC state consortia, among other initiatives. The Primer is intended enable developers of educational applications and digital content to further understand how adoption of interoperability standards can advance both education goals as well as their own business needs, with the goal of helping to achieve a flexible, modular assessment technology architecture to meet evolving and unique state and local requirements.

ICANN Further Extends TLD Application Process
ICANN confirmed last week that continuing technical problems have further delayed the deadline for the submission of new gTLD applications. As a result, ICANN will not be in a position to reveal the new gTLD applications received on April 30, as previously scheduled. ICANN has recently said it “will provide an update on the timing of the reopening no later than Friday, 27 April,” and while no new date has been provided to reveal the list, ICANN has said that “the date when applied-for TLDs are announced will follow announcement of the application system re-opening date.” So stay tuned.

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.

Filed Under: Digital Policy Roundup, Policy Tagged With: , ,

Digital Policy Roundup: House Cyber Week Approaching, SCOTUS to Hear Key Textbook IP Case, and DOC Unveils IP Econ Report

April 17, 2012 By David LeDuc Leave a Comment

Congress Returns, Next Week is House “Cyber Week”
With Congress back from the Easter recess, there is much activity ongoing for “cyber week,” beginning on April 23. During the week, several cybersecurity bills are expected to be brought to the House floor for a vote, including: H.R. 2096 – Cybersecurity Enhancement Act, Rep. McCaul (R-TX), H.R. 3834 – Advancing America’s Networking and IT R&D Act, Rep. Hall (R-TX), H.R. 3523 – Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, Rogers (R-MI), H.R. 4257 – Federal Information Security Amendments Act, Issa (R-CA). In preparation for next week, Rep. Rogers continues to explore amendments to his legislation to address concerns raised by the civil liberties watchdogs, and the Homeland Security Committee is also scheduled to consider additional information sharing legislation Wednesday morning, H.R. 3674- Promoting and Enhancing Cybersecurity and Information Sharing Effectiveness Act, legislation that the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Lungren (R-CA) is seeking to have considered.

Supreme Court to Hear Key Textbook “First Sale” Copyright Case
This week, the Supreme Court decided to hear the copyright case of Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons Inc., a key case for SIIA members focused on whether the copyright law’s “first sale doctrine” applies when the copyrighted work–here a foreign edition of a textbook–is made and sold outside the United States and then imported into the United States. The case at issue involves a student from Thailand who attempted to subsidize his expenses by having friends and family members send him foreign editions of textbooks, which he would then sell online. If the Supreme Court affirms the lower courts by holding that the first sale defense does not apply, the unauthorized distribution and sale of a copyrighted work here would constitute a copyright infringement.

Department of Commerce Releases IP Economic Report
As we reported last week, on April 11, the Department released a report titled “Intellectual Property and the U.S. Economy: Industries in Focus,” which estimates the economic impact of IP related industries on the U.S. economy. The report, which was prepared by the Economics and Statistics Administration and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, was initiated as part of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator’s (IPEC) 2010 Joint Strategic Plan to create a comprehensive study to better understand the role of IP in the economy and to inform policy decisions related to IP enforcement. In response, SIIA issued a statement hailing the Report as evidence that IP is essential to the creation of American jobs and growth and underscores the critical importance of adequately protecting the software and digital content industries.

ICANN Extends Window for gTLD Applications
Last week, ICANN extended the window for submitting applications for new gTLDs from April 12 to April 20, because of a technical issue effecting the performance of the TLD Application System (TAS). April 30 remains the target date for ICANN to publish the applied-for new domain names, but this is subject to change.

Ninth Circuit Rules on Reach of CFAA
Last week, the Ninth Circuit Court, in US v. Nosal reached a decision in a highly-anticipated Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) case, that Nosal’s acts did not violate the CFAA, concluding that the “plain language of the CFAA ‘target[s] the unauthorized procurement or alteration of information, not misuse or misappropriation’” and more significantly that “the CFAA does not extend to violations of use restrictions.” In the case, the U.S. brought criminal charges under the CFAA against a former employee for “exceed[ing] authorized access” to his former company’s computers for the purpose of obtaining and using company information in violation of the terms of the company’s computer use policy.

For SIIA policy updates including upcoming events, news and analysis, subscribe to SIIA’s weekly policy email newsletter, Digital Policy Roundup.

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.

Filed Under: Digital Policy Roundup, Policy Tagged With: , ,
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