Supreme Court Supports State’s Right to Restrict Access to Data

On April 29, in what was a very disappointing ruling for the information industry, open government advocates and proponents of data-driven innovation, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld Virginia’s citizens-only restriction on public records access. In the case, McBurney v. Young, the Court found that the effect of the “citizen restriction” on commerce was merely “incidental” since the state created the market for the information through a monopoly, it could discriminate against noncitizens who access that information. As disappointing and surprising as the Court’s ruling is, the notion that a state would fail to recognize the benefits of maximizing the availability of data is perhaps even more troubling. Read more on SIIA’s Digital Discourse blog.

Conclusion Could Be Near for Mobile Privacy Code of Conduct

The Department of Commerce (DOC)-led multistakeholder initiative to develop a voluntary code of conduct for mobile transparency could be drawing to a conclusion in the next month or so. In the face of participant fatigue and increased political pressure to finalize an outcome, significant progress has been made on a draft Code that would provide guidance for so-called “short form” notices for mobile apps. Of course, as is the nature of these processes, there are still significant outstanding items where agreement needs to be reached. Most significantly, the code needs to strike the right balance of flexibility to maximize the effectiveness of disclosure across a very broad mobile app environment. SIIA has been a leading participant in the discussions since the initiative was launched in mid-2012, seeking to establish an effective voluntary privacy framework that would obviate the need for cumbersome legislation or regulations. Stay tuned for further updates in the weeks ahead.

FTC Releases COPPA Guidance, SIIA Analysis for Ed-tech Providers

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) yesterday reaffirmed that July 1st is the effective date for companies to comply with revised regulations for the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This decision came despite the urging of SIIA and a broad swath of industry to provide more time for companies to implement. After all, it was not even two weeks ago that the FTC released its updated FAQ guidance to clarify the December 2012 changes to COPPA.

In response to the revised guidance and in anticipation of the Rule’s implementation, SIIA created a summary and analysis of key COPPA provisions most relevant to SIIA members, particularly those serving students and schools through educational products and services. The FTC has also produced a compliance guide and other resources. SIIA has provided a summary of the rule and an analysis of the new guidance for School/Education Providers. Read more.

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. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.

Immigration Reform Debate Begins, Provides Opportunities for High-tech

The bipartisan group of Senators working to craft comprehensive immigration reform unveiled their proposal today, officially kicking-off the immigration reform debate for this Congress. While details are still just becoming available, there are several key provisions to increase the supply of highly-educated and highly-skilled workers in high demand in the high-tech sector. Among the key issues are increases in access to foreign-born graduates of U.S. universities, an increase in the number of employment-based green cards and temporary H1-B workers. Stay tuned for more on the benefits for high-skilled immigration.

House Kicks-off “Cyber Week” by passing three Measures

Today, the U.S. House passed by a strong bipartisan majority three cybersecurity proposals. One of the measures to update the U.S. Government security standards (FISMA), and two bills to increase cybersecurity R&D funding—specifically, the bills were H.R. 1163, H.R. 756 and H.R. 967. These votes set the stage for tomorrow’s House consideration of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA, H.R. 624), legislation to provide an effective framework to enable sharing of cyber threat information between the public and private sectors. SIIA strongly supports CISPA, as the most critical component of preventing and mitigating attacks.

Momentum Continues with ECPA, “Cloud” Privacy Legislation

Both the House and Senate Judiciary Committees are expected to take up the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) next week. On Thursday, the Senate Committee is scheduled to consider Chairman Leahy’s (D-VT) proposal to reform the statue to protect digital content with rules comparable to their more traditional counterparts. Meanwhile the House Judiciary Committee is expected to have another hearing on the issue on Wednesday. Given that the Senate Judiciary Committee already passed similar legislation last year, the outlook is very good that the legislation could be cleared again and sent to the full Senate later this year.

FTC Highlights Accomplishments, Identifies Priorities

Last Friday, new FTC Chairwoman Edith Ramirez released the agency’s 2013 Annual Highlights, highlighting recent accomplishments and specific initiatives launched in the past year, and reiterating the Commission’s goal to maintain priorities on protecting consumer privacy, fostering competition in the high-tech industries, challenging deceptive advertising and safeguarding children online.

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. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.

SIIA Hosts Education Technology Policy Forum This Week

We are excited to be kicking off our one-of-a-kind annual conference on education technology policy this week. Strong public policy support for the shift from print-to-digital and myriad state initiatives are combining to fundamentally reshape education. SIIA’s forum will bring together education publishers and technology providers to discuss these policies affecting the rapid change in the teaching and learning experience, and what it means for companies in this space. It’s not too late to register!

Lots of IP Policy Buzz in DC, Ranging from Targeted to Broad Reform

Leading up to the spring recess in DC, there was another flurry of intellectual property policy activity in Washington last month. Ranging from the call for broad copyright reform offered by U.S. Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante, to a range of IP legislation from patents, to trade and counterfeited goods. In general, patent reform and targeted measures are likely to receive a lot of attention in the weeks and months ahead, while the themes of broad copyright reform continue to be pondered, both politically and practically. For more information on the recent developments, check out SIIA’s latest IP Policy Update.

House Intel Committee to Consider CISPA This Week

With the upcoming Intelligence Committee markup of CISPA this week, the House is looking to take another step closer to “cyber week,” on the floor later this month. In advance of the hearing, SIIA sent a letter in support of the bipartisan information sharing measure. If there is one thing that Congress can and should do in the near term, it’s enact legislation that creates a legal framework to enable enhanced cyber threat information sharing. Read more on SIIA’s Digital Discourse Blog.

SIIA Urges Members to Register with ICANN Trademark Clearinghouse

SIIA is still reaching out to urge all members to register with the ICANN Trademark Clearinghouse that is about to open as part of the process of expanding the number of top-level Internet domains (TLDs). The Clearinghouse, which recently launced, offers all trademark owners the opportunity to register their brand names in order to protect them from being claimed by others as domain names. The good news is that is that the process of registering is easy, and once done, offers significant protection for the trademark owner. We recommend that, once the Clearinghouse opens, companies move quickly to register their marks. For more information, check out SIIA’s Digital Discourse Blog.

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. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.

Copyright Reform on Tap in House Judiciary

Copyright Office head Maria Pallante will testify Wednesday before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, IP and the Internet, making a call for updates to the U.S. copyright law. According to her written testimony, Pallante will be making a call for broad copyright reform, including “what does and does not belong under a copyright owner’s control in the digital age,” and whether we are shifting to an era where users will have less reliance on physical copies of copyrighted works. The hearing promises to provide excellent discussion on the future of copyright and the role of Congress.

Meanwhile Supreme Court Deals Copyright a Blow

The Supreme Court today issued its decision in the critical Kirtsaeng v. Wiley case, in a ruling that will send a tremor through the publishing industries, harming both U.S. businesses and students around the world. Specifically, the ruling threatens U.S. publishers by enabling importers to exploit pricing models that are meant for students in undeveloped nations and flood local markets. Read more on SIIA’s Digital Discourse Blog.

Momentum Builds for ECPA, Cloud Privacy Reform

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime waded into the ECPA reform debate this morning. In what was a major step toward reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, both full Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Subcommittee Chair Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) both agreed that reform to the decades-old statue needs to be updated to protect digital content with rules “comparable to their more traditional counterparts.” While noting that the Committee needs to conduct a full review, Goodlatte affirmatively stated that reforming ECPA is a top priority of the Committee this year. In advance of the hearing, SIIA issued a statement urging the Committee to advance ECPA reform legislation with all deliberate speed. At the same time, Senate Judiciary Chairman set the ball rolling in the Senate by introducing his ECPA reform proposal, which was passed by the Committee in the closing days of the last Congress.

Recap of Patent Reform Discussion

The copyright hearing this week follows another major technology IP review last Thursday, when the Committee considered the need for further reform of the patent system. In the hearing last week, the key focus was patent litigation abuses, and two SIIA members, SAS and Adobe, testified in support of changes to current law to remedy these abuses. Read more on SIIA’s Digital Discourse Blog.

House Committee to Take up Federal IT Reform

Not wasting any time, House Gov. Reform Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) will convene the Committee on Wednesday to consider a pair of his Federal IT reform bills. Most notably, the Committee is expected to consider FITARA (the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act), and the lesser known proposal to reform federal information security, or FISMA. A revised draft and summary of FITARA have been made available in advance, reflecting significant improvements to the bill since the initial draft released last year. SIIA continues to support efforts to reform Federal IT acquisition, and we’re working closely with the Committee to help shape the legislation. Despite considerable tweaks and improvements, the bill still presents possible challenges in its proposals around strategic sourcing, software licensing and other areas that we’re hoping to see further addressed.

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. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.

Administration Focuses Heavily on Advancing Digital Trade

In complementary hearings, the US International Trade Commission (USITC) and the US Trade Representative (USTR), both took deep dives into the benefits of digital trade and opportunities to promote digital services trade. As SIIA members well know, the global nature of the digital economy makes it more critical than ever to eliminate barriers to digital trade. At both hearings, this was the key message of SIIA testimony from SIIA Senior Policy Director David LeDuc, urging policymakers and trade negotiators to continue working to enable the unfettered flow of data across borders, to combat ICT localization requirements and ensure a foundation of strong IP protection. For more information, see SIIA’s Digital Discourse Blog.

House Committees Take on Cybersecurity

One month after the President signed an Executive Order (EO) on cybersecurity for critical infrastructure, and launched a process to develop a cybersecurity framework, several House Committees are considering the issue this week. At issue the center of debate is what is necessary through legislation in the wake of the EO. Specifically, the Judiciary, Armed Services and Homeland Security Committees will all hold hearings on the issue, while the Committee on Science, Space and Tech will consider two bills focused largely on cyber R&D: The Cybersecurity Enhancement Act (H.R. 756), and the Advancing America’s Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act of 2013 (H.R. 967).

Meanwhile at a Joint Senate hearing last week, Administration officials provided an update about their ongoing efforts to develop a cybersecurity roadmap, or voluntary industry cyber standards, and outlined the White House goals for legislation.

ICANN’s Trademark Clearinghouse to Launch March 26th

Recently, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced that its new Trademark Clearinghouse would go live on March 26th. This reflects the reality that after several years, ICANN is finally getting close to accepting the first new Top Level Domains as part of its process to exponentially expanding the number of TLDs from the existing 20 TLDs presently in operation (such as .com, .net and .org). It is widely anticipated that the first new TLDs will “go live” in the third quarter of this year. Once this happens TLDs can begin to accept registrations for second-level domain names (e.g., siia.net), which could include anything — including your companies valuable trademarks.

Cybersquatting is likely to occur, just as it does in .com and other gTLDs. The new gTLD program includes several mechanisms intended to mitigate this concern. A crucial component of these mechanisms is this “Trademark Clearinghouse.” Trademark owners must record their marks in the Trademark Clearinghouse in order to qualify for the new trademark protection mechanisms, including: (1) a “Trademark Claims Service,” which notifies potential domain name registrants of corresponding trademark rights; (2) a “Sunrise” registration period of at least 30 days in which eligible trademark owners can obtain a domain name registration for their marks prior to launch of the TLD; and (3) a “Uniform Rapid Suspension” procedure, in which trademark owners can initiate proceedings to terminate an infringing domain name that is in use.

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. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPubPolicy.