Digital Discourse / Archives for privacy

SIIA op-ed: Software industry should develop mobile app privacy guidelines, not Congress

October 17, 2011 By

Today, NextGov ran an SIIA op-ed highlighting our view that industry — not Congress — is best positioned to develop effective practices that ensure consumer confidence.

SIIA recently joined an application privacy working group through the Future of Privacy Forum, a Washington think tank. With this group, we are bringing forth the expertise of our member companies to develop voluntary guidelines that will spread best practices to all participants in the industry. In addition, the FPF project website, supported by SIIA and others, makes available a variety of tools to help app developers manage issues of data collection and use.

Mark MacCarthy, Vice President, Public Policy at SIIA, directs SIIA’s public policy initiatives in the areas of intellectual property enforcement, information privacy, cybersecurity, cloud computing and the promotion of educational technology.

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Filed Under: Mobility, Policy, Policy - Privacy Tagged With: , ,

FTC urges tweaks to COPPA, Senate still pressing data security and NIST Building Cloud Roadmap

September 20, 2011 By

Big news on the privacy front last week, on Thursday the FTC issued its long awaited proposal to revise COPPA (the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act). The proposed amendments pose some significant challenges, including expanding the type of data covered by COPPA, including geolocation information and other “persistent identifiers” such as cookies for behavioral advertising. The amendments would also revise the means by which companies must notify parents and put in place new security measures to protect kids’ sensitive information. SIIA is reviewing, and comments on the proposed amendments are due Nov. 28th.

Also last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee was unable to advance any of the privacy/data security bills at its markup on Thursday due to a lack of Republican members to constitute a quorum. And the exchange between Chairman Leahy (D-VT) and Ranking Member Grassley (R-IA) revealed considerable concerns from the Republican side of the Committee that the bills present too great a new regulatory burden on businesses. The bills (S. 1151, S. 1408 and S. 1535) are again scheduled for consideration this Thursday. And not to fall behind Judiciary, Commerce Cmte. Chair Rockefeller (D-WV) scheduled–but then quickly postponed–consideration of his rival legislation, the Data security Breach Notification Act (S. 1207).

With cloud computing generating a lot of buzz in Washington recently, a couple very significant developments went little noticed. That is, NIST recently released two more key guidance documents aimed at accelerating the U.S. Government adoption of cloud computing. One is the Draft Reference Architecture, and the other the Draft Standards Roadmap. Both documents are key elements of the broad Cloud Computing Roadmap to be released in early November, seeking to provide key guidance to Federal agencies in their effort to implement the Administration’s Cloud First Policy.

Finally patent reform is officially in the books–the U.S. code, that is. On Friday, President Obama signed and officially enacted the America Invents Act (H.R. 1249, PL 112-29).

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

After landmark Patent Reform, Hill agenda still full with IP, Privacy and Cybersecurity

September 14, 2011 By

Last week Congress overwhelmingly passed milestone patent reform legislation when the Senate approved the Smith-Leahy America Invents Act (H.R. 1249) by a vote of 89-9. SIIA and many of our members have worked diligently toward this goal for more than 6 years, and passage of the bill represents a significant victory for our industries. We believe that this legislation will improve patent quality and reduce (though certainly not eliminate) wasteful litigation over bad patents. In passing the House version of the bill, the Senate rejected amendments that could have essentially derailed the bill by sending it back to the House.

Next on the IP front, rogue website legislation remains a priority in both the Senate and the House. In the Senate, proponents have been pushing for a floor vote on the PROTECT IP Act, which looks likely to occur later in the Fall. We anticipate that the long-awaited House bill, which is expected to be significantly broader in scope than the Senate bill, could be introduced by the end of the month and perhaps as early as next week. SIIA will continue to strongly support legislation to combat rogue websites.

On the privacy front, you’re surely in good company if you can’t keep up with all of the proposed legislation. In addition to Sen. Feinstein (D-CA) reintroducing her Data Breach Notification Act (S. 1408) before the August break, Sen. Blumenthal (D-CT) also introduced legislation last week, the Personal Data Protection and Breach Accountability Act (S. 1535). Chairman Leahy (D-VT) has put these two bills on the calendar for markup this Thursday, along with his legislation, Data Privacy and Security Act (S. 1151).

And those are just the bills being considered in the Judiciary Cmte! The Sen. Commerce Cmte. is also expected to focus on various privacy proposals in the coming weeks–more on this to come soon. While on the House side, Data Security/Breach legislation has temporarily been shelved, while the Committee is planning to take a closer look at privacy issues more broadly, with several upcoming hearings in the weeks ahead. The first hearing, in Chairman Bono-Mack’s subcommittee on Thursday, will focus on “the Impact and Burden of EU Regulation.”

And finally, indications are still that Senate Majority Leader Reid (D-NV) is hoping to advance cybersecurity legislation this fall. Of course, this is contingent on the success of the ongoing bipartisan discussions on the issue. By any account, it’s looking like a very busy four months on Capitol Hill to close out 2011.

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

Deluge of Privacy and Security Bills in Washington, Plus ICANN

June 21, 2011 By

In case you thought there was already too many privacy and data security bills in the U.S. Congress, several more were introduced last week. Notably, Senators Al Franken (D-MN) and Dick Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced the “Location Privacy Protection Act,” Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced their “Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance (GPS) Act,” and on the data security front, Commerce Chairman Rockefeller (D-WV) and Mark Pryor (D-AR) introduced the “Data Security Breach Notification Act.”

At the same time, one of the bills receiving the most attention hasn’t yet been formally introduced.  That is, Mary Bono Mack’s draft “SAFE Data Act” was the subject of a Subcommittee legislative hearing last week, and the Chairwoman has made clear her intentions to move forward to markup the legislation in the near future.

SIIA is currently assessing the long list of proposals, and the outlook in Congress for the remainder of 2011.  Even more now, there is considerable jurisdictional wrangling among the key Committees of jurisdiction on these issues, which could lead to more smoke than fire for the remainder of 2011.  Regardless of how this plays out, SIIA will continue to work with members and policymakers as they explore the need for new laws and regulations regarding the collection and protection of personal information.

On the patent reform front, as reported last week, it’s still expected that the legislation will be voted on by the House this week.  As of Tuesday a.m., House leadership was reportedly hammering-out some of the remaining key details regarding the controversial issue of PTO fee retention and future funding.  That vote is expected to occur later this week. Stay tuned.

As expected, yesterday the Board of Directors of ICANN approved a proposal to add hundreds and possibly thousands of new generic top level domains (gTLDs) to the Internet. The proposal has been years in the making, and the 400-page Draft Applicant Guidebook that describes it has undergone seven major revisions. SIIA believes that the decision to approve the Guidebook represents a significant threat to copyright owners. Intellectual property owners will need to familiarize themselves quickly with the Rights Protection Mechanisms in the gTLD Applicant Guidebook, and expend even more resources and time in enforcing their rights against cybersquatters and infringers.

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

Busy week in Washington: Cybersecurity, Privacy, Patent Reform – and ICANN

June 15, 2011 By

Cybersecurity / Data Security

The top news on the data security front is the upcoming Commerce Sbcmte. legislative hearing on Data Security/Data Breach scheduled for Wednesday morning. Earlier this week, Chairwoman Bono Mack (R-CA) released a discussion draft of the legislation, and a memo summarizing key differences from the legislation that passed the House in the 111th Congress.

On the Administration cyber front, the Dept. of Commerce last week released a report entitled, “Cybersecurity, Innovation and the Internet Economy.” SIIA issued a statement in support of the effort to more clearly define the line between “covered critical infrastructure” and the other parts of the Internet economy, and expressing our commitment to work with the Department to refine this definition.

Also out of the Administration last week, NIST held a workshop in conjunction with a NOI seeking feedback on a governance structure to advance their Trusted Identities in Cyberspace Initiative (NSTIC). More about that here.

Privacy

There are two noteworthy privacy bills in the works in the Senate. Sen. Franken (D-MN) is drafting a mobile privacy bill, and Sen. Pryor (D-AR) is expected to introduce a bill regarding children’s privacy online prior to the July 4th recess. While there may be a Senate Commerce Committee  a legislative hearing on the Kerry-McCain privacy legislation, the Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act (S. 799), as soon as next week, discussions are ongoing within the Committee regarding the official legislative vehicle for advancing Chairman Rockefeller’s (D-WV) priorities in this area, which also include a focus on “tracking” and children’s privacy.

Patent Reform

The House patent reform bill (H.R. 1249) is expected to be considered on the floor later this week. While support for the House bill is broad and bipartisan, budget issues and various amendments could cause the bill to be defeated or striped it of key elements, including the provision allowing the PTO to keep its user fees, and the “first to file” provision.

ICANN

ICANN is expected to vote on the new gTLD Applicant Guidebook on June 20. If the Guidebook is approved, the process for introducing hundreds of new gTLDs to the Internet will likely begin sometime next year. Also, the NTIA issued a Further Notice of Inquiry seeking comments on a Draft Statement of Work regarding the IANA functions (the contract for which currently is assigned to ICANN but is up for review). More about that here.

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

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

More Buzz on Privacy, Cybersecurity and the ATTAIN Act

June 8, 2011 By

Last week saw two noteworthy announcements on the privacy front. First, the House Commerce Committee announced its intention to conduct a comprehensive review of data security and electronic privacy. In the statement released last week, the Committee highlighted its immediate focus on data security, but also noted that later in the year will turn to “broader electronic privacy concerns,” including mobile and web “tracking.” Chairwoman Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) will introduce draft data breach legislation in the near future, with the intention for quick Committee consideration. Additionally, deputy Federal CTO Danny Weitzner confirmed last week that the Administration’s white paper will be released “later in the summer,” proposing a safe-harbor approach based on a broad set of information privacy principles.

On the cybersecurity front, new legislation was introduced in the House by Rep. John McCaul (R-TX). McCaul, who was tapped by Speaker Boehner at the beginning of the year to take the lead on this issue, introduced H.R. 2096 on Thursday, “legislation to advance cybersecurity research, development, and technical standards.” Meanwhile, key Senate staff continue to deliberate on their draft legislation and reconcile differences with the recent administration proposal.

And on the education technology front, this Thursday SIIA expects Senator Bingaman (D-NM) to reintroduce the Achievement Through Technology and Innovation (ATTAIN) Act. The ATTAIN Act has been championed by SIIA and a coalition of education and industry groups for several years to revamp the technology grant program in the No Child Left Behind Act, which is still up for reauthorization.

Also last week, SIIA submitted comments to the Federal Reserve Boards in response to their proposed clarifications of warranties and liabilities in connection with electronically-created items (checks). In our comments, SIIA noted that efficiency-enhancing innovations rely on electronic processing of information that is only impeded by traditional requirements for paper origination and authentication.

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

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Filed Under: Education, Education Policy, Policy, Software Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Movement on privacy, IP, cybersecurity in Washington

May 17, 2011 By

ECPA/Privacy
Today Sen. Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced legislation to update the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). In response, SIIA issued a statement applauding the Chairman’s leadership and characterizing this as a big step toward making sure that the information Americans store virtually in the cloud receives the same level of protection as the information stored in their homes. Given the broad coalition of supporters and interest expressed by House Judiciary Chair Lamar Smith (R-TX), this issue is expected to receive considerable attention in both the House and Senate in the months ahead.

Cybersecurity
Last Thursday the White House released its long-awaited cybersecurity legislative proposal to address cybersecurity threats to the Nation’s critical infrastructure. In response to the proposal, SIIA released a statement commending the commitment to the strong public-private partnership and pledging to continue working with Administration officials and Congressional leaders on this critical issue. As if this wasn’t enough to increase the attention on cybersecurity policy, the Administration followed-up on Monday by announcing the U.S. International Strategy for Cyberspace that provides the President’s “vision for the future of the Internet” and sets an “agenda for partnering with other nations and peoples to achieve that vision.” Importantly, the plan emphasizes adhering to commitments to freedom, privacy and the free flow of information.

Intellectual Property
Also last Thursday, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Leahy, ranking member Grassley, and Senator Hatch introduced “The Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act” (The PROTECT IP Act, s. 968), a legislation to provide the government and rights holders with improved tools to help stop the use websites to profit from piracy and counterfeiting of software, content and other intellectual property. SIIA issued a statement in support of the legislation, and urged Congress to make this issue a priority. The bill is included on the agenda to be mark up at the Senate Judiciary Committee business meeting this Thursday. On Sunday, the comment period for ICANN’s Draft Applicant Guidebook (6th version) closed. SIIA submitted comments urging ICANN to delay its vote on the DAG and address remaining concerns with the rights protection mechanisms and whois provisions. The ICANN Board will be meeting June 20 in Singapore to consider whether to approve the Guidebook at that time and open the process for new gTLD applications.

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

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