The FTC believes continued international stakeholder work in the cyber realm is critical to the agency’s priorities on data privacy and security, said Commissioner Julie Brill Monday at a joint Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development-U.S. Council for International Business event. The FTC has been emphasizing data privacy and security as one of its policy priorities, instituting the “Reclaim Your Name” program and urging Congress to pass legislation addressing data broker oversight, baseline privacy protection and data security regulation. The FTC is emphasizing a need for data deidentification through the development of best practices meant to encourage companies to do everything “ethically possible” to strip personally identifiable information from their data, Brill said. She said she supports companies embedding ethical standards within data algorithms and proposals to create consumer subject review boards.
The FTC believes continued international stakeholder work in the cyber realm is critical to the agency’s priorities on data privacy and security, said Commissioner Julie Brill Monday at a joint Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development-U.S. Council for International Business event. The FTC has been emphasizing data privacy and security as one of its policy priorities and urging Congress to pass legislation addressing data broker oversight, baseline privacy protection and data security regulation (WID Feb 4 p1, Feb 5 p1, Feb 6 p5). The FTC is emphasizing a need for data deidentification through the development of best practices meant to encourage companies to do everything “ethically possible” to strip personally identifiable information from their data, Brill said. She said she supports companies embedding ethical standards within data algorithms and proposals to create consumer subject review boards.
Industry believes use of the Cybersecurity Framework will remain voluntary for the foreseeable future, but industry lawyers and stakeholders told us there’s a strong likelihood the framework will become a de facto standard of care that could become an issue in future litigation. A standard of care is defined as the amount of attention a reasonable individual or entity would exercise in a given situation -- in this case, it would be the level of cybersecurity risk mitigation an entity should reasonably exercise. Stakeholders debated that scenario during the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) yearlong development of the framework as part of President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order (WID July 19 p1, Sept 11 p5). A de facto standard may have benefits along with widely perceived negative impacts, industry lawyers told us.
Industry believes use of the Cybersecurity Framework will remain voluntary for the foreseeable future, but industry lawyers and stakeholders told us there’s a strong likelihood the framework will become a de facto standard of care that could become an issue in future litigation. A standard of care is defined as the amount of attention a reasonable individual or entity would exercise in a given situation -- in this case, it would be the level of cybersecurity risk mitigation an entity should reasonably exercise. Stakeholders debated that scenario during the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) yearlong development of the framework as part of President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order (CD July 19 p8; Sept 11 p11). A de facto standard may have benefits along with widely perceived negative impacts, industry lawyers told us.
Legislation that seeks to curb patent litigation abuse has a good chance of passing both chambers before the end of the year, two top patent revamp advocates in Congress said Wednesday. “It’s a pretty good bet you could see something on this, this year,” said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, at a Politico event sponsored by the pro-revamp Main Street Patent Coalition. Lee and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., are the main sponsors of the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720), the Senate’s marquee bill addressing patent litigation. The House has already passed the Innovation Act (HR-3309), its own patent litigation revamp measure, but the two bills are not completely similar.
Legislation that seeks to curb patent litigation abuse has a good chance of passing both chambers before the end of the year, two top patent revamp advocates in Congress said Wednesday. “It’s a pretty good bet you could see something on this, this year,” said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, at a Politico event sponsored by the pro-revamp Main Street Patent Coalition. Lee and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., are the main sponsors of the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720), the Senate’s marquee bill addressing patent litigation. The House has already passed the Innovation Act (HR-3309), its own patent litigation revamp measure, but the two bills are not completely similar.
Legislation that seeks to curb patent litigation abuse has a good chance of passing both chambers before the end of the year, two top patent revamp advocates in Congress said Wednesday. “It’s a pretty good bet you could see something on this, this year,” said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, at a Politico event sponsored by the pro-revamp Main Street Patent Coalition. Lee and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., are the main sponsors of the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720), the Senate’s marquee bill addressing patent litigation. The House has already passed the Innovation Act (HR-3309), its own patent litigation revamp measure, but the two bills are not completely similar.
Backlash against controversial National Security Agency surveillance programs “directly impacts” Congress’s ability to pass cybersecurity legislation, said Keith Alexander, NSA director and commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, during a Georgetown University event Tuesday. Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s leaks about the NSA programs “have caused grave, significant and irreversible damage to our nation and to our allies,” Alexander said Tuesday. “It will take us years to recover.” Alexander told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that Congress needs to “get on with cyber legislation” since “a lack of legislation will impact our ability to defend the country in this area” (WID Feb 28 p8). That legislation should include amended versions of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Stored Communications Act, which both needed to be updated to allow for improved information sharing, Alexander said Tuesday.
Backlash against controversial National Security Agency surveillance programs “directly impacts” Congress’s ability to pass cybersecurity legislation, said Keith Alexander, NSA director and commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, during a Georgetown University event Tuesday. Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s leaks about the NSA programs “have caused grave, significant and irreversible damage to our nation and to our allies,” Alexander said. “It will take us years to recover.” Alexander told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that Congress needs to “get on with cyber legislation” since “a lack of legislation will impact our ability to defend the country in this area” (CD Feb 28 p11). That legislation should include amended versions of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Stored Communications Act, which both needed to be updated to allow for improved information sharing, Alexander said Tuesday.
Continued DHS work to build its relationships with private sector stakeholders is “crucial” to its continued mission to address cybersecurity in the private sector and on government networks, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson told the House Homeland Security Committee Wednesday. Johnson, who took office in December, outlined his vision for DHS and addressed concerns about the department’s programs. DHS’s private sector outreach on cybersecurity has been most public on the department’s role in implementing President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order, Johnson said.