Congress should take its time in considering the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) and other cybersecurity legislation that may involve information sharing, said Ryan Radia, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s (CEI) associate director-technology studies, at a joint CEI-TechFreedom event Monday. Both groups were part of a free market-oriented coalition that opposed CISPA when it was being considered last year (WID April 24/12 p5). The bill passed the House then but did not get a vote in the Senate amid strong White House opposition. There has been pressure for Congress to move quickly on legislation to augment President Barack Obama’s recent cybersecurity executive order, but a slower process won’t make the situation “much worse off” than it is already, Radia said. “This is the time to do something, but let’s do something right. This is going to be on the books for a long time, and a problematic law … will create bad precedent.” Radia and other experts said they were concerned about the implications of information sharing provisions in the current version of CISPA.
Congress should take its time in considering the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) and other cybersecurity legislation that may involve information sharing, said Ryan Radia, the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s (CEI) associate director-technology studies, at a joint CEI-TechFreedom event Monday. Both groups were part of a free market-oriented coalition that opposed CISPA when it was being considered last year (WID April 24/12 p5). The bill passed the House then but did not get a vote in the Senate amid strong White House opposition. There has been pressure for Congress to move quickly on legislation to augment President Barack Obama’s recent cybersecurity executive order, but a slower process won’t make the situation “much worse off” than it is already, Radia said. “This is the time to do something, but let’s do something right. This is going to be on the books for a long time, and a problematic law … will create bad precedent.” Radia and other experts said they were concerned about the implications of information sharing provisions in the current version of CISPA.
The House Judiciary Committee is looking at “all possibilities” for addressing cybercrime as part of the greater push on Capitol Hill to address cybersecurity issues, said Sam Ramer, the committee’s senior counsel. Cybersecurity is a “top priority” for Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., Ramer said at a Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee panel Friday. He noted the House Crime Subcommittee held a hearing Wednesday on cybercrime and possible reforms to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (WID Mar 14 p1). There’s no singular “keystone” to addressing cybersecurity issues because those issues “affect so many different areas of our lives -- personal, commercial, R&D, medical,” Ramer said.
The House Judiciary Committee is looking at “all possibilities” for addressing cybercrime as part of the greater push on Capitol Hill to address cybersecurity issues, said Sam Ramer, the committee’s senior counsel. Cybersecurity is a “top priority” for Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., Ramer said at a Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee panel Friday. He noted the House Crime Subcommittee held a hearing Wednesday on cybercrime and possible reforms to the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CD Mar 14 p1). There’s no singular “keystone” to addressing cybersecurity issues because those issues “affect so many different areas of our lives -- personal, commercial, R&D, medical,” Ramer said.
Patent litigation abuse “strikes at the very heart of American innovation and job creation” -- and Congress should consider ways to fix problems in the legal system that patent assertion entities (PAEs) exploit in abusive lawsuits, said House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., Thursday during an IP Subcommittee hearing. While the America Invents Act was the “most significant reform to the patent system in my lifetime,” addressing issues related to patent quality, issues that directly related to PAEs or “patent trolls” did not make it into the final bill, he said. “All options should be on the table” for addressing patent litigation abuse, including remedies instituted by Congress, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO), the courts and industry stakeholders, said Subcommittee Chairman Howard Coble, R-N.C.
Representatives for Adobe and Cisco are expected to urge Congress to enact legislative fixes to the U.S. patent system, with both set to tell the House Judiciary Committee’s Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet subcommittee Thursday that those fixes will curb what they view as patent litigation abuse. “Economically destructive” patent litigation has now spread “from Silicon Valley to Main Street,” affecting small businesses and consumers, said Mark Chandler, Cisco’s general counsel, in a statement prepared for the hearing (http://1.usa.gov/Ybq3Rh). While the America Invents Act (AIA), recent court decisions and actions by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) “have vastly improved the landscape of patent law” in recent years, further action by those entities and industry is necessary to address the effects of patent litigation abuse, said Dana Rao, Adobe vice president-intellectual property and litigation, in a prepared statement (http://1.usa.gov/YoAYtj). Other witnesses set to testify at the hearing are: John Boswell, the SAS Institute chief legal officer; Janet Dhillon, J.C. Penney general counsel; Graham Gerst, a partner at the Global IP Law Group; and Philip Johnson, Johnson & Johnson’s chief intellectual property counsel. The hearing is to begin at 11:30 a.m. in 2141 Rayburn (http://1.usa.gov/ZDED5y).
The U.S. needs to start resurrecting its image as a “great actor” in international telecommunications and highlight its good works on issues like cybersecurity, as it gears up for conferences after the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), said Roxanne McElvane, senior counselor on International Development in the FCC’s International Bureau and the chair of the ITU’s Development Sector Study Group 1, at an International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) meeting Tuesday to prepare the U.S. for the upcoming World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC). The WTDC, scheduled for March 31-April 11, 2014, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, is one of several ITU-led conferences scheduled for this year and next that will determine the future structure and policy actions of the ITU. The U.S. was one of 55 nations that did not sign onto a revised version of the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) at WCIT; 89 nations signed the revised ITRs (WID Dec 17 p1).
The U.S. needs to start resurrecting its image as a “great actor” in international telecommunications and highlight its good works on issues like cybersecurity, as it gears up for conferences after the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT), said Roxanne McElvane, senior counselor on International Development in the FCC’s International Bureau and the chair of the ITU’s Development Sector Study Group 1, at an International Telecommunication Advisory Committee (ITAC) meeting Tuesday to prepare the U.S. for the upcoming World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC). The WTDC, scheduled for March 31-April 11, 2014, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, is one of several ITU-led conferences scheduled for this year and next that will determine the future structure and policy actions of the ITU. The U.S. was one of 55 nations that did not sign onto a revised version of the International Telecommunication Regulations (ITRs) at WCIT; 89 nations signed the revised ITRs (CD Dec 17 p1).
It’s “vital” the FTC continue taking on major tech companies to protect consumers’ privacy, new FTC chief Edith Ramirez said Friday at an International Association of Privacy Professionals conference. Under former Chairman Jon Leibowitz, who retired earlier this year, the FTC played an “instrumental” role in elevating the discussion over digital privacy, including more than 50 enforcement actions over the past three years, Ramirez said. The agency currently has consent decrees with Google and Facebook to improve their privacy practices. “We haven’t been shy about taking on the tech giants,” Ramirez said. “That has been just tremendous.” The FTC’s efforts have also shifted the focus on other privacy issues, including the trend of companies like Apple and Google issuing shorter and simpler privacy notices, she said. Ramirez wants the FTC to examine the privacy implications of Internet-connected devices, she said. “The reality is that increasingly, it won’t be long before everyday devices -- refrigerators, TVs … are going to be capturing all sorts of information about how we behave,” she said. “As these everyday devices end up collecting more information and end up being connected to the Internet, it’s more important for companies to take data security very seriously.” Ramirez wants the agency to at least hold a workshop addressing the issue in the coming months, she said: “I think it absolutely needs further study, and I certainly hope to make sure that the agency is looking at all of these new developments.”
It’s “vital” the FTC continue taking on major tech companies to protect consumers’ privacy, FTC Chairman Edith Ramirez said Friday at an International Association of Privacy Professionals conference. Under former Chairman Jon Leibowitz, who retired earlier this year, the FTC played an “instrumental” role in elevating the discussion over digital privacy, including more than 50 enforcement actions over the past three years, Ramirez said. The agency currently has consent decrees with Google and Facebook to improve their privacy practices. “We haven’t been shy about taking on the tech giants,” Ramirez said. “That has been just tremendous.” The FTC’s efforts have also shifted the focus on other privacy issues, including the trend of companies like Apple and Google issuing shorter and simpler privacy notices, she said.