The leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee asked the Justice Department for a clear answer on its policy for the use of cell-site simulators known as Stingrays. “On March 18, 2015, we wrote your office a letter asking for clarification of the policy regarding the use of these devices to intercept and collect the contents of communications, but we have not received a written response specific to this question,” wrote Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., in a letter last week to Attorney General Loretta Lynch. They pressed for specific information on the policies in several questions.
Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and 17 other House Republicans sent a letter to President Barack Obama Friday asking that Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta and Chief Information Officer Donna Seymour be ousted following the “massive” data breach, said a committee news release. “Archuleta and her leadership team failed to correct serious vulnerabilities to OPM’s network and cybersecurity posture despite repeated and urgent warnings from OPM’s inspector general that date back to 2007, at least.” In the IG FY 2014 Federal Information Security Management Act final audit report, 11 of 47 major information systems at OPM lacked proper security authorization, it said. Five of those systems were under Seymour’s supervision, the letter said. “There is no excuse for failing to encrypt sensitive data at rest, require multi-factor authentication for remote access to critical systems, and properly segment data within the network,” the letter said. “These are basic cybersecurity best practices,” it said. After listening to Archuleta's and Seymour’s testimony, “we have lost confidence” in Archuleta’s ability to secure OPM’s networks and protect the data of millions of Americans, and lost confidence in Seymour to do the same, the letter said. OPM deferred to the White House for comment. The White House had no immediate comment.
The FCC “should evaluate its public outreach efforts and ensure those efforts incorporate key practices,” the GAO recommended in a 48-page report on accessible communications, released Thursday. The FCC concurred. The report was directed to the GOP chairmen of the Commerce committees in both chambers. “FCC has taken limited actions to ensure industry compliance with CVAA’s [21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act] recordkeeping provisions and does not know the extent to which industry is fully complying with the requirements to make products and services accessible,” GAO said. “FCC could not say whether industry is complying with CVAA accessibility requirements because FCC lacks an objective measure for making this determination. However, developing a measure might not be cost effective given that FCC has received no informal or formal complaints asserting non-compliance with these requirements.”
Seventeen trade associations and organizations, including several representing the tech industry, sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Ia., and ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Thursday asking the Senate leaders to support the passage of the Judicial Redress Act (S-1600), a Computer & Communications Industry Association news release said. The legislation was introduced last week by Sens. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and would extend redress rights granted under the U.S. Privacy Act to citizens of designated nations, particularly European Union member states, the release said. The legislation also would allow citizens of designated nations the ability to request that inaccuracies in data held by the U.S. government be corrected, it said. “The last two years have seen a significant erosion of global public trust in both the U.S. government and the U.S. technology sector,” leading to adverse economic consequences, the letter said. “In a globally connected world, protecting certain individuals’ privacy under the Privacy Act should not be limited to people who are in the U.S.,” said Information Technology Industry Council Global Privacy Policy Vice President Yael Weinman in an ITI news release. Reps. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and John Conyers, D-Mich., introduced a House companion bill in March, HR-1428, which was endorsed by the Obama administration and federal law enforcement agencies, the release said.
House lawmakers delivered President Barack Obama a trade adjustment assistance (TAA) bill as part of a larger trade package Thursday, a day after the Senate passed trade promotion authority (TPA) (see 1506240045). Obama and White House officials have repeatedly urged lawmakers to pass trade adjustment assistance alongside TPA. “This week's votes represent a much-needed win for hardworking American families,” said Obama. “I look forward to signing these bipartisan bills.” The Senate merged the two bills together when they hit the Senate floor in May, but the House maneuvered to divide the them for separate votes. The June 25 House vote capped months of intense Capitol Hill wrangling on trade. Many trade supporters expect the U.S. to now step up focus on closing Trans-Pacific Partnership talks. Obama didn’t mention the 12-nation pact directly, but said TPA will help the U.S. “write the rules of our global economy.” TAA passed as part of a package that included renewals for the African Growth and Opportunity Act and the Generalized System of Preferences. Lawmakers now are likely to head to conference over Customs Reauthorization, but that bill is now legislatively disconnected from TPA and the trade package.
House Communications Subcommittee ranking member Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., is urging fellow Democrats to fight the net neutrality riders included in the FY 2016 appropriations package for the FCC. “In the coming weeks, the full House may consider” the measure, recently cleared by the Appropriations Committee (see 1506170044), Eshoo said in a “Dear Colleague” letter circulating Wednesday. “I will be supporting amendments that protect the open Internet and strike these riders.” She pointed to popular support for net neutrality and slammed the riders. “It is important for you to know that the FCC’s ‘light-touch’ rules explicitly forbear from rate regulation, tariffing and cost accounting rules,” Eshoo said, prefacing her reference to a rider that would prohibit the FCC's regulation of broadband rates. “Unfortunately the language included in another rider in the bill goes much further by preventing the FCC from protecting consumers against discriminatory data caps, hidden fees and other potentially harmful charges that may appear on the monthly bill of consumers ... your constituents.” She called cuts to the FCC budget “debilitating.”
All cars need to be equipped with dedicated short-range communications (DSRC) radio technology, Cisco Global Transportation Executive Barry Einsig plans to testify Thursday before the House Commerce Trade Subcommittee during its hearing on vehicle-to-vehicle communication. Einsig will testify that the “private sector is poised to deploy DSRC” in cars and “the corresponding IP network that will connect our roadways in ways never before possible.” Other witnesses will address the spectrum concerns in the upper 5 GHz, currently held by automotive interests for vehicle-to-vehicle tech but under debate about whether that spectrum can be used for licensed purposes. “Thorough and robust testing” is needed to evaluate that sharing, General Motors Executive Director-Global Connected Customer Experience Harry Lightsey will testify. The Wi-Fi Innovation Act (S-424/HR-821) raises “concerns of substantial delay and uncertainty with regards to the viability of the spectrum for DSRC that should be addressed before any legislation is considered further,” Lightsey will say. “We are very optimistic about a sharing proposal from Cisco that would operate on a ‘listen, detect and vacate’ basis. We have engaged with Cisco and plan to begin testing their technology as soon as possible.” The hearing is scheduled for 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.
The Senate 60-38 Wednesday cleared trade promotion authority legislation, sending it on to President Barack Obama for his signature. CEA President Gary Shapiro in a statement said the action is "essential" to innovation and the U.S. economy: "It is a common sense bill, which simply guarantees a vote on trade agreements and directs our trade negotiators to balance intellectual property rights with an open-and-fair flow of commerce." Other tech groups also praised the Senate. “The Senate did its part to help grow the economy by passing TPA," said Vince Jesaitis, IT Industry Council vice president-government affairs, in a statement. "TPA can help future trade agreements reflect the important role that digital trade plays in our economy to help our tech goods and services compete more fairly overseas." TPA's passage "shows that bipartisan achievements aren't dead in Washington," said Victoria Espinel, president of BSA | The Software Alliance, in a statement. TPA is "historic legislation" that makes clear "that any 21st-century agreement must include strong, clear, and enforceable rules to ensure the free global flow of data," she said. The Senate, which was poised for most of the day Wednesday to clear TPA as a stand-alone bill, will continue to push forward on the trade preferences package to send that legislation over to the House by Thursday, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., on the floor Wednesday. Tuesday, high-tech interests cheered Senate passage of a procedural motion allowing the TPA vote (see 1506230043). Trade lobbyists said TPA and the preference bill are likely to sail through the chamber by the end of the day Thursday. “What we know now is TPA is going to the president’s desk and he’ll sign it,” said Simon Rosenberg, president of the pro-free trade New Democrat Network, even before the 60-38 vote took place. Rosenberg is "optimistic" that trade adjustment assistance "is going to pass also,” he said. CEA and hundreds of U.S. companies and associations pushed lawmakers to support the preference bill, in a Wednesday letter.
The Senate by a 60-37 vote OK'd a procedural motion on stand-alone trade promotion authority Tuesday, paving the way for final passage of TPA Wednesday, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Passage of the underlying TPA bill that the House has passed will let Senate leadership deliver that legislation to President Barack Obama for his signature after weeks of political wrangling (see 1506180059). Industry representatives immediately praised the procedural approval. The Senate is preparing to vote on the same cloture motion Thursday for an expanded preference package, and lawmakers could rally to pass that bill and send it back to the House Thursday, McConnell said. The House is ready to pass that legislation this week to send it to Obama, said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. CEA President Gary Shapiro hailed the Senate’s procedural TPA vote and looks forward “to the bill’s successful passage” possibly as soon as Wednesday, he said in a Tuesday statement: CEA now calls on the Senate to pass TPA and give Obama and future presidents "the ability to negotiate critical trade agreements that drive sustained economic growth and strengthen our position in the global marketplace,” Shapiro said. With 75 percent, or $4 trillion, of the global telecom equipment and related services marketplace outside the U.S., TPA "is critical for advancing trade agreements that allow American businesses to take full advantage of these opportunities" and that ensure continued U.S. high-tech job growth, said Telecommunications Industry Association CEO Scott Belcher. The vote "brought us one step closer to realizing these goals, and we stand with other tech and communications industry leaders in urging the Senate to send TPA to the President's desk," he said in a written statement. The Trade Benefits America Coalition backs TPA, it wrote senators Monday. Coalition members include Apple, AT&T, BSA | The Software Alliance, Cisco, CEA, Intel, the Interactive Advertising Bureau and TIA, according to its letter and website.
A Cisco representative will be among the witnesses testifying Thursday before the House Commerce Trade Subcommittee alongside automotive interests. The hearing will focus on vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, which relies on automotive-held spectrum in the upper 5 GHz that other stakeholders want to use for unlicensed purposes. In addition to Cisco Global Transportation Executive Barry Einsig, the witnesses are Peter Sweatman, director of the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute; Nat Beuse, associate administrator-vehicle safety research for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; David St. Amant, president of the Econolite Group; and Harry Lightsey, General Motors executive director-global connected customer experience. In May, the Department of Transportation, FCC and NTIA “briefed Subcommittee on Communications and Technology staff on the testing progress for V2V communications,” the GOP memo said of Commerce lawmakers' bipartisan efforts in recent months (see 1505270044): “All agencies reported that they were working together with private industry stakeholders on test devices and protocols that can be used to test whether the spectrum can be shared without disrupting vehicle communications technology. The expectation is that testing could begin sometime within the next year.” The Democratic memo raised concerns about privacy and cybersecurity inherent in this connected-vehicle technology. “The potential for capture of personally identifiable information (PII) in connected vehicles has worried the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and some consumer groups,” the Democratic memo cautioned. “In October 2014, the FTC identified several potential privacy issues stemming from V2V communications, including the ability of vehicles to track consumers’ precise geolocation over time, the ability of hackers to remotely access a car’s internal computer network, and the ability of a vehicle to track driving habits that could be used to price insurance premiums without drivers’ knowledge or consent.” The hearing will be at 10 a.m. in 2123 Rayburn.