“Technology has huge potential to both improve patient care and reduce health care costs,” Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Calif., said in a written statement after a House Commerce Health Subcommittee meeting Thursday. The ultimate goal is to advance quality telehealth services within the Medicare program, while recognizing that telehealth can save the system money, Matsui said. The ability for healthcare providers to communicate electronically is critical, she said. “Interoperability of health IT systems will facilitate population health research and improve patient care.” The 21st Century Cures initiative takes advantage of innovation, which leads to breakthrough cures and getting technology to patients faster, Matsui said.
Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and John Thune, R-S.D., were among lawmakers to visit hackers at the Hack4Congress event at Google’s Washington headquarters Thursday. “This is hacking for a good cause,” Wyden said. He cited bipartisan efforts focused on the Internet wherein “everything was about trying to keep the Internet open” and what he considered big victories in battles on the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act. He lamented the repressive Internet policies of China: “It just takes your breath away.” Thune praised “open, transparent” processes and the virtues of “disruptive force.” He cited several efforts underway to improve how government works and the construction of FirstNet, “something that’s long overdue.” Several lawmakers, including Thune and Wyden, and Federal Election Commission Commissioner Ann Ravel submitted challenges for the hackers to take on. “As mobile phone users make up an increasing portion of Internet traffic, the FEC’s data needs to be accessible for these users, but currently it is not,” Ravel said in the problem she outlined.
Several figures with roots in the tech industry planned to visit Capitol Hill Thursday to lobby to support bipartisan net neutrality legislation, they said in a news release. “We want to exert pressure on Congress to officially name April 30 Internet Independence Day; [have] further discussions regarding a bipartisan bill that would undo rules by the FCC that repurpose Depression-era industrial policy meant to address a monopoly in voice-transmission technology; and begin moving the discussion towards forward-thinking policy built to facilitate the growth and capacity America needs to replicate the past twenty years of success,” said Daniel Berninger, founder of VCXC (Voice Communication Exchange Committee) and a convener of the group. The group opposes Communications Act Title II application to broadband. This nascent group, whose members style themselves as "Tech Innovators," include Jeff Pulver, a founder of Vonage, and business executive Mark Cuban.
Senate Judiciary Committee ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced the Consumer Privacy Protection Act Thursday. The legislation co-sponsored by Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; Al Franken, D-Minn.; Ed Markey, D-Mass.; Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.; and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., calls for a “comprehensive approach to data security by requiring companies to take preventative steps to defend against cyber attacks and prevent data breaches, and to quickly notify customers in the event a data breach occurs,” a news release said. “The measure addresses the kinds of security breaches that have affected retail stores in recent years, as well as breaches of personal email, online accounts, and cloud computing that have sent Americans’ personal information, photos and even location out into public view,” it said. “Data security is not just about protecting our identities and our bank accounts; it is about protecting our privacy,” Leahy said. “Americans want to know not just that their bank account and credit cards are safe and secure, they want to know that their emails and their private pictures are protected as well,” he said. “Companies who benefit financially from our personal information should be obligated to take steps to keep it safe, and to notify us when those protections have failed,” Leahy said. His bill wouldn't pre-empt state laws that offer strong consumer protections and has a “broad definition of information that must be protected, including Social Security numbers; financial account information; online usernames and passwords; unique biometric data, including fingerprints; information about a person’s physical and mental health; information about a person’s geolocation; and access to private digital photographs and videos,” the release said. Consumer Federation of America Director-Consumer Protection and Privacy Susan Grant said “federal legislation will only be helpful to consumers if it provides them with greater privacy and security protection than they have today.” The Consumer Privacy Protection Act “takes the right approach, requiring reasonable security measures, providing strong consumer protection and enforcement, and only preempting state laws to the extent that they provide less stringent protection,” Grant said. CFA "supports this legislation and urges members of Congress to reject any attempts to institute lower standards for the security and privacy protection of consumers’ personal data,” she said. New America Open Technology Institute Senior Policy Counsel Laura Moy said in a news release that the bill is "truly pro-consumer." "Recently we have seen too many so-called 'privacy' bills that would actually replace strong state-level protections with a weaker national standard," Moy said. The bill introduced today "would leave consumers across the country better protected than they are currently," she said. "It sets a strong federal baseline," said Consumer Watchdog Privacy Project Director John Simpson.
The House’s combined cybersecurity information sharing bill includes the full text of both the Protecting Cyber Networks Act (HR-1560) and the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act (HR-1731), said the text of the combined bill released Wednesday. The House sent the combined bill to the Senate Monday as HR-1560. The original House-passed version of HR-1560, listed as Title 1 in the combined bill, would offer liability protections for information sharing to many federal agencies except the Department of Defense and the National Security Agency. HR-1731, listed as Title 2, would establish the Department of Homeland Security’s National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) as the main federal civilian hub for information sharing. The House passed both bills last week (see 1504230062 and 1504220066). The Senate appears likely to prioritize consideration of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (S-754) over the combined House bill and is aiming to vote on S-754 before Congress’s planned Memorial Day recess, an industry lobbyist told us.
FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler sought to reassure Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., about how the net neutrality rules will operate. “As you stated, it is essential that ISPs still have the ability to prevent access to sites and services that facilitate illegal and criminal activities,” Wheeler told Feinstein in an April 9 letter released Tuesday. “The Open Internet rules are not intended to expand or contract broadband providers' rights or obligations with respect to other laws or safety and security considerations, including the needs of emergency communications and law enforcement, public safety, and national security authorities. Similarly, the Open Internet rules protect only lawful content and are not intended to impede efforts by broadband providers to address unlawful transfers of content or transfers of unlawful content.”
Bipartisan patent reform legislation was introduced Wednesday by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., along with committee members John Cornyn, R-Texas; Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; Mike Lee, R-Utah; Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. The Protecting American Talent and Entrepreneurship Act, or Patent Act, would “make necessary and commonsense reforms to restore the integrity of the U.S. patent system,” a media advisory said Tuesday. The Patent Act “makes common sense reforms,” Grassley said at a news conference Wednesday. “We’ve been working together on this bill for two years,” Leahy said. “We refused to give up,” he said. “There will be people who oppose this bill,” Schumer said, but “I’m confident this is the year we will finally pass patent reform,” he said. “The president is for patent reform,” as are Republicans and Democrats, Cornyn said. This bill levels the playing field, Schumer said. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said he was “encouraged” by the Senate’s introduction of the bill . “While differences remain between the Innovation Act, which I introduced in the House earlier this year, and the Senate bill, I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact strong, meaningful reforms to curb patent litigation abuses,” Goodlatte said. Adobe Vice President-IP and Litigation Dana Rao and Biotechnology Industry Organization CEO Jim Greenwood said in a news release from Hatch's office that they support the legislation. The Patent and Trademark Office is happy Congress "is actively pursuing legislative efforts to curtail abusive patent infringement litigation practices,” said Director Michelle Lee at another event Wednesday (see 1504290031). CEA and other tech groups were quick to line up Wednesday hailing the bill’s introduction. CEA President Gary Shapiro in a statement said the "common-sense bill" will close "legal loopholes used by those who abuse our patent system." Shapiro said the measure "will stop the legalized extortion of American innovators by patent trolls," who he defined as "individuals or companies that do not manufacture products or supply services, but exist solely to demand payments, threaten litigation and file frivolous lawsuits against those who do." The IT Industry Council, speaking for the "tech sector," is pleased "to see a bipartisan effort emerge in the Senate to put the brakes on patent trolls,” President Dean Garfield said in a statement. “The integrity of the U.S. intellectual property system is essential to advancing cutting-edge breakthroughs. But patent trolls have become a multi-billion dollar industry based on exploiting flaws in the patent system to extort money from legitimate patent holders, including startups and tech companies, through frivolous lawsuits. These needed reforms will help stop abusive patent litigation, which drains money that should be used to invest in entrepreneurship, innovation, and job creation.” The Software & Information Industry Association regards the bill as “an important step forward on patent reform that we believe will be effective in curtailing abusive litigation,” Vice President-Public Policy Mark MacCarthy said in a statement. “We strongly support the provisions that will improve transparency, create higher pleading standards, and enforce limits on document discovery. While we see areas for improvement, we believe that the combination of these components creates a strong reform package.” Public Knowledge has "long awaited the day when the Senate would unveil its proposal for patent reform,” said Charles Duan, director of the group’s Patent Reform Project, in a statement: “Abusive patent assertion harms the entire public. ... When bad patents and unfair litigation tactics are combined into a blunt weapon, targeting core everyday technologies, the people directly suffer the consequences. By leveling the playing field of patent litigation in several areas, this bill should protect the technology-consuming public from the harms that patent trolls and other abusers cause.”
Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., joined House Judiciary Committee members in cosponsoring the USA Freedom Act (see 1504280056) which they say would “rein in" the NSA's "domestic surveillance program and protect Americans’ privacy by creating greater transparency, oversight and accountability,” a news release said Wednesday. The legislation would end bulk data collection under USA Patriot Act Section 215, overhaul the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) courts and increase transparency by creating a panel of experts that would provide guidance to the courts on issues such as privacy and civil liberties, DelBene said. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., declared his support for the Senate’s version of the bill, which “contains measures based on what Sens. Franken and Dean Heller, R-Nev., proposed in their Surveillance Transparency Act,” a Franken news release said Tuesday. All “novel and significant” FISA court opinions would be required to be public under the House legislation, DelBene said. The bill also “provides options for companies to publicly disclose information about requests they receive from the government,” which is a change DelBene pushed for in 2014. DelBene didn't support surveillance overhaul proposals last year, saying “critical and transparency provisions were weakened,” and said the legislation introduced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., which would reauthorize the Patriot Act for five years, is “misguided and has little chance of becoming law.” CEA Senior Vice President-Government Affairs Michael Petricone said the USA Freedom Act will “restore trust in American services and products and preserve our competitiveness worldwide, while continuing to protect our national security.” Reaction from the international community to U.S. government surveillance practices has cost American companies tens of millions of dollars and potentially thousands of jobs, Petricone said. Yahoo is “encouraged” by the USA Freedom Act, and urges Congress to move forward with passing meaningful reform, said a spokeswoman.
Fourteen associations and organizations wrote House leaders Tuesday asking them to support the bipartisan Judicial Redress Act (H-1428), which would extend rights of Americans under the U.S. Privacy Act to citizens of designated allies, particularly EU members. Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and John Conyers, D-Mich., introduced the bill in March. In the past two years, there has been a “significant erosion of global public trust” with the U.S. government and the U.S. technology sector, the letter said. U.S. companies are suffering and “face further burdens due to proposals to limit international data flows and impose onerous localization requirements on digital products and services,” it said. “U.S. citizens already enjoy this right in most EU Member States,” and this “will help foster a robust relationship,” the letter said. It was signed by the Computer & Communications Industry Association, Facebook, Foursquare, Google, the Information Technology Industry Council, the Internet Association, Microsoft, the Software & Information Industry Association and Yahoo.
The USA Freedom Act was introduced in the House by Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., John Conyers, D-Mich., and Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., Tuesday. A joint news release said the bill contains “stronger protections for Americans’ civil liberties, providing for even greater transparency for both the private sector and government, and preventing government overreach, while enhancing national security.” The House Judiciary Committee will mark up the legislation Thursday at 10 a.m. The bill “enhances civil liberties protections, increases transparency for both American businesses and the government, ends the bulk collection of data, and provides national security officials targeted tools to keep America safe from foreign enemies,” the congressmen said in a joint statement. Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced a companion bill in the Senate. The Center for Democracy & Technology endorsed the bill and in a news release said the legislation is a “significant first step in broader government surveillance reform.” The bill provides more concrete reform than if USA Patriot Act Section 215 were just to expire in June, CDT said. Even if the bill passes, there's more work to be done to “enhance privacy protections from overbroad government surveillance,” CDT said. “Congress should move quickly to pass this legislation -- without weakening it -- to protect Americans’ privacy while preserving national security,” said CDT President Nuala O’Connor. “It’s time for Congress to finally prove it’s serious about stopping the overly invasive programs that infringe upon the privacy of innocent Americans.” The Software & Information Industry Association also encouraged Congress to pass the legislation. “U.S. Technological leadership continues to be challenged worldwide by questions about our current surveillance regime,” said SIIA Vice President-Public Policy Mark MacCarthy. “Surveillance reform is an essential part of restoring international trust in U.S. businesses and ensuring America’s continued economic leadership.” The Computer & Communications Industry Association has “been a voice against surveillance overreach for years,” said CCIA President and CEO Ed Black. “The newly introduced USA Freedom Act goes a long way towards instituting the real reforms necessary to begin rebuilding the global public trust in digital services.” The legislation isn’t perfect, but “it is an important first step in correcting the wild imbalance between privacy and security,” TechFreedom President Berin Szoka said. “It’s unfortunate the bill stops short of creating a public advocate able to intervene in all Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) cases,” Szoka said. “Letting the FISC decide whether to allow pre-vetted amici to defend the public would be a huge improvement.”