A coalition of advocacy groups threw a wrench in the cybersecurity debate on Thursday by urging the Senate to reject a bill (S 2105) endorsed by leadership and the White House. The groups, which include privacy and civil liberties advocates, tech trade associations and conservative organizations dedicated to smaller government, wrote (PDF) to the Senate arguing the legislation would jeopardize citizens' privacy and allow the government to collect and share information for purposes other than cybersecurity. The groups also take issue with the liability provisions of the bill, claiming they are overly broad and give customers little recourse if their privacy is violated. The measure could reach the floor for a vote as soon as next week.
The arguments used against the Senate bill are remarkably similar to those used by opponents against CISPA (HR 3523), a cybersecurity information-sharing bill that passed the House last month despite significant privacy concerns. The White House threatened to veto CISPA after a concerted campaign by opponents, many of whom now oppose the Senate bill. But the Senate bill is the product of years of work on the Senate Homeland Security and Commerce committees, with the full backing of the White House. The Obama administration has invested significant political capital into ensuring new cybersecurity laws pass this year, specifically legislation that would contain new regulations for critical infrastructure providers. The Senate bill already faces an uphill road to becoming law, since Democrats are unsure they have the 60 votes needed in the Senate, and passing new regulations through the GOP-led House appears very unlikely.
We were skeptical about the success of the efforts to derail CISPA, since that bill had the support of industry and was being opposed mostly by the same groups that traditionally oppose the expansion of government surveillance at the expense of individuals' privacy. But this new campaign against the Senate bill shares a few traits with the campaign against controversial online piracy legislation earlier this year that might help it gain more traction. First, the bill already faces obstacles to passage, as we described above. Industry has been lobbying furiously to create exemptions in the bill's regulations, in the process disappointing cybersecurity experts that were some of the administration's strongest allies. Like the campaign against SOPA and PIPA, the new coalition against the Senate bill also features voices from the right and the left, along with prominent tech groups and portions of the tech press. That opposition from the blogosphere could be significant, since many tech publications have consistently questioned the rationale for cybersecurity legislation, accusing the government of hyping up the threat as part of a power grab for the Web.
We still expect the White House and Senate Leadership to push for the bill's passage, possibly after tightening the language around information sharing and liability. If they fail to do so, Democrats risk looking like hypocrites to the Web community, one of their vital constituencies heading into this fall's election.
House Passes C-J-S Spending Bill: CQ's Anne L. Kim reports the House passed a fiscal 2013 spending bill for the Commerce and Justice Departments, along with NASA and other science agencies on Thursday. The bill would provide a total of $51.1 billion in discretionary budget authority, about $1.6 billion less than fiscal 2012 and $730 million less than the president's budget request. The bill boosts funding for federal law enforcement programs at the expense of NASA, which would see a slight reduction to its funding. The bill would boost funding at the National Science Foundation and the National Institute for Standards and Technology. Unlike the Senate bill, the House bill wouldn't shift funding for the acquisition of weather satellites from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to NASA. DHS Worried About Contracting Authority: CQ Homeland Security's Rob Margetta reports the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology directorate hasn't entered into any nontraditional contracts for critical technology in two years out of fear Congress might suspend that authority. The Government Accountability Office reviewed the rarely-used power, which allows the department more flexibility with developers of technology that are reluctant to sign government contracts because of concerns over intellectual property rights. DHS officials said they are unsure whether Congress will renew the authority. Geolocational Privacy Hearing: The House Judiciary Committee Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism will hold a hearing next Thursday morning on a bill (HR 2168) from Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, that would require law enforcement officials to obtain a warrant before using a person's cellphone, laptop, or other mobile device to track their location. The bill has bipartisan support in both chambers, with Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., sponsoring a Senate version last year. There have been numerous reports of law enforcement officials tracking individuals and even downloading their location data from mobile devices without a warrant or consent. The sponsors noted last year that the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, which governs such issues, hasn't been updated to address the proliferation of mobile devices with large hordes of data about their owners. Google Bracing for FTC Probe: The Wall Street Journal reports Google is preparing as the Federal Trade Commission ramps up its antitrust investigation of the search giant. Google provided the financial backing for two papers this week that defend the company's business practices and slam possible enforcement actions by the FTC. Google has been ramping up both its lobbying efforts and its PR presence in Washington since news of the FTC's probe first broke last year. Expect a full-court press from the search giant as the FTC examines whether the firm unfairly uses its dominance of the search market to boost its other products. FTC Probing Facebook-Instagram Deal: The FTC also has reportedly begun looking into Facebook's $1 billion purchase of the photo-sharing service Instagram, according to a report from Reuters. The probe comes ahead of Facebook's initial public offering next Friday, which is expected to value the company at as much as $100 billion. Many questioned the high price Facebook paid for Instagram; some have speculated the purchase was made to stem the challenge from a rising upstart in the world of online photo-sharing.