Johnson and colleague John McCain, R-Ariz., wrote to Napolitano yesterday disagreeing with that take. Republicans have taken a strong stand against what they view as sweeping new cybersecurity regulations for critical infrastructure providers in the Lieberman-Collins bill. The pair have offered an alternate bill (S 2151) with no new regulations, which focuses on information sharing between the public and private sector. In their letter, they argue that Napolitano's description of the Lieberman-Collins bill betrays either a lack of understanding or an unwillingness to defend the bill's regulatory provisions, which have been endorsed by the administration. The letter notes the bill would give DHS the authority to determine which companies would fall under its definition of critical infrastructure and devise performance requirements, which the department would then be in charge of enforcing.
McCain in particular has been adamant in recent years that DHS isn't up to the task of overseeing civilian federal networks, let alone regulating large portions of the private sector. Lieberman said earlier this week that his staff has been meeting with McCain's in hopes of forging a compromise, but a GOP aide said Thursday that the talks are deadlocked, with neither side seeming ready to budge on the issue of regulation.
Senate Passes House IPO Bill With Crowdfunding Restrictions: CQ's Niels Lesniewski reports the Senate yesterday passed an amended version of a House bill designed to make it easier for small firms to issue securities and raise capital. The legislation (HR 3606) passed by a vote of 73-26 after senators agreed to adopt an amendment from Oregon Democrat Jeff Merkley that would place some restrictions on "crowdfunding," or the practice of using the Web or other means to raise startup financing from a pool of investors. The amendment would require anyone acting as a crowdfunding intermediary to register as such with securities regulators. The Senate voted down an amendment from Rhode Island Jack Reed that would change the definition of a shareholder to include individuals that own shares of a firm through a mutual fund, potentially forcing many new companies to register with the SEC that aren't required to under current law. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., asked the House to take up the bill revised measure without further changes to speed its passage; President Obama has previously expressed support and is expected to sign the bill. FCC Overhaul Bill Headed to House Floor: The House Rules Committee will meet on Monday to discuss legislation designed to overhaul how the commission does business. The bill (HR 3309) from House Energy and Commerce telecom subpanel chairman Greg Walden, R-Ore., is intended to bring transparency and predictability to the FCC's rule-making, but it would also make it more difficult for the agency to pass new regulations. The legislation would require the agency to first identify a market failure or barrier to entry before commencing new rule-making, and then perform a cost-benefit analysis of any new regulations. It would also codify the informal "shot clock" used for merger reviews and limit the types of conditions that can be placed on the transactions.Walden has been clear the bill is not aimed at the current leadership of the FCC, but Republicans were vocally displeased with the length of the review and number of conditions attached to the NBC Universal-Comcast merger, as well as the agency's passage of net neutrality rules. The bill stands a good chance of passage in the House, but much longer odds in the Senate, where a Commerce Committee spokesman recently confirmed that panel has no intention of taking up the legislation.
House Dems Target iPhone Social Apps: Democratic Reps. Henry Waxman, Calif., and G. K. Butterfield, N.C., wrote to 34 sellers of social apps for Apple's mobile devices on Thursday, asking for information about their information collection and privacy policies. The letters to companies such as Foursquare, Turntable.fm, and Quora cite reports last month that the social networking app Path was downloading the contents of users' address books without their consent. Path was among the companies questioned; all companies have until April 12 to respond. The pair have also requested a meeting with Apple to discuss the issue. DOJ Sues AT&T Over IP Relay Charges: The Department of Justice filed a complaint against AT&T on Thursday under the False Claims Act, arguing the company wrongly charged the government millions of dollars for calls by foreign scam artists. AT&T provides a service known as IP Relay, which allows hearing-impaired individuals to place a call by typing and having a communications assistant relay the message over the phone. The program is funded by fees on customers' phone bill and provided at no cost to IP Relay customers, though the FCC reimburses providers at a rate of roughly $1.30 per minute. The complaint alleges AT&T failed to verify whether callers were eligible for the service or even located in the U.S., and that fraudulent foreign callers accounted for up to 95 percent of the company's call volume. It argues AT&T improperly billed the government for millions of dollars in reimbursements. The suit was brought under the qui tam or whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act, based on a lawsuit filed by a former worker in one of AT&T's IP Relay call centers. FCC Advisory Group Pushes Cybersecurity Recommendations: A number of the nation's leading Internet service providers (ISPs) agreed Thursday to adopt new voluntary cybersecurity guidelines endorsed Thursday by an FCC industry advisory group. The measures are designed to mitigate three major cyber threats: botnet attacks, domain name fraud, and Internet route hijacking. ISPs including AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, Time Warner Cable and others agreed to take steps to detect botnet activity on their networks, warn consumers about botnet infections on their computers, and offer help to those consumers that are effected. The ISPs will also move toward full implementation of DNSSEC to combat domain name fraud and create an industry framework to prevent Internet route hijacking. A number of telecom policy stakeholders, including FCC Chairman Genachowski and several major ISPs praised the guidelines, which fulfill a key recommendation of the National Broadband Plan. The telecom sector is among those ripe for regulation by the comprehensive cybersecurity bill currently under debate in the Senate (S 2105), though experts have noted the sector is uniquely qualified to address the cybersecurity threat. Quotable: "We’re talking about companies that serve more than 80 percent of the country’s Internet users committing to meaningful solutions to significant cybersecurity challenges. We expect that other companies will commit to implementing these recommendations as well, and that [industry advisory group’s] voluntary cybersecurity measures will soon become the industry standard operating procedures. These actions will have a significant positive impact on Internet security." — FCC chairman Genachowski Bill Would Consolidate Federal Map-Making: Rep. Doug Lamborn introduced a bill this week intended to streamline the federal government's map-making activities and encourage the use of geospatial data collection. The legislation (HR 4233) from the Colorado Republican would establish a National Geospatial Technology Administration within U.S. Geological Survey and task that agency enhancing the government's use of geospatial data, products and technologies from the private sector. Lamborn argued 40 different federal agencies currently engage in geospatial activities, leading to duplication and waste. Rob Sherman To Facebook: Facebook announced Friday that Rob Sherman will join Facebook's D.C. office next month as manager of privacy and policy, reporting to chief privacy officer Erin Egan. Sherman comes from the law firm Covington & Burling, where he represented Facebook and other leading tech companies on regulatory issues related to privacy and data security. Global Box Office Up in 2011: The Motion Picture Association of America announced Thursday that global box office receipts for all films released around the world in 2011 reached $32.6 billion, an increase of 3 percent over 2010 thanks to international growth. Chinese box office receipts grew 35 percent in 2011, by far the largest growth in a major market. The U.S./Canada market finished at $10.2 billion, down 4 percent from a year ago but up six percent from five years ago. MPAA chairman and former Senator Chris Dodd, D-Conn., hailed the results but also re-iterated the threat to the movie industry posed by online piracy. The entertainment industry's high-profile push to strengthen online copyright laws crashed and burned earlier this year in the face of massive online protests by tech firms and the broader Internet community. FTC Launches Tech Blog, Twitter Account: The Federal Trade Commission announced a new blog and twitter account for chief technologist Ed Felten on Friday. The blog is online at www.ftc.gov/tech and you can follow Felter at @techFTC. Tech EB Hits TIA Now: If you're in the mood for some serious tech and telecom policy wonkery, yours truly stopped by TIA Now to appear on the live Web TV show "All the Angles" yesterday. You can click here for an hour-long discussion on topics including cybersecurity, USF reform, and the results of Wednesday's FCC open meeting.