Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told your correspondent last week that negotiations are underway on a cybersecurity compromise, perhaps the strongest indication to date that the Senate is determined to get something done on the hot button issue before the fall campaign season begins in earnest. McCain said he had a good meeting last week with Sens. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., about how to resolve differences over the issues of regulations for critical infrastructure providers and who in the government should be in charge of cybersecurity. McCain still believes DHS is the wrong choice, which would appear to put him in the minority, since he favors greater involvement by the military and intelligence community.

But McCain showed some flexibility on the matter by emphasizing that "whoever is in charge" should be held to severe oversight and not focus on issuing new regulations. McCain is the leading sponsor of an alternate cybersecurity bill (S 2151); if his concerns can be mollified, the Senate would likely have enough votes to move forward with the comprehensive bill (S 2105) favored by leadership and the White House.

Wyden Blasts Lack of Transparency on Trade Talks: Sen. Ron Wyden had some strong criticism last week of the secretive negotiations currently underway over the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). According to a document (PDF) leaked last week, the TPP could give international tribunals the authority to hear disputes on U.S. soil involving foreign companies. Wyden said he has heard from several GOP senators that are as troubled as he is about Congress' lack of access to the talks. He complained that industry advisers for the most part have more access to the agreements than lawmakers. Critics of the TPP negotiations have also sounded the alarm over intellectual property provisions that could allow censorship, similar to the online privacy bills PIPA and SOPA. Wyden led the charge to defeat both of those pieces of legislation earlier this year, earning him much admiration online. Senate Antitrust Panel on Universal-EMI Merger: Last Thursday's Senate antitrust hearing on the Universal Music Group-EMI Merger got off to a late start, but eventually turned into a spirited debate with critics invoking the AT&T/T-Mobile merger as a point of comparison. Of course the hearing won't have much impact on regulators' antitrust review of the transaction, but at least it gave both sides a forum to air their arguments publicly. Full transcript available here. ICYMI — Senators Unveil New Data Security Bill: Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and several GOP colleagues introduced a data security bill (S 3333) that would require companies to notify consumers when their personal information has been breached. Companies would also have to notify the Secret Service and FBI of any breach of more than 10,000 records. The bill also would  establish parameters regarding the timeliness, method and content of the notifications. The measure joins a host of other data security bills currently in front of Congress, including legislation approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee (S 1406, S 1535). There is bipartisan agreement on the need for a national data breach standard to replace the patchwork of state laws, but disagreement remains over the amount of time companies should be given to notify consumers of a breach and the security measures that should be required. Supreme Court Punts on Broadcast Indecency: The Supreme Court's decision in FCC vs Fox largely ducked the question of whether the commission's policy of punishing broadcasters for fleeting expletives is constitutional, leaving the path forward up in the air. We still believe the current FCC is more likely to relax the rules then start issuing fines in response to the 1.5 million complaint backlog. Ambreen Ali has a good summation of the arguments on both sides in CQ Weekly. Bryson Out, Blank Back in at Commerce: The resignation of Commerce Secretary John Bryson on June 11 means Rebecca Blank is back as acting secretary, likely through the fall election. Blank also filled in after former Secretary Gary Locke left to become ambassador to China. Also on the Move: Nicholas Degani has been hired as legal adviser to Republican FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai. He was previously counsel to GOP staff on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He has also worked as an attorney adviser the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau. Cybersecurity Goes to Law School: The Wall Street Journal reports more lawyers are being forced to study cybersecurity in law school, a node to the field's growing importance to policy and the legal profession. They are being asked not only to learn the law underlying digital security, but also how to safeguard their accounts, encrypt messages, resist free WiFi networks and more. Now if only they has similar training for government officials...