Little Cybersecurity Lobbying Drop-off Expected in 2016
Almost all top communications Internet and tech firms, related industry groups and privacy groups remained as engaged in lobbying Capitol Hill on cybersecurity issues in Q4 as they had during the same period in 2014, while more entities from other industries lobbied on those issues during Q4 than had the previous year. The number of overall firms lobbying on cybersecurity issues increased more than 20 percent year-over-year in Q4 2015, while the number of major telecom and Internet entities lobbying on those issues remained nearly flat. Both communications and tech firms’ telecom expenditures were a mixed bag in Q4. AT&T was among the communications firms that increased their lobbying expenditures during the quarter (see 1601200061), while Amazon and Microsoft were among the tech firms that increased their spending (see 1601210034).
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The conference negotiations that eventually resulted in enactment of the Cybersecurity Act as part of the FY 2016 omnibus spending bill (see 1512160068 and 1512180052) likely increased interest in Q4, but industry lobbyists told us they don’t expect a significant drop-off in lobbying during 2016. The Cybersecurity Act included information sharing provisions drawn in part from the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (S-754), which passed in October, along with language from two House-passed information sharing bills.
S-754 was the most-cited legislation mentioned in communications and Internet entities’ lobbying reports. AT&T, Comcast and Verizon mentioned the bill in their filings, as did many industry groups like CTIA, NCTA and USTelecom. Most top Internet and tech firms also cited S-754 as a major lobbying focus, including Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo. Many top firms also cited the two House-passed bills that influenced the Cybersecurity Act -- the Protecting Cyber Networks Act (HR-1560) and the National Cybersecurity Protection Advancement Act (HR-1731) -- along with more general references to cybersecurity issues.
Enactment of the Cybersecurity Act is likely to result in a drop-off in actual cybersecurity legislative activity on Capitol Hill. Jamie Barnett, a Venable cybersecurity and telecom lawyer, anticipates the main lobbying focus to be off the Hill. “I don’t personally anticipate much action on the Hill, but there’s going to be continued interest on how the information sharing provisions in the Cybersecurity Act are being implemented,” he said. “There’s a list as long as my arm of cybersecurity issues that will matter” to companies in 2016, though whether that leads them to continue to lobby on those issues on Capitol Hill will depend on how much they believe those issues will affect them, said Norma Krayem, Holland & Knight senior cybersecurity policy adviser.
A wider variety of companies will likely become interested in lobbying on cybersecurity as the focus shifts away from the information sharing issue, said Monument Policy Group lobbyist Andrew Howell. “As more and more industries begin to have digitized elements in their products or services, they’re going to have to keep cybersecurity policy in mind,” he said. “Many industries didn’t lobby on cybersecurity until information sharing legislation emerged as a major policy issue, but the proliferation of the Internet of Things and the emergence of new technologies like autonomous vehicles and drones means you’re going to have new industries maintaining that focus because of the strong cybersecurity implications involved.”