The FCC could end up back before the U.S. Court of Appeals if it goes ahead with proposed rules on treatment of confidential information, said an attorney for a cable programmer that's among a group of programmers raising concerns about how proprietary confidential information will be used and shared during Charter Communications' purchase of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable.

Senate leaders agreed Wednesday to a deal to advance consideration of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act. The deal would allow consideration of 22 amendments to S-754 but delayed further votes on the bill until after the August recess. The deal, announced by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., also set up a Senate debate in September on the White House's nuclear deal with Iran. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., separately told reporters that making a deal on the Iran debate was crucial in final negotiations on the S-754 schedule. Senate Republicans will offer 10 amendments on S-754, while Senate Democrats will offer 11. The agreement on further S-754 debate followed contentious behind-the-scenes negotiations that appeared as late as Wednesday afternoon to be at a stalemate.

The FCC likely will approve two tech transition orders Thursday targeting competition and consumers as telcos move from copper-based phone networks and services to IP-based broadband systems, people involved in the proceeding said this week. A draft order to ensure competitive LECs have access to “reasonably comparable” incumbent LEC wholesale replacement services could draw Republican dissent, while a draft order requiring providers to offer consumers back-up power options has a better chance of being approved 5-0, some telecom industry officials told us. “It seems like the draft orders do have some momentum,” one official said. Also on the agenda Thursday for the FCC’s monthly meeting is a notice of inquiry on broadband deployment and several wireless and spectrum auction items.

The FCC likely will approve two tech transition orders Thursday targeting competition and consumers as telcos move from copper-based phone networks and services to IP-based broadband systems, people involved in the proceeding said this week. A draft order to ensure competitive LECs have access to “reasonably comparable” incumbent LEC wholesale replacement services could draw Republican dissent, while a draft order requiring providers to offer consumers back-up power options has a better chance of being approved 5-0, some telecom industry officials told us. “It seems like the draft orders do have some momentum,” one official said. Also on the agenda Thursday for the FCC’s monthly meeting is a notice of inquiry on broadband deployment and several wireless and spectrum auction items.

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., raised concerns Monday about the effort to tee up the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (S-754) for a Senate vote this week (see 1507300069), citing a letter from Department Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in which Mayorkas said the bill has the potential to undermine existing cybersecurity work and could hurt existing privacy and civil liberties protections. Franken, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Privacy Subcommittee and an opponent of S-754, had sought information from DHS on how the potential for cybersecurity information sharing outside the department would affect DHS work. Provisions in S-754 that would allow companies to share cyberthreat information with agencies outside DHS are particularly worrisome because those provisions “could sweep away important privacy protections,” Mayorkas said. DHS is also concerned that allowing information sharing via other federal agencies “rather than initially provided through one entity, the complexity -- for both government and businesses -- and inefficiency of any information sharing program will markedly increase; developing a single, comprehensive picture of the range of cyber threats faced daily will become more difficult,” Mayorkas said. “This will limit the ability of DHS to connect the dots and proactively recognize emerging risks and help private and public organizations implement effective mitigations to reduce the likelihood of damaging incidents.” Mayorkas’ letter “makes it overwhelmingly clear that, if the Senate moves forward with this cybersecurity information-sharing bill, we are at risk of sweeping away important privacy protections and civil liberties, and we would actually increase the difficulty and complexity of information sharing, undermining our nation's cybersecurity objectives,” Franken said in a statement. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., didn't comment Monday about the Mayorkas letter but said Senate leaders continue to plan to bring S-754 up after the Senate considers a bill to end federal funding of Planned Parenthood (S-1881).

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., raised concerns Monday about the effort to tee up the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (S-754) for a Senate vote this week (see 1507300069), citing a letter from Department Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in which Mayorkas said the bill has the potential to undermine existing cybersecurity work and could hurt existing privacy and civil liberties protections. Franken, the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Privacy Subcommittee and an opponent of S-754, had sought information from DHS on how the potential for cybersecurity information sharing outside the department would affect DHS work. Provisions in S-754 that would allow companies to share cyberthreat information with agencies outside DHS are particularly worrisome because those provisions “could sweep away important privacy protections,” Mayorkas said. DHS is also concerned that allowing information sharing via other federal agencies “rather than initially provided through one entity, the complexity -- for both government and businesses -- and inefficiency of any information sharing program will markedly increase; developing a single, comprehensive picture of the range of cyber threats faced daily will become more difficult,” Mayorkas said. “This will limit the ability of DHS to connect the dots and proactively recognize emerging risks and help private and public organizations implement effective mitigations to reduce the likelihood of damaging incidents.” Mayorkas’ letter “makes it overwhelmingly clear that, if the Senate moves forward with this cybersecurity information-sharing bill, we are at risk of sweeping away important privacy protections and civil liberties, and we would actually increase the difficulty and complexity of information sharing, undermining our nation's cybersecurity objectives,” Franken said in a statement. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., didn't comment Monday about the Mayorkas letter but said Senate leaders continue to plan to bring S-754 up after the Senate considers a bill to end federal funding of Planned Parenthood (S-1881).

Privacy advocates, after some such groups exited NTIA's facial identification multistakeholder privacy meetings, showed up as expected (see 1506180020) at the agency's first gathering on drone privacy. But some warned that the drone endeavor may face similar challenges to facial ID, where privacy advocates backed out because they wanted opt-in requirements (see 1507310044). The Center for Democracy & Technology, participating in the drone talks, was among the advocates that backed out of the facial ID process.

The recent Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data breach signals that the federal government needs to address serious policy issues involving cybersecurity and privacy protections, said Congressional Privacy Caucus Co-Chairwoman Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus Co-Chairman Jim Langevin, D-R.I., on an episode of C-SPAN’s The Communicators Saturday. The OPM breach has been cited as a reason for Congress to pass legislation dealing with cybersecurity information sharing and data breach notification requirements (see 1506080061), along with having implications for the ongoing Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition.

The recent Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data breach signals that the federal government needs to address serious policy issues involving cybersecurity and privacy protections, said Congressional Privacy Caucus Co-Chairwoman Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and Congressional Cybersecurity Caucus Co-Chairman Jim Langevin, D-R.I., on an episode of C-SPAN’s The Communicators Saturday. The OPM breach has been cited as a reason for Congress to pass legislation dealing with cybersecurity information sharing and data breach notification requirements (see 1506080061), along with having implications for the ongoing Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition.

Privacy advocates, after some such groups exited NTIA's facial identification multistakeholder privacy meetings, showed up as expected (see 1506180020) at the agency's first gathering on drone privacy. But some warned that the drone endeavor may face similar challenges to facial ID, where privacy advocates backed out because they wanted opt-in requirements (see 1507310044). The Center for Democracy & Technology, participating in the drone talks, was among the advocates that backed out of the facial ID process.