The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) set to be considered by the House this week is the “Big Brother writ large,” said GOP presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas. That’s as 18 Democratic lawmakers wrote the sponsors of the bill, asking them to “address real and serious privacy concerns voiced by Americans, privacy advocacy groups, and colleagues in Congress.” HR-3523 will put “the resources of the private industry to work for the nefarious purpose of spying on the American people,” Paul said (http://xrl.us/bm4xu3). Calling CISPA the “new SOPA,” the Stop Online Piracy Act that was derailed in the face of strong opposition, Paul said CISPA is the “latest assault” on Internet freedom, “an Internet monitoring bill that permits both the federal government and private companies to view your private online communications with no judicial oversight -- provided of course if they do so in the name ‘cybersecurity.'” He said people should call their lawmakers and “urge them to oppose CISPA and similar bills that attack Internet freedom.” Meanwhile, House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and 17 of his party colleagues wrote House Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and Ranking Member Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., saying the manager’s amendment that they were developing should address the “real and serious” privacy concerns raised by lawmakers, privacy groups and others. Saying the bill lacks “necessary safeguards,” they said the “broad and ambiguous language of CISPA raises “serious concerns” about what information relating to Internet activity would be shared, who in the federal government, including the intelligence community, would have access to the information, and the “purpose and manner in which that information will be used.” Without specific limitations, the measure would, for the first time, provide non-civilian federal agencies such as the National Security Agency “unfettered access to information about Americans’ Internet activities and allow those agencies to use that information for virtually any purpose,” the 18 lawmakers said (http://xrl.us/bm4xvh). Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., separately said he'd offer an amendment to CISPA that would add privacy language minimizing the “collection of publicly identifiable information.” Information sharing procedures would have to be reviewed and approved by the U.S. attorney general. The language also would limit the purposes for which a federal agency could use cybersecurity information. However, three industry groups urged passage of CISPA and three other bills, saying “cybersecurity policy needs to be flexible and adaptable, given the difficulty of predicting the manner and means by which network providers will have to respond to cybersecurity threats.” The NCTA, CTIA and USTelecom in a joint letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the government should rely on industry “best practices to establish appropriate cybersecurity measures rather than impose prescriptive rules.” The groups also urged passage of HR-3834, the Advancing America’s Networking and Information Technology Research and Development Act; HR-2096, the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act; and HR-4257, the Federal Information Security Amendments Act.

Eighteen out of 24 major federal agencies reported inadequate information security controls for financial reporting for fiscal 2011 and inspectors general at 22 of these agencies cited information security as a major management challenge for their agency, the House Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations, and Management was told Tuesday. Assessments of information security controls in 2011 showed that most major agencies had weaknesses in most major categories of information system controls, Gregory Wilshusen, director of information security issues at the GAO, told a committee hearing on cybersecurity and the need for urgent action.

Eighteen out of 24 major federal agencies reported inadequate information security controls for financial reporting for fiscal 2011 and inspectors general at 22 of these agencies cited information security as a major management challenge for their agency, the House Homeland Security Oversight Subcommittee was told Tuesday. Assessments of information security controls in 2011 showed that most major agencies had weaknesses in most major categories of information system controls, Gregory Wilshusen, director of information security issues at the GAO, told the hearing on cybersecurity and the need for urgent action.

The European Parliament should reject the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, the author of the response to the controversial treaty from the Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee said Tuesday. ACTA takes a one-size-fits-all approach to counterfeiting, copyright and trademark infringements that fails to meet the unique needs of each sector; doesn’t define key terms; and creates a legal fog for companies, technology users, and Internet platform and service providers, Amelia Andersdotter of Sweden and the Greens/European Free Alliance said in a draft report. Separately, the pact’s Internet provisions came under fire Tuesday from the European privacy watchdog, which said they don’t adequately balance intellectual property (IP) rights enforcement with privacy and data protection.

The Court of International Trade dismissed another action brought by a domestic producer challenging the distribution of funds under the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act of 2000 (CDSOA) (aka the Byrd Amendment) with regard to the antidumping duty orders on certain polyester staple fiber from Korea (A-580-839) and Taiwan (A-583-833).

CenturyLink failed to meet the burden of proof in its petition for forbearance from certain dominant carrier regulations and the Computer Inquiry tariffing requirement, said comments filed Friday by tw telecom, Sprint Nextel, the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates and the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel. Corning supported the forbearance, arguing it has “witnessed first-hand the impact of the Commission’s orders granting to other carriers the identical regulatory relief requested by CenturyLink."

NCTA and a member lobbied the FCC against extending what they call dual-carriage rules now set to expire June 12 (CD April 18 p15), which broadcasters want renewed. Executives from Bright House Networks and the NCTA each had a meeting with front-office staffers in the Media Bureau and Office of General Counsel staff, ex parte filings in docket 98-120 show (http://xrl.us/bm4iaj). The Communications Act says a signal delivered on a cable system is “'viewable’ if it is capable of being viewed using readily available equipment,” NCTA said of a requirement that TV stations guaranteed cable distribution be sent in HD and standard definition on some systems. “While there is no evidence that requiring signals to be carried in analog as well as digital format carriage is necessary to further any important government interest, such additional analog carriage imposes substantial additional burdens on cable operators’ protected speech,” the association said (http://xrl.us/bm4ia2). “Extending the rule beyond its three-year limit would raise serious First Amendment problems under strict or intermediate scrutiny.” The dual carriage rule makes it harder for Bright House to manage its spectrum, the company said (http://xrl.us/bm4ibe). “Dual Carriage goes well beyond the original must carry mandate -- because it requires duplicate and inefficient carriage."

The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a FOIA request for the unredacted version of the FCC’s Google Street View report (http://xrl.us/bm4ho4). The FCC said it will fine Google $25,000 for obstructing an investigation concerning Google Street View and federal wiretap law, EPIC said. A “heavily redacted” report from the commission said Google impeded the investigation by “delaying its search for and production of responsive emails and other communications, by failing to identify employees, and by withholding verification of the completeness and accuracy of its submissions,” the group said. But the redacted report “also raised questions about the scope of the FCC’ Street View investigation,” it said. “Surprisingly, the FCC concluded that Google had not violated the federal wiretap act, even though a federal court recently held otherwise.” EPIC Tuesday sought a Justice Department investigation into Google’s collection of Wi-Fi data” from residential networks by means of “Street View” vehicles.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a FOIA request for the unredacted version of the FCC’s Google Street View report (http://xrl.us/bm4ho4). The FCC said it will fine Google $25,000 for obstructing an investigation concerning Google Street View and federal wiretap law, EPIC said. A “heavily redacted” report from the commission said Google impeded the investigation by “delaying its search for and production of responsive emails and other communications, by failing to identify employees, and by withholding verification of the completeness and accuracy of its submissions,” the group said. But the redacted report “also raised questions about the scope of the FCC’s Street View investigation,” it said. “Surprisingly, the FCC concluded that Google had not violated the federal wiretap act, even though a federal court recently held otherwise.” EPIC Tuesday sought a Justice Department investigation into Google’s collection of Wi-Fi data from residential networks by means of Street View vehicles (WID April 18 p5).

The FCC rescinded a ban on text-to-speech emergency alert system warnings four days before new EAS rules take effect (CD March 23 p4). A new format of emergency alert system messages that all pay-TV providers and broadcasters must implement by June 30 couldn’t have included text-to-speech warnings, under a January order on equipment certification for the Common Alerting Protocol format. An order approved by commissioners Thursday -- nine days after circulating for a vote (http://xrl.us/bmxdnu) -- reversed that ban and left consideration of part of the issue for another day.