President Barack Obama’s new cybersecurity plan met with more indifference than criticism from security experts speaking at the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference in Washington Wednesday. Cybersecurity threats in general are wildly overstated or portrayed as malevolent acts when some of the best-known incidents have come through accidents or simple security holes, they said. The first director of the National Cyber Security Division at the Department of Homeland Security, Amit Yoran, largely stayed quiet in the midst of a chaotic debate among speakers and audience members. But he agreed Obama’s recent cybersecurity rhetoric was, in some places, over the top.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee has issued a press release announcing that Committee Chairman Waxman and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Stupak have sent a letter to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Hamburg asking the FDA to reconsider its conclusion under the Bush Administration that Bisphenol A1 is safe at current estimated exposure levels.
The World Trade Organization frequently posts communications to WTO members on issues that involve the U.S. The following are short summaries of such issues for May 16-31, 2009:
With less than a week left to review the Embarq- CenturyTel merger under the unofficial timeline, the FCC still hasn’t circulated a draft order, agency officials said Tuesday. The commission is expected to approve the $11.6 billion deal (CD May 22 p1), but is still reviewing merger commitments, said one official. The FCC’s 180-day shot clock expires Sunday, but the regulator hasn’t always met the self- imposed target.
The federal government must get over some of its notions of proper behavior if it’s to successfully harness the power of Web 2.0, said Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media at a Center for American Progress forum. Moderator Peter Swire, privacy counselor in the Clinton Administration and an attorney for the new media team during the Obama transition, expressed the thought more cautiously, saying “there need to be ways to move forward with these cool things without the lawyers saying ‘no’ too quickly.” Swire released three papers in conjunction with the event, outlining the challenges facing the Obama new media team now that it now longer operates a private Web site unconstrained by federal rules, and offering recommendations for the use of Web 2.0 technology and free services.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission has confirmed that Nancy Nord is stepping down as Acting Chairman of the CPSC, and that Commissioner Moore is taking over on a temporary basis, starting June 1, 2009. Nord will remain on as a Commissioner until the end of her term in 2012.
CTIA and National Emergency Number Association officials warned that a growing number of states are redirecting E-911 funds, especially in light of the slumping economy and budget problems. In most of the states where the funds are being raided, many counties still don’t have E911 Phase II coverage, or in some cases even basic Phase I coverage. The FCC is scheduled to take on the issue in a report it will make to Congress in July as a requirement of NET 911 Improvement Act.
The Privacy Act of 1974 has never shed its file-cabinet mentality, experts contended during a presentation Thursday of the Information Security and Privacy Advisory Board’s recommendations to Office of Management & Budget Director Peter Orszag for changes. The presentation, at Center for Democracy and Technology headquarters, also included a draft bill CDT prepared to update the Act.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection has issued a technical amendment to an interim final rule in order to change the effective date for replacement of the current Guam Visa Waiver Program with a new Guam-Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands Visa Waiver Program and the establishment of six ports of entry in the CNMI to November 28, 2009 (from June 1, 2009). (D/N USCBP-2009-0001; CBP Dec. No. 09-14, FR Pub 05/28/09, available at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-12345.pdf)
In the May 29, 2009 issue of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Bulletin (Vol. 43, No. 22), CBP published a notice proposing to revoke one ruling and a treatment as follows: