House Communications Subcommittee Vice Chairman Bob Latta, R-Ohio, in a speech to the Telecommunications Industry Association board Tuesday, “focused on the FCC’s overreach and Commissioner [Tom] Wheeler’s misguided net neutrality approach,” his spokeswoman told us, citing legislation that Latta had introduced to limit the agency’s use of Communications Act Title II. “This proposal was also included as a provision in the bill that [Hill Republicans] introduced last month.” TIA didn’t comment on Latta’s speech but tweeted a photo of Latta speaking. Latta introduced a new piece of legislation (HR-655) Monday “to reform the Federal Communications Commission by requiring an analysis of benefits and costs during the rule making process and creating certain presumptions regarding regulatory forbearance and biennial regulatory review determinations,” its longer title said. The bill text wasn't available Tuesday. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Fla., is the bill’s one co-sponsor. It was referred to Commerce. One concern Republicans have raised about the FCC’s net neutrality proceeding has been the agency’s lack of cost-benefit analysis.
The Senate Commerce Consumer Protection Subcommittee plans a hearing on data breach notification legislation Thursday at 10 a.m. in Russell 253, a Commerce committee news release said Friday. “In light of recent data breaches, consumers and companies have called for policy changes in this area,” Chairman Jerry Moran, R-Kan., said. “This hearing will help the Committee gain a better understanding of how to develop a clear and consistent national data breach notification standard that will help both companies and consumers when they face data security challenges.” Witnesses weren't announced.
Legislation that would modernize the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act by requiring government agencies to show probable cause and obtain a search warrant before obtaining or intercepting electronic communications or geolocation data was introduced Monday. Co-sponsors were Reps. Ted Poe, R-Texas, Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Suzan DelBene, D-Wash. Known as the Online Communications and Geolocation Protection Act, the legislation would create clear standards for law enforcement on when and how they can legally access location information and ensure that constitutionally guaranteed rights such as those under the Fourth Amendment are protected for wire and electronic communications as well as geolocation data. Currently, law enforcement can obtain electronic communications and geolocation information if it’s more than 180 days old by “merely” obtaining a subpoena, the lawmakers said in a joint news release. The 1986 law has “failed to keep pace with rapidly evolving technology,” they said, “leading to weak and convoluted privacy protections from government access to user data. As consumers and businesses increasingly use cloud computing and location-based services, the law’s standards no longer reflect the way these services are used today, nor adequately protect Americans’ right to privacy.” When "current law affords more protections for a letter in a filing cabinet than an email on a server, it’s clear our policies are outdated,” DelBene said. “This bill will update privacy protections for consumers while resolving competing interests between innovation, international competitiveness and public safety.” Technology "may change, but the Constitution does not,” Poe said. “Whether an individual’s property is physical or digital, it must be protected from snooping government eyes, as required under the Fourth Amendment.”
All 12 Senate Commerce Committee Republicans will be on the Communications Subcommittee, said Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., who also will sit on the subcommittee ex officio as its 13th GOP member. Seven of the Commerce Republicans will sit on the Consumer Protection and Data Security Subcommittee, not counting Thune: Sens. Roy Blunt of Missouri, Ted Cruz of Texas, Steve Daines of Montana, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, Cory Gardner of Colorado, Dean Heller of Nevada and Jerry Moran of Kansas, its chairman. Democrats haven't released rosters for subcommittee memberships.
Congressional Republicans told President Barack Obama they want to work with him on their net neutrality legislation. “There is an opportunity to work together to provide legislative certainty to the net neutrality goals you articulated" Nov. 10, Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., and House Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said in a Monday letter to Obama. “We have put forward legislation that seeks to codify the principles you highlighted in your statement, including prohibiting blocking, throttling, and paid prioritization. This legislation places these principles into law, without the uncertainty of litigation that [FCC] action would entail.” They pointed to Obama’s State of the Union pledge to work with Republicans. The White House previously told Thune it backs the FCC moving forward with its own net neutrality order (see 1501200056).
Senate Finance Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said intellectual property protections are critical for Trade Promotion Authority and international trade agreements, Friday at the American Enterprise Institute. “Intellectual property protections around the globe are continually at risk,” and the federal government has an “obligation to ensure that the creative capital of our artists and innovators is protected,” he said in prepared remarks. “For any future trade agreement to win my approval,” they must meet the strong IP standards set forth in the failed 2014 TPA, Hatch said. Such IP provisions would stipulate that trade partners adhere to U.S. standards and “enforcement obligations,” he said. The 2014 TPA also called for an “end to government involvement in intellectual property rights violations,” Hatch said. The Internet Association earlier last week urged that copyright limitations and exceptions be added to TPA (see 1501290054), which, if included, would likely face opposition from Hatch, Maira Sutton, Electronic Frontier Foundation global policy analyst, told us (see 1501150052).
One hundred million Verizon Wireless customers allegedly were spied on by online advertising company Turn, via supercookies that Verizon uses, “even when [customers] had taken steps to change their privacy settings,” four Democratic Senate Commerce Committee members said. An “immediate and full explanation” from Verizon about whether the accusations are true, “whether the company intends to keep using ‘supercookies’ or tracking technology that third parties can exploit; and, what steps it plans to take to protect consumers['] privacy,” was requested by Sens. Bill Nelson of Florida, Edward Markey of Massachusetts, Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, and Brian Schatz of Hawaii, in a letter to Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam Thursday. "As a majority of Americans are turning to their smartphones to access the Internet, it is even more critical that we remain vigilant in protecting the privacy of consumers when they use their mobile devices," the lawmakers wrote. Verizon never shares customer information with third parties as part of its advertising programs, a spokesman said. Customer privacy is taken seriously and is a “central consideration as we develop new products and services,” he said. Customers can opt out of advertising programs, and the company has also “begun working to expand the opt-out to include the identifier referred to as the UIDH.” That identifier enabled supercookies, according to media reports. Use of supercookies is of concern to privacy advocates, who say “third parties, such as Turn or even intelligence agencies, could exploit them to spy on consumers,” a joint news release from the senators said. “Our staff on the Commerce Committee will be investigating this and we certainly want to make sure that in this time of ubiquity of eyes prying all around in this electronic age that we are living [in], that we preserve the rights of privacy for all individuals,” Nelson said Thursday on the Senate floor.
The Senate Commerce Committee will examine the private sector’s experience using the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Cybersecurity Framework, during a hearing Wednesday. The hearing also will focus on potential next steps for the government and private sector on cybersecurity, Senate Commerce said Thursday. “Real progress can be made by continuing to enhance public-private cooperation and improving cyber-threat information sharing,” Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., said in a news release. The hearing is to begin at 10 a.m. in Russell 253. The committee hadn’t announced the witnesses for the hearing by our deadline. Thune and then-committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., sponsored the 2013 Cybersecurity Act, which eventually passed in mid-December as the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act (see 1412120066). That bill codified NIST’s authority to develop the Cybersecurity Framework, which the agency released in February. NIST will lead a technical workshop on the framework with Stanford University Feb. 12, the day before a planned White House-sponsored summit on cybersecurity issues. President Barack Obama is expected to speak at that event.
The healthcare.gov website appears to be sharing personal user data through an automated process with several major tech companies, including Google, Twitter and Yahoo, according to analysis by staffers from eight combined House and Senate committee chairmen. The findings were sent in a letter Friday to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell from Senate Commerce Chairman John Thune, R-S.D.; Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah; House Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich.; House Ways and Means Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis.; House Oversight Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah; and others. It’s not “clear which pieces of consumer information are being passed to other third parties,” but “this sort of information sharing practice raises serious questions about the relationships between all parties involved,” it said. The letter asked several questions of HHS, including whether it authorized the sharing of consumer data. HHS didn’t comment.
House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., is expected to introduce patent reform legislation “very soon,” a House Judiciary aide said Friday. The legislation is a “top priority” for Goodlatte, who has been meeting with “all interested parties and stakeholders,” she said. House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chairman Tom Marino, R-Pa., is expected to be a co-sponsor of the bill, a spokesman said. The bill is expected to be “virtually the same” as the Innovation Act (HR-3309), which the House passed in December 2013, he said.