Terrorism-Reporting Rules in Senate Intelligence Bill Would ‘Cripple’ Most Firms, Shapiro Says

Section 603 of the Senate Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2016 (S-1705) requiring an electronic communication service or a remote computing service to report suspected terrorist activities to authorities is “fatally flawed” and should be removed from the legislation, CEA President Gary Shapiro told Senate leadership in a Thursday letter. The bill was introduced July 7 by Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C. “While well intended, this provision will impose impossible to meet requirements on a range of America’s technology companies,” Shapiro said. “The real world impact of the requirements in this section could devastate the U.S. technology industry,” he said. “Internet platforms could be burdened with reporting content that, in many cases, their employees, including lawyers, cannot accurately categorize or understand.” The requirements would be “impossible to follow given that social networks may receive up to 500 million postings per day,” he said. Content that’s “potentially subject to the reporting requirement is written in a wide range of languages that service providers subject to this law are unlikely to be equipped to have the resources to understand,” he said. “The burden of reviewing and interpreting hundreds of millions of postings in scores of different languages would cripple most companies.” Section 603 also “appears to cover any company with a blog, internet operation, or active bulletin board,” he said. “The number of companies impacted goes far beyond the intent of the provision. In short, this is an ill-conceived but potentially far-reaching, chilling and debilitating proposal for American technology companies.” The Internet Association, Internet Infrastructure Coalition and Reform Government Surveillance also wrote a letter to Senate leadership about concerns they have over the provision. “All of our members want to eliminate terrorist activity on their platforms, and they work tirelessly to ensure that Internet platforms are being used legally,” IA CEO Michael Beckerman said. “Requiring Internet companies to provide law enforcement enormous quantities of data will not make us safer and would make it more difficult for law enforcement to find real threats.” If the provision were to be adopted, there is a risk it would serve as a “global template for other countries to impose reporting requirements for activities those jurisdictions deem unlawful,” the groups' letter said. “This would be particularly problematic with countries that regulate speech, including political speech, and with authoritarian regimes that would demand that Internet companies police their citizens’ activities.” Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., put a hold on the bill, citing concerns with the provision (see 1507280048). Earlier this week, a coalition of digital right groups and trade associations wrote to Senate leadership urging the provision be removed (see 1508040049). Burr's representatives didn't comment.