Congress should establish a 72-hour window for critical infrastructure entities to report confirmed cyber breaches, industry witnesses told the House Cybersecurity Subcommittee (see 2108310060). A hearing considered draft legislation from Chairwoman Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., and House Homeland Security Committee ranking member John Katko, R-N.Y.
Karl Herchenroeder
Karl Herchenroeder, Associate Editor, is a technology policy journalist for publications including Communications Daily. Born in Rockville, Maryland, he joined the Warren Communications News staff in 2018. He began his journalism career in 2012 at the Aspen Times in Aspen, Colorado, where he covered city government. After that, he covered the nuclear industry for ExchangeMonitor in Washington. You can follow Herchenroeder on Twitter: @karlherk
Industry witnesses will suggest refining cyber incident reporting legislation that the House Cybersecurity Subcommittee will consider at Wednesday’s noon virtual hearing (see 2108270066). The U.S. government should consider a federal incident reporting program that includes mandatory disclosure requirements, said FireEye Mandiant Global Government Chief Technology Officer Ronald Bushar in a statement. The focus of mandatory reporting should be compliance support, not punishment for noncompliance, said Bushar, who is to testify. “Fines and other financial or legal punishments do not properly reflect the truth that, barring gross negligence or willful misconduct, organizations that suffer a cyber attack are victims of a crime.”
The FTC should have privacy enforcement authority over common carriers, Commissioner Noah Phillips said Monday. Whether online platforms should be considered common carriers for purposes of speech and First Amendment issues is a “very active debate” before Congress and the courts, he told the Hudson Institute.
State and congressional lawmakers are trying to build momentum for passing right-to-repair legislation, after renewed focus from the FTC and the White House (see 2107210061) and 2107090010). Microsoft and TechNet told us industry-authorized repair services are the best, safest option, but advocates accused industry of profit-seeking self-interest.
The FTC’s amended case against Facebook should survive a new motion to dismiss and go to trial due to solid evidence in the amended complaint demonstrating market power and the rising price of advertising, former FTC officials said in interviews.
After repeated failure to “develop innovative mobile features,” Facebook “resorted to an illegal buy-or-bury scheme to maintain its dominance,” alleged the FTC Thursday in an amended complaint in its antitrust case against the company in docket 1:20-cv-03590. The commission 3-2 authorized filing of the complaint with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington set a Sept. 30 deadline for Apple to complete production of some 1.5 million documents DOJ requested in its antitrust case against Google in docket 1:20-cv-03010 (in Pacer) (see 2107300035).
ASPEN, Colorado -- Internet regulation is “overdue in many ways and justified,” Facebook General Counsel Jennifer Newstead told a Technology Policy Institute event Tuesday. She noted the tremendous attention on internet regulation, including privacy, online safety, content moderation, data sharing and competition. “We are advocating in a number of areas that there be a very careful and focused look at what changes might be necessary,” she said.
U.S. District Judge James Boasberg was right to dismiss the FTC’s antitrust case against Facebook (see 2106280057), but he created a road map for the agency to replead its monopoly case against the social network, antitrust attorneys said in interviews.
Broadcasters and the recording industry remain at odds over a longstanding legislative debate about the prospect of performance royalty payments for radio airplay. Interviews with NAB and former Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., chairman of musicFIRST, a group that represents artists’ interests, highlighted the divide.