It's time for the U.S. to "raise the profile" of the potential for bad actors to perpetrate cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, said Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., at an American Enterprise Institute event Thursday. "What we need to do as a nation is we have got to raise the profile of the serious threats we face in terms of our basic critical infrastructure," he said. Johnson warned against legislation that would bring about "unintended consequences" resulting from a lack of detailed information needed to make decisions.
Notable CROSS rulings
The U.S. has privacy and data protections that are on par with and, in some cases, exceed what's offered in the European Union, FTC Commissioner Julie Brill said, providing a litany of examples during a safe harbor discussion hosted by the Progressive Policy Institute and the Lisbon Council Wednesday. "These protections are strong and I think that they do show that we are essentially equivalent," she said. The issue goes to the heart of the October European Court of Justice ruling, which invalidated the 15-year-old safe harbor framework. The European Commission hadn't ensured that EU citizen data is adequately protected when transferred to the U.S., said the high court, adding that the EC needs to make sure U.S. protections are essentially equivalent.
FCC proposals to further loosen FCC broadcast foreign ownership rules continue (see 1512220056) to receive broad support, in reply comments filed in docket 15-236 last week. Comcast, Media General, the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council, and NAB supported FCC proposals to make it easier for broadcasters to be foreign-owned, align broadcaster foreign ownership rules with those for common carriers, and update the rules to account for modern corporate ownership structures and SEC rules.
A new coalition of companies, public interest groups and trade associations is promising Capitol Hill lobbying, consumer outreach and a host of other steps to block Charter Communications' proposed buy of Bright House Networks and Time Warner Cable. A similar Stop Mega Comcast coalition launched in 2014 in opposition to Comcast's now-dead attempt at buying TWC, and many of the same members are part of the Stop Mega Cable Coalition announced Thursday.
FirstNet expects to issue a single contract that could include a team of participants as a result of its recently released request for proposals, board member Kevin McGinnis told the National Public Safety Telecommunications Council Thursday. FirstNet released the RFP last week (see 1601130046). Proposals are due April 29 and McGinnis said FirstNet will likely make an award in Q4.
Dish Network designated entities Northstar Wireless and SNR Wireless made their initial case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, asking the court to decide the FCC acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner when it rejected their use of bidding credits to buy spectrum in the AWS-3 auction. The FCC is to respond in a brief due Feb. 26.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership supports U.S. technology leadership globally and will be a driver for economic growth and job creation, TechNet said in a news release Monday. TechNet urged Congress to approve TPP, identifying "key provisions" that are important to the technology sector, including "rules and regulations to increase fair competition and consumer protection in the tech sector," guarantees of "nearly unrestricted" cross-border data flows, prohibitions against "forced localization" of data and the elimination of tariffs and duties on digital products. "Our nation's ability to continue to lead in this [technology] sector is dependent on access to the fastest growing markets in the world and the uninhibited flow of data across borders," said TechNet CEO Linda Moore.
A joint hearing of the House Information Technology and Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies subcommittees will review sections of the Wassenaar Arrangement on cybersecurity that were proposed by the Department of Commerce in May and retracted after industry opposition. The hearing will be Tuesday at 2 p.m. in 2154 Rayburn and will feature witness testimony from State Department, Homeland Security and Commerce Department officials, plus industry professionals including Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) CEO Dean Garfield, Microsoft Assistant General Counsel-Cybersecurity Cristin Flynn Goodwin, and Cheri Flynn McGuire, Symantec vice president-global government affairs and cybersecurity policy. In his written testimony, Garfield expressed concerns for the "commercial and security implications of" the proposed means for addressing the export and proliferation of weaponized malicious software. Garfield's testimony focuses on the importance of cross-border data flows to cybersecurity, the potential impacts of the proposed rules in the Wassenaar Arrangement on cybersecurity and innovation efforts, the broader effects of the proposed rule on the cybersecurity ecosystem and recommendations on how to best achieve the objectives of the Wassenaar Arrangement without compromising security objectives, ITI said.
A proposed set of changes to ICANN’s accountability mechanisms is in question again amid continued work by the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) to address concerns raised in public comments on the latest draft of its accountability proposal, stakeholders said in interviews. Most parties that submitted feedback about the latest CCWG-Accountability draft supported the draft proposals. But they raised significant concerns about recommendations on how the ICANN board should handle Governmental Advisory Committee consensus advice after the planned Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition and stakeholders’ rights to inspect ICANN documents (see 1512220040).
Language concerning requirements for accepting and rejecting advice from the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) included by the Cross Community Working Group on Enhancing ICANN Accountability (CCWG-Accountability) in its draft of proposed changes to ICANN's accountability procedures released last month (see 1512010064) was the subject of much scrutiny in public comments due Monday. The language drew some support from national governments, ICANN's At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) and top-level domain (TLD) associations. ICANN's board submitted comments on the draft proposal last week (see 1512140055) and said it supports CCWG-Accountability's consensus language on handling GAC recommendations, which many saw as the final substantial barrier to approving the draft (see 1511270048). Multiple stakeholders also expressed concerns about language allowing the removal of several ICANN board members at once.