Recent federal legislation indicates a growing federal interest in blockchain as a potentially integral technology in cybersecurity systems. This comes on the heels of recent legislation in the New York Assembly also suggesting state level interest in blockchain.
On December 12th, H.R. 2810, the “National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018,” was signed into law. This law was, first and foremost,… More
The Cybersecurity and Information Sharing Act (S.754), or CISA, cleared an important hurdle on Thursday when the Senate voted 83-14 to end debate on several amendments to the bill. CISA creates a cyberthreat information sharing system to, in the words of the bill, “improve cybersecurity in the United States.” Specifically, as currently drafted, the bill requires various government actors and agencies (such as the Attorney General and the Department of Homeland Security) to create specific policies and regulations relating to the sharing of cyberthreat data from private entities and within government entities. … More
Here is a video discussion I had with LexBlog on the new White House Data Privacy report, “Consumer Data Privacy in a Networked World: A Framework for Protecting Privacy and Promoting Innovation in the Global Digital Economy.” In this conversation, we discussed the report’s four primary elements:
The White House has finally released its long-anticipated report on consumer privacy.The 60-page White House report, “Consumer Data Privacy in a Networked World: A Framework for Protecting Privacy and Promoting Innovation in the Global Digital Economy,” is the start of what promises to be a fascinating legislative and regulatory process.
It is curious that the Department of Commerce has been charged with "work[ing] with other Federal agencies to convene stakeholders,… More
In its recent Annual Report to Congress on Breaches of Unsecured Protected Health Information, the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services, we see confirmation of certain trends– bigger breaches and breaches involving theft of electronic media:
Between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2010, breaches involving 500 or more individuals also made up less than one percent of reports,… More
Until yesterday, I did not know there was a Congressional Cyber Security Caucus. It is not clear what it has been up to, as it hasn’t had a media release in eleven months. More
If Tuesday night’s failure to give fast-track approval to an extension of certain surveillance powers under the Patriot Act is any indication, Congress is in the mood to protect individual privacy. As such, a series of anticipated online privacy protection bills are likely to garner bipartisan support in the weeks and months ahead.
Proposals will come from both sides of the aisle. According to Hillicon Valley,… More
Last week, it was learned that a secret report of the U.S. House of Representatives Ethics Committee was disclosed — apparently inadvertently — by a junior committee staff member. This staff apparently stored the file on a home computer that also ran a "peer-to-peer" file-sharing service. Just as peer-to-peer services let you share music and games, they also can give outside users access to other files on your computer, including in this case secret Congressional reports. … More
It appears that certain groups, such as the American Bar Association (ABA), may be partially successful in their efforts to convince Congress to narrow the scope of the FTC Red Flags Rules, which are currently scheduled to go into effect on November 1. According to the BNA Privacy & Security Law Report, the House Financial Services Committee has sent H.R. 3763, titled a bill “To amend the Fair Credit Reporting Act to provide for an exclusion from Red Flag Guidelines for certain businesses,”… More