Senate passage of the Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters (DOTCOM) Act (S-1551) is critical to guaranteeing federal “oversight over the final product” of ICANN’s planning for the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition, said Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., in a speech Wednesday. Shimkus sponsored the House-passed version of the DOTCOM Act (HR-805), which is identical to S-1551. The DOTCOM Act would guarantee that NTIA would temporarily extend its current contract with ICANN to administer the IANA functions, which would extend NTIA’s oversight of the process, Shimkus said at an American Enterprise Institute event. To get that guarantee, “you have to pass the DOTCOM Act, the president has to sign it into law,” Shimkus said.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee unanimously cleared the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act (S-1869) Wednesday with support from committee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and ranking member Tom Carper, D-Del., the bill’s sponsors. S-1869, previously referred to as the Einstein Act, would authorize the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Einstein intrusion detection and prevention system for federal networks and mandate that federal agencies use the system. The bill would require federal agencies to implement cybersecurity best practices like encryption of sensitive systems and two-factor authentication. S-1869 also would require DHS and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to do a comprehensive assessment to remove hackers from federal networks. Congress would need to reauthorize S-1869 seven years after it takes effect.
The near-certainty of a prolonged timeline for the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) oversight transition and a set of upcoming policy forums mean Internet governance could become an issue in the 2016 presidential election campaign under the right set of circumstances, but that time hasn’t come yet, stakeholders said in interviews. ICANN and NTIA are now operating under the assumption that the IANA transition won’t be finished until at least July 2016 (see 1507080044), about the time the Democratic and Republican parties will be officially naming their presidential nominees.
A Department of Commerce proposal for implementing changes to export control rules to comply with the multinational Wassenaar Arrangement is continuing to draw controversy amongindustry and nongovernmental organizations, with several industry officials saying at an event Friday that they're actively lobbying members of Congress, Commerce and other federal agencies on the need for changes to the proposal. A wide range of U.S. cybersecurity parties railed against the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) Wassenaar implementation proposal in comments last week, with many saying the proposed implementation of recent changes to Wassenaar that would control the export of intrusion software and IP network surveillance systems was overly broad and would significantly affect U.S. cybersecurity companies (see 1507220082).
House Judiciary Committee leaders invited all copyright stakeholders who testified at hearings since 2013 about the committee’s Copyright Act review to provide additional feedback on copyright-related policy issues. All of the more than 100 witnesses at House Judiciary’s 20 copyright-related hearings will be able to schedule meetings with committee staff, said House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich. Other copyright stakeholders who didn’t testify also will be able to meet with House Judiciary, the committee said.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., is continuing to negotiate with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to lift Cruz's hold on the Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters (DOTCOM) Act, he said in an interview Wednesday. “We're not there yet, but I'm hopeful that he will come around to our point of view,” Thune said. Cruz placed a hold on S-1551 because he believes the concerns he raised in a failed amendment to the bill during Senate Commerce's markup that would have required Congress to vote on approving the Internet Assigned Number Authority transition haven't been addressed (see 1507200068 and 1507210070). The House easily passed an identical version of the DOTCOM Act (HR-805) last month. Cruz “believes there are good provisions in the DOTCOM Act that will improve Internet governance,” but “also feels strongly that Congress should at least have a vote on whether to give away the Internet,” a spokesman said.
Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mark Warner, D-Va., led a bipartisan group of senators Wednesday in introducing the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) Reform Act, which they said would formalize and increase the Department of Homeland Security's power to protect federal networks and websites against cyberattacks. The bill, which Collins and other supporters told reporters is a legislative response to the recent Office of Personnel Management (OPM) data breach, is needed to formalize DHS' authority to protect federal networks and move beyond the “status quo,” in which individual agencies are allowed to voluntarily seek DHS assistance, they said. “This voluntary system has resulted in an inconsistent patchwork of security across the whole federal government,” Warner said during a news conference. The bill's other co-sponsors are Sens. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., Dan Coats, R-Ind., Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.
The federal government should tread slowly in creating regulations for IoT technologies, industry executives said Wednesday during a Congressional IoT Caucus event. “This is something that has evolved over time, and now we're at a point where we can really have a conversation about where things are today and where they're headed,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash. DelBene co-founded the Congressional IoT Caucus with House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., earlier this year (see 1501130038).
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters Tuesday that he’s trying to convince Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to withdraw his hold on the Domain Openness Through Continued Oversight Matters Act. Cruz placed a hold on S-1551 because he believes the “important concerns” he raised during Senate Commerce’s markup of the bill about the need for Congress to hold an up-or-down vote on the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition haven’t been addressed (see 1507200068). Aides to Sens. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., and Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said separately that their offices hadn’t also placed holds on S-1551. Fischer and Sullivan were two of the four Senate Commerce members who voted for Cruz’s amendment that would have required a vote on the IANA transition.
Internet and tech companies’ lobbying spending continued to rise in Q2, according to lobbying disclosure filings. Lobbying on cybersecurity, Internet governance and privacy issues remained at elevated levels amid continuing debates over legislation on those issues and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) transition. Google again led Internet companies in federal lobbying spending during Q2, though its total expenditures for the quarter fell year-over-year, while Amazon and Facebook’s spending rose. Industry groups generally reported decreased lobbying expenditures, with video groups reporting lower numbers following reauthorization of the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (see 1507200066).