The Department of Homeland Security reduced the time it takes to patch a cyber vulnerability to within 30 days, Assistant Homeland Security Secretary for Cybersecurity and Communications Jeanette Manfra said in an interview for C-SPAN's The Communicators series, set to be televised later She conceded the agency struggled with patching vulnerabilities in an acceptable amount of time in the past. Shrinking the response had a ripple effect throughout the federal government, she said. The digital economy is so interconnected that cyber infections can spread quickly across the world, she said, calling cyberthreats a “constant, ever-present activity that everyone has to face.” She said the department had “limited visibility” of foreign influence campaigns in the 2016 election. DHS has worked hard in the past two years to deploy more “sensing capabilities,” particularly with state and local authorities, she said, and more than 1,500 jurisdictions participate in information sharing.
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
ThePirateBay.org, an illicit torrent indexing service, remains a prominent target for the music, film and video game industries, show comments to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative posted this week. USTR collected comments through Monday for its Special 301 report on countries and groups that infringe U.S. intellectual property.
DOJ will soon conclude a criminal case against companies using search algorithms to effectuate price fixing, creating an anticompetitive effect, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim told lawmakers Wednesday. Calling the case “the first of its kind,” he declined to name the companies involved, during a hearing on tech platform antitrust concerns. “We actually have a case, a criminal case, that’s going to be coming to a conclusion in the next two weeks,” he told the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee. Delrahim answered questions about various investigations of Google throughout the discussion.
DOJ can appear during oral argument in Apple’s appeal of a class-action antitrust lawsuit alleging it monopolized distribution of App Store applications (see 1806180053), the Supreme Court decided Monday in Apple v. Robert Pepper, et al., docket 17-204. The solicitor general in May asked the court to grant Apple's petition, arguing the 9th Circuit misapplied Illinois Brick preventing indirect purchasers from seeking certain antitrust damages passed on by third parties (see 1805090051). States have “allowed indirect purchasers to sue under state antitrust law, leading to decades of experience that contradict the predictions and policy judgments underlying Illinois Brick,” 31 states argued in favor of Pepper. Computer & Communications Industry Association argued in favor of Apple, saying pass-through harm leads to duplicative damages claims in conflict with the high court’s precedents. Illinois Brick “preserves standing for a direct purchaser to recover damages for overcharges, whether or not those charges are passed along to downstream customers,” BSA|The Software Alliance argued. Open Markets Institute argued “Apple falsely implies its app store is a neutral and open marketplace. … Through contractual and technical restrictions, the company compels owners of iPhones and developers of iPhone apps to conduct business solely on its App Store and on its terms.”
The House Commerce Committee is in contact with Facebook about a potential briefing with members this week on the recent breach (see 1810010032), a committee aide said Tuesday. A Senate Commerce Committee aide said his committee also expects a briefing with Facebook but declined to specify timing. Additionally, the House Judiciary Committee requested a bipartisan briefing from Facebook, an aide said Tuesday. The company didn’t comment.
FTC Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and former Commissioner Maureen Ohlhausen agreed Tuesday the agency needs more data security authority, though they largely offered competing views. At an Atlantic magazine event, Slaughter spoke of the agency’s inability to deter bad actors because of its lack of civil penalty and rulemaking authority.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee this fall. That came after meeting House Republicans Friday led by Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. (see 1809270044).
The House Judiciary Committee expects to host Google at a hearing later this year, an aide told us Thursday. She didn't say whether testimony will come from CEO Sundar Pichai, who is to visit the Hill this week to speak with lawmakers from both chambers (see 1809250050). The aide said Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., was part of a group of House lawmakers scheduled to meet with Google Friday and referred further questions to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, told us he was to meet with Pichai Thursday. Asked Thursday, Goodlatte declined to comment about who will testify for Google. A Google spokesperson cited a previous statement from Pichai saying he looks forward to working with members of both parties without committing to testifying.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., expects to finalize draft data privacy legislation before year-end, he told reporters. Earlier Wednesday, the committee heard testimony (see 1809250049) from Amazon, Apple, AT&T, Charter Communications, Google and Twitter that edge providers and ISPs should be subject to the same pre-emptive federal privacy legislation.
Sundar Pichai expects to meet Friday with lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the Google CEO confirmed in an email Tuesday. Senate Intelligence Committee ranking member Mark Warner, D-Va., told us the executive is meeting with a “partisan group” of House Republicans Friday. He cited the platform’s recent absence from a hearing with Twitter and Facebook executives (see 1809050057). “I look forward to meeting with Members on both sides of the aisle, answering a wide range of questions, and explaining our approach,” Pichai said in a statement. “These meetings will continue Google's long history of engaging with Congress, including testifying seven times to Congress this year.” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has been a vocal critic of alleged anti-conservative bias on Google, announcing Sept. 11 an invite to the platform. Google didn't respond to questions about reports Pichai also plans to testify before the House Judiciary Committee after the November elections. The committee didn’t comment. Content Creators Coalition launched a campaign Tuesday calling for Congress to subpoena testimony from Google so it can answer questions on “the Russian attack on the 2016 election, as well as the company’s long history of ignoring illegal activities on its networks.”