United States Senators have said it is unlikely that Cyber security legislation will pass this year as the 111th Congress comes to an end.
Recognizing that critical infrastructure of the United States depends on computer and network systems, legislators are debating what powers should be given to the U.S. President to respond to, and handle situations such as cyber attacks.
Countries like the United Kingdom and the United States have expressed concerns that some critical systems (health, transport, defense etc.) could be affected by cyber attacks launched by cyber criminals or rogue states. Lawmakers in the U.S. are looking to pass new legislation that would give the President powers to handle attacks from the Internet or threats of attacks, but say that any legislation is unlikely to pass this year.
“I’m not optimistic of major cyber security legislation passing at this late time.” Republican staff director on the Senate Intelligence Committee Louis Tucker said. “Considering the objections to some of the cyber bills out there, comprehensive legislation will probably have to wait until next year.”
A piece of legislation backed by Sens. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Tom Carper, D-Del has some privacy activists concerned. ACLU legislative counsel Michelle Richardson said the problem is the legislation fails to specify the powers it wants to grant to the President.
Defense News reports that the bill states: “The president would be granted emergency measures to protect the nation’s most critical infrastructure if a cyber vulnerability is being exploited or is about to be exploited.” Aides to the sponsoring Senators have said the bill does not authorize the government to take over critical infrastructure.
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Result for: lawmaker
A provision which would require a judicial order before the government could have someone’s internet account shut off has been removed from the Telecoms Package being negotiated between European Parliament and the European Council.
The amendment, approved overwhelmingly earlier this year by MEPs, said “No restriction may be imposed on the fundamental rights and freedoms of end users, without a prior ruling by the judicial authorities … save when public security is threatened.”
It would have called into question the legality of laws promoted by the recording industry as the solution to illegal file sharing. Record labels favor laws which allow them to punish alleged copyright infringement without being required to prove their charges in court first.
So far France has followed the industry’s blueprint very closely. Their 3 strikes law, which has been approved by both legislators, and in a revised version by the country’s top court, does now require judicial approval of internet disconnection.
But that doesn’t mean a content owner would be required to prove the person whose account is being shut down actually did anything wrong.
Some officials in the UK are also in favor of 3 strikes style legislation. Lawmakers who oppose such a plan have spoken out about the idea, saying record label losses are the result of poor business decisions and the public shouldn’t be punished.
ISPs are opposed for more practical reasons. They complain that hackers and WiFi networks with easily broken encryption make reliably identifying illegal file sharers impossible.
Result for: lawmaker
France’s lower house has today approved the extremely controversial “three-strikes” law for Internet pirates, giving authorities the power to disconnect multiple time offenders from the Internet completely.
The media industry has been behind the bill in the UK, France and other nations for some time now, but strong criticism, from groups who claim the bill will threaten our civil liberties, has kept it as just a bill for over a year now.
The French Culture Ministry has said they expect about 1000 French Internet users to be kicked offline, every day, if the bill becomes law. Besides being disconnected, pirates also face a fine as high as euro 300,000 (about $440,000 USD).
Unknowing parents whose kids use the family computer to download unauthorized content are also subject to the law, which will have the family’s Internet cut off for a month along with a euro 3,750 fine.
The National Assembly voted to pass the bill with a final tally of 285-225 in favor.
Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand added: “Artists will remember that we at last had the courage to break with the laissez-faire approach and protect their rights from people who want to turn the net into their libertarian utopia.”
Enforcement of the law still remains utterly questionable, with lawmakers and the media industry still working out the methods.
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t see how they can expect us to purchase the music legally, if 1000 possible customers are kicked off the Internet everyday.
