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: legislation
As of today, Finland has become the first nation in the world to make broadband Internet a legal right, with every citizen guaranteed the right to at least a 1Mbps connection.
Furthermore, the Finnish government has promised guaranteed speeds of 100Mbps for all of its citizens by 2015, a feat that will likely not be matched by most other nations.
97 percent of the Finnish population currently has access to a broadband connection.
Finland passed the legislation last year, and Spain followed in November with a similar bill.
Says Fninish communication minister Suvi Linden: “We considered the role of the internet in Finns everyday life. Internet services are no longer just for entertainment. Finland has worked hard to develop an information society and a couple of years ago we realised not everyone had access.”
The British government has also committed to giving all citizens a minimum 2Mbps broadband connection by 2012 but that is not a legally binding ruling.
Result for: legislation
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.
