The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sought stakeholders’ recommendations Wednesday on best practices it should include in its voluntary guidelines for technology meant to allow drivers safe and limited use of mobile devices while a vehicle is in motion. The guidelines, which NHTSA plans to propose later this year, are “Phase 2” of the agency’s plans to collaborate with stakeholders on distracted driving technology. NHTSA released its “Phase 1” guidelines last year, which focused on distraction mitigation related to devices built into a vehicle (http://1.usa.gov/1iBUXBV). The “Phase 3” guidelines would examine technology related to auditory and vocal interfaces, NHTSA said. A meeting Wednesday was the first in what NHTSA plans to be a series of input sessions, said acting NHTSA Administrator David Friedman. NHTSA is also seeking written comments on the guidelines, which stakeholders can submit until May 12, said a notice in the Federal Register (http://xrl.us/bqpmr4).
Jimm Phillips
Jimm Phillips, Associate Editor, covers telecommunications policymaking in Congress for Communications Daily. He joined Warren Communications News in 2012 after stints at the Washington Post and the American Independent News Network. Phillips is a Maryland native who graduated from American University. You can follow him on Twitter: @JLPhillipsDC
Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son went directly to the public, bypassing federal regulators Tuesday to make his case that the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier needs to get bigger to compete with AT&T and Verizon Wireless. Sprint majority owner SoftBank has the technology to increase U.S. wireless broadband speeds but needs additional spectrum and infrastructure to do it, Son said in a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. SoftBank has run into early opposition from U.S. regulators to Sprint’s rumored interest in a Sprint/T-Mobile US merger. Son, who also leads SoftBank, did not specifically mention T-Mobile during his speech Tuesday. However, in an appearance on PBS’s Charlie Rose Monday night, he said explicitly he would still like to buy T-Mobile. Industry observers told us in interviews Tuesday they are skeptical that Son’s recent comments, meant to shift its argument for a T-Mobile deal, will sway regulators’ concerns.
The FTC believes continued international stakeholder work in the cyber realm is critical to the agency’s priorities on data privacy and security, said Commissioner Julie Brill Monday at a joint Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development-U.S. Council for International Business event. The FTC has been emphasizing data privacy and security as one of its policy priorities, instituting the “Reclaim Your Name” program and urging Congress to pass legislation addressing data broker oversight, baseline privacy protection and data security regulation. The FTC is emphasizing a need for data deidentification through the development of best practices meant to encourage companies to do everything “ethically possible” to strip personally identifiable information from their data, Brill said. She said she supports companies embedding ethical standards within data algorithms and proposals to create consumer subject review boards.
Industry believes use of the Cybersecurity Framework will remain voluntary for the foreseeable future, but industry lawyers and stakeholders told us there’s a strong likelihood the framework will become a de facto standard of care that could become an issue in future litigation. A standard of care is defined as the amount of attention a reasonable individual or entity would exercise in a given situation -- in this case, it would be the level of cybersecurity risk mitigation an entity should reasonably exercise. Stakeholders debated that scenario during the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) yearlong development of the framework as part of President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order (CD July 19 p8; Sept 11 p11). A de facto standard may have benefits along with widely perceived negative impacts, industry lawyers told us.
Legislation that seeks to curb patent litigation abuse has a good chance of passing both chambers before the end of the year, two top patent revamp advocates in Congress said Wednesday. “It’s a pretty good bet you could see something on this, this year,” said Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, at a Politico event sponsored by the pro-revamp Main Street Patent Coalition. Lee and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., are the main sponsors of the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720), the Senate’s marquee bill addressing patent litigation. The House has already passed the Innovation Act (HR-3309), its own patent litigation revamp measure, but the two bills are not completely similar.
Backlash against controversial National Security Agency surveillance programs “directly impacts” Congress’s ability to pass cybersecurity legislation, said Keith Alexander, NSA director and commander of the U.S. Cyber Command, during a Georgetown University event Tuesday. Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden’s leaks about the NSA programs “have caused grave, significant and irreversible damage to our nation and to our allies,” Alexander said. “It will take us years to recover.” Alexander told the Senate Armed Services Committee last week that Congress needs to “get on with cyber legislation” since “a lack of legislation will impact our ability to defend the country in this area” (CD Feb 28 p11). That legislation should include amended versions of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Stored Communications Act, which both needed to be updated to allow for improved information sharing, Alexander said Tuesday.
Continued DHS work to build its relationships with private sector stakeholders is “crucial” to its continued mission to address cybersecurity in the private sector and on government networks, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson told the House Homeland Security Committee Wednesday. Johnson, who took office in December, outlined his vision for DHS and addressed concerns about the department’s programs. DHS’s private sector outreach on cybersecurity has been most public on the department’s role in implementing President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order, Johnson said.
Patent assertion entity Intellectual Ventures (IV) filed with the Federal Elections Commission last week to organize its own political action committee, Intellectual Ventures PAC, according to documents the FEC released Friday (http://1.usa.gov/Nj8CiR). IV has not commented on what Intellectual Ventures PAC’s political agenda will be, but the company has been highly critical of many provisions in legislation under consideration on Capitol Hill that would curb abusive patent litigation. The House passed the Innovation Act (HR-3309) in December, and the Senate is considering the Patent Transparency and Improvements Act (S-1720) and several other bills. Advocates of that legislation told us it isn’t surprising that IV has formed its own PAC, citing IV’s history of lobbying on patent legislation.
The White House announced a set of new executive actions Thursday that aim to curb abusive patent litigation to be accomplished through U.S. Patent and Trademark Office programs, along with an update to the executive actions President Barack Obama took in June (CD June 5 p12). The White House actions are collectively important because “our patent system simply must keep up with the ever-evolving needs of industry,” said Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker during a White House event Thursday that announced the new actions. Advocates of efforts to rein in what they see as abuses by patent assertion entities praised the White House announcement, though they noted the most effective actions still require further legislative action from Congress. The Thursday announcement followed up on the White House’s promise in conjunction with Obama’s State of the Union speech in late January to announce progress on the June initiatives. Obama had urged Congress during the State of the Union to “pass a patent reform bill that allows our businesses to stay focused on innovation, not costly, needless litigation” (CD Bulletin Jan 29 p1).
The legacy of President Barack Obama’s cybersecurity executive order (EO) remains a work in progress even after the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s release last week of the finalized “Version 1.0” Cybersecurity Framework, said cybersecurity experts in interviews. The framework has been the most high-profile element of the executive order, but the experts said the order’s legacy will ultimately depend on whether federal agencies are able to encourage voluntary industry adoption of the framework’s standards and best practices.