Privacy advocates are calling for policy changes on surveillance and privacy after news reports last week that the National Security Agency (NSA) has operated a program since 2007, named Prism, that allows the agency access to user data controlled by major online service providers, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo and Apple. The program is operated under the FISA Amendment Act (FAA), which passed last year and updated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, according to April documents cited in the news reports. Thursday’s reports on the program from The Washington Post (http://wapo.st/14ClB0z) and The Guardian (http://bit.ly/1baaUGj) came after Wednesday’s reports that the NSA compels Verizon to release to the agency data on customers’ call logs (CD June 7 p1).

Privacy advocates are calling for policy changes on surveillance and privacy after news reports last week that the National Security Agency (NSA) has operated a program since 2007, named Prism, which allows the agency access to user data controlled by major online service providers, including Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Yahoo and Apple. The program is operated under the FISA Amendment Act (FAA), which passed last year and updated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, according to April documents cited in the news reports. Thursday’s reports on the program from The Washington Post (http://wapo.st/14ClB0z) and The Guardian (http://bit.ly/1baaUGj) came after Wednesday’s reports that the NSA compels Verizon to release to the agency data on customers’ call logs.

The European Commission is about to act to ensure net neutrality, Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said Tuesday at a European Parliament forum on guaranteeing competition and the open Internet in Europe. While governments have largely taken a hands-off approach to Internet regulation, there are clearly problems on today’s Internet, she said. Studies show that online services are blocked or throttled for many Europeans, and that people aren’t getting the speeds or quality they paid for, she said.

The European Commission is about to act to ensure net neutrality, Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said Tuesday at a European Parliament forum on guaranteeing competition and the open Internet in Europe. While governments have largely taken a hands-off approach to Internet regulation, there are clearly problems on today’s Internet, she said. Studies show that online services are blocked or throttled for many Europeans, and that people aren’t getting the speeds or quality they paid for, she said.

The World Telecommunication/ICT Policy Forum (WTPF) ended last week with a consensus among participants on a set of non-binding documents on Internet-related issues (CD May 17 p3). The consensus at WTPF was in contrast to the rancorous end to the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai in December. Industry insiders and experts told us it’s unclear if future binding talks on Internet governance issues will produce a consensus as easily.

The World Telecommunication/ICT Policy Forum (WTPF) ended last week with a consensus among participants on a set of non-binding documents on Internet-related issues(WID May 17 p3). The consensus at WTPF was in contrast to the rancorous end to the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) in Dubai in December. Industry insiders and experts told us it’s unclear if future binding talks on Internet governance issues will produce a consensus as easily.

The best chance for increased privacy protections on the Internet will be a Senate cybersecurity bill, Center for Democracy and Technology President Leslie Harris told us following an American Association for the Advancement of Science event. She said the prospects for bicameral passage are good because “the House wants a bill.” Cybersecurity lobbyist Stewart Baker, a former assistant secretary of policy at the Department of Homeland Security, took issue with her and other privacy advocates’ push, saying on a panel that they're “devoting all their time and all their efforts to ensure our cybersecurity efforts, small though they may be, fail.”

The best chance for increased privacy protections on the Internet will be a Senate cybersecurity bill, Center for Democracy and Technology President Leslie Harris told us following an American Association for the Advancement of Science event. She said the prospects for bicameral passage are good because “the House wants a bill.” Cybersecurity lobbyist Stewart Baker, a former assistant secretary of policy at the Department of Homeland Security, took issue with her and other privacy advocates’ push, saying on a panel that they're “devoting all their time and all their efforts to ensure our cybersecurity efforts, small though they may be, fail.”

The privacy and civil liberties protections being included in the White House’s Cybersecurity Framework are still in the early stages of development, but policy experts at leading privacy groups tell us they do not believe the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is likely to be a factor. Privacy groups criticized CISPA when the House passed it earlier this month because of what they saw as insufficient privacy protections (CD April 19 p6) . But those groups also see the Senate as unlikely to take up the bill, scuttling its chances of affecting the framework. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said Tuesday that he views CISPA as a “sort of useless bill” that “can’t guide us at all” (CD April 24 p12) . The committee did not respond to a request for further comment. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are collaborating to lead development of the Cybersecurity Framework, a set of standards and best practices, in response to President Barack Obama’s February cybersecurity order (CD Feb 14 p1) .

The privacy and civil liberties protections being included in the White House’s Cybersecurity Framework are still in the early stages of development, but policy experts at leading privacy groups tell us they do not believe the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is likely to be a factor. Privacy groups criticized CISPA when the House passed it earlier this month because of what they saw as insufficient privacy protections (WID April 19 p1). But those groups also see the Senate as unlikely to take up the bill, scuttling its chances of affecting the framework. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said Tuesday that he views CISPA as a “sort of useless bill” that “can’t guide us at all” (WID April 24 p4). The committee did not respond to a request for further comment. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are collaborating to lead development of the Cybersecurity Framework, a set of standards and best practices, in response to President Barack Obama’s February cybersecurity order (WID Feb 14 p1).