U.S. government has been working diligently to bring cybersecurity legislation into mainstream, apparently meant to guard critical national infrastructures and businesses based in the U.S. To this end, President Obama recently signed an executive order which intends to improve national cybersecurity.
We reported recently that rumors are abound regarding the notorious CISPA bill. The bill couldn’t be pushed through Congress earlier, thanks to the pressure built up by privacy activists. But apparently, the bill is being revived, on the pretext of much-needed national cybersecurity.
In light of the new executive order signed by President Obama, National Institute of Standards and Technology has been tasked with creating best practices frameworks for operators related to industries such as transportation, health and water. The suggestions from the Institute must be handed back to the government within the next 240 days.
President has also asked Congress to pass legislation to similar ends. Whereas he may as well have passed an executive order for this, the issue is that many businesses want Congress’ support so that they may not be held liable eventually. The reservation stems from the fact that U.S. government essentially wants businesses, including tech companies, to hand over any and all user data when required on the pretext of national cybersecurity.
As important as legislation towards national cybersecurity is, privacy activists maintain that it must not violate user’s privacy rights. That is tricky ground and from the looks of it, the government is adamant on pursuing its own notion of cybersecurity, regardless of what the users, privacy activists or even tech companies may think.
Source: The Hill
Courtesy: Engadget
[ttjad keyword=”security”]
