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| Pres. Barack Obama |
Barack Obama on Monday unveiled a slew of initiatives to improve Americans’ data security.
In a speech at the Federal Trade Commission, the president outlined
proposals aimed at improving student data protection and protecting
Americans’ financial health. They will, however, require approval from
the Republican-majority Congress, which has already received three veto threats from the White House in less than a week in session.
“As we’ve all been reminded over the past year, including the hack of
Sony, this extraordinary interconnection creates enormous opportunities
but also creates enormous vulnerabilities for us as a nation,” Obama
said.
Obama’s Student Digital Privacy Act would stop companies from selling
student data to third parties, except for educational purposes, and
from using such data to create targeted advertisements. The act is
modeled on a California initiative that will take effect in January 2016.
The current legislative defense for student data is the Family
Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974. Massachusetts senator Ed
Markey, a Democrat, and Utah’s Orrin Hatch, a Republican, last year drafted an updated version of the bill
that would do things such as require school districts to monitor which
companies they have contracts with and control how much data such firms
can collect.
The White House provided a list of 75 educational companies that have pledged to protect student and teacher data.
Obama said it was partially the responsibility of parents to protect
their children’s online behavior and teach the best practices, but said
they needed help from the companies involved as well.
“Michelle and I are like parents everywhere, we want to make sure our
children are being smart and safe online, that’s our responsibility of
ours as parents, but we need partners,” Obama said. “We need a structure
that ensures that information is not being gathered without us as
parents, or the kids, knowing it. ”
Last week, a picture reportedly of Obama’s daughter Malia wearing a T-shirt for the rap collective Pro Era surfaced online. Obama, however, made no mention of initiatives to address how minors’ information is used and distributed on social media.
There is little regulation in the area; furthermore, children who
have grown up on the internet have a tendency to be more adept at
evading existing rules, like Instagram’s requirement that users be 13 or older.
Monday’s speech was the first of a three-day promotion of
cybersecurity efforts that are part of the president’s preview of next
week’s State of the Union address. Obama used the speech to highlight
his technology acumen, saying he was the first president to speak at the
Federal Trade Commision since Franklin D Roosevelt in 1937.
“You would think one of the presidents would just come here by accident,” Obama said.
He also highlighted one of his signature issues, immigration, after
being introduced by FTC commissioner Edith Ramirez, who worked with him
on the Harvard Law Review. Before unveiling the measures, Obama
highlighted the journey Ramirez took to the FTC, as the daughter of Mexican immigrants,
Obama also unveiled data protection initiatives geared towards all
American consumers. Like the student protection programs, these
proposals must be approved by Congress, though Obama said their scope
was bipartisan.
“It’s one of those new challenges in our modern society that crosses
the old divides,” said Obama. “It transcends politics, it transcends
ideologies – liberal, conservative, Democrat, Republican. Everyone is
online.”
One proposed piece of legislation is the Personal Data Notification
& Protection Act. If passed, it will require companies to alert
customers within 30 days of discovering a security breach regarding
customer information. It is meant to simplify the current framework for
data breach notifications, which varies state by state.
The bill comes after a number of attacks on major corporations. In 2014, hackers stole information on an estimated 56 million debit and credit card customers from Home Depot. In 2013, hackers breached Target’s system and stole 40 million card numbers and 70 million records, including phone numbers and addresses.
Obama said the Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights would be released
within 45 days. The administration announced the bill in 2012; it has
been up for public consultation and revised by the Commerce Department.
Obama fended off skepticism about how the bills will look after
corporate lobbyists have gone through them, by saying data protection
should unite all Americans. “Business leaders want their privacy and
their children’s privacy protected just like everybody else does,” he
said.
One effort that does not have to go through Congress is a partnership
with companies to give free access to credit scores. Companies
including JP Morgan, Bank of America and USAA are signed on. Obama said
being able to access credit scores for free would provide people with an
early indicator of economic health.
He also announced that the Department of Energy will release a
voluntary code of conduct for utilities companies, in an effort to get
such companies to protect consumer’s electricity data.
The proposed measures come weeks after the hack of Sony Pictures. The
president and other senior government officials have pinned the attack
on North Korean hackers acting in response to the Sony film The
Interview, which is about an assassination plot against the country’s
leader, Kim Jong-un.
As part of his cybersecurity push, Obama will speak to the Department
of Homeland Security on Tuesday. The next day, he will be in Iowa to
talk about expanding access to fast internet services.
Source:
Guardian Newspaper
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