Further Reading, Other Developments, and Coming Events (5 January 2021)

Further Reading

• “China Used Stolen Data To Expose CIA Operatives In Africa And Europe;” “Beijing Ransacked Data as U.S. Sources Went Dark in China;” “Tech Giants Are Giving China A Vital Edge In Espionage” By Zach Dorfman — Foreign Policy. This terrifying trio of articles lays bare the 180 degree change in espionage advantage the People’s Republic of China (PRC) seems to hold over the United States (U.S.). Hacking, big data, processing, algorithms, and other technological issues play prominent roles in the PRC’s seeming advantage. It remains to be seen how the U.S. responds to the new status quo.
• “Singapore police can access COVID-19 contact tracing data for criminal investigations” By Eileen Yu — ZDNet. During questioning in Singapore’s Parliament, it was revealed the police can use existing authority to access the data on a person’s smartphone collected by the nation’s TraceTogether app. Technically, this would entail a person being asked by the police to upload their data, which is stored on devices and encrypted. Nonetheless, this is the very scenario privacy advocates have been saying is all but inevitable with COVID-19 tracing apps on phones.
• “As Understanding of Russian Hacking Grows, So Does Alarm” By David Sanger, Nicole Perlroth, and Julian Barnes — The New York Times. Like a detonated bomb, the Russian hack of United States (U.S.) public and private systems keeps getting worse in terms of damage and fallout. The scope continues to widen as it may come to pass that thousands of U.S. entities have been compromised in ways that leave them vulnerable to future attacks. Incidentally, the massive hack has tarnished somewhat the triumph of the U.S. intelligence agencies in fending off interference with the 2020 election.
• “Google workers launch unconventional union with help of Communications Workers of America” By Nitasha Tiku — The Washington Post. A new union formed in Google stopped short of seeking certification by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which will block it from collective bargaining. Nonetheless, the new union will collect dues and have a board of directors. This may lead to additional unionizing efforts in union-averse Silicon Valley and throughout the tech world.
• “‘Break up the groupthink’: Democrats press Biden to diversify his tech picks” By Cristiano Lima — Politico. Key Democratic groups in the House are pushing the Biden team to appoint people of color for key technology positions at agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

Other Developments

• The Congress overrode President Donald Trump’s veto of the FY 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), thus enacting the annual defense and national security policy bill, which includes a number of technology provisions that will have effects in the public and private sectors. (See here and here for analysis of these provisions in the “William M. “Mac” Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021” (H.R.6395).
• A federal court dismissed a lawsuit brought by a civil liberties and privacy advocacy group to stop implementation of President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at social media companies and their liability protection under 47 USC 230 (aka Section 230). In June, the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), filed suit in federal court to block enforcement of the “Executive Order (EO) on Preventing Online Censorship.” However, the United States District Court of the District of Columbia ruled that CDT is not injured by the executive order (EO) and any such lawsuit is premature. The court dismissed the lawsuit for lack of jurisdiction.
  • In its complaint, CDT argued the EO “violates the First Amendment in two fundamental respects:
    • First, the Order is plainly retaliatory: it attacks a private company, Twitter, for exercising its First Amendment right to comment on the President’s statements.
    • Second, and more fundamentally, the Order seeks to curtail and chill the constitutionally protected speech of all online platforms and individuals— by demonstrating the willingness to use government authority to retaliate against those who criticize the government.”
• The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reached a settlement with a company that sells emergency travel and medical services for failing “to take reasonable steps to secure sensitive consumer information such as health records,” including having a unsecured cloud database a security researcher stumbled upon with the sensitive data of more than 130,000 people. Moreover, the company claimed a certification of compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which turned out to be untrue. In the complaint, the FTC alleged that these and other practices “constitute unfair and/or deceptive acts or practices, in or affecting commerce in violation of Section 5(a) of the Federal Trade Commission Act.” The FTC and the company reached agreement on a consent order that will require the company’s compliance for at least 20 years.
  • In the complaint, the FTC stated that SkyMed “advertises, offers for sale, and sells nationwide a wide array of emergency travel membership plans that cover up to eighteen different emergency travel and medical evacuation services for members who sustain serious illnesses or injuries during travel in certain geographic areas.”
  • The FTC asserted a security researcher discovered SkyMed’s “database, which could be located and accessed by anyone on the internet, contained approximately 130,000 membership records with consumers’ personal information stored in plain text, including information populated in certain fields for names, dates of birth, gender, home addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, membership information and account numbers, and health information.”
  • The FTC noted the company told affected customers that it had investigated and “[t]here was no medical or payment-related information visible and no indication that the information has been misused.” This turns out to be completely false, and the company’s “investigation did not determine that consumers’ health information was neither stored on the cloud database, nor improperly accessed by an unauthorized third party.”
  • The FTC summarized the terms of the consent order and SkyMed’s obligations:
    • Under the proposed settlement, SkyMed is prohibited from misrepresenting how it secures personal data, the circumstances of and response to a data breach, and whether the company has been endorsed by or participates in any government-sponsored privacy or security program. The company also will be required to send a notice to affected consumers detailing the data that was exposed by the data breach.
    • As part of the mandated information security program, the company must identify and document potential internal and external risks and design, implement, and maintain safeguards to protect personal information it collects from those risks. In addition, SkyMed must obtain biennial assessments of its information security program by a third party, which the FTC has authority to approve, to examine the effectiveness of SkyMed’s information security program, identify any gaps or weaknesses, and monitor efforts to address these problems. The settlement also requires a senior SkyMed executive to certify annually that the company is complying with the requirements of the settlement.
• The European Commission (EC) has communicated its vision for a new cybersecurity strategy to the European Parliament and European Council “to ensure a global and open Internet with strong guardrails to address the risks to the security and fundamental rights and freedoms of people in Europe.” The EC spelled out its dramatic plan to remake how the bloc regulates, invests in, and structures policies around cybersecurity. The EC claimed “[a]s a key component of Shaping Europe’s Digital Future, the Recovery Plan for Europe  and the EU Security Union Strategy, the Strategy will bolster Europe’s collective resilience against cyber threats and help to ensure that all citizens and businesses can fully benefit from trustworthy and reliable services and digital tools.” If the European Union (EU) follows through, this strategy may have significant effects in the EU and around the world. The EC further explained:
  • Following the progress achieved under the previous strategies, it contains concrete proposals for deploying three principal instruments –regulatory, investment and policy instruments – to address three areas of EU action – (1) resilience, technological sovereignty and leadership, (2) building operational capacity to prevent, deter and respond, and (3) advancing a global and open cyberspace. The EU is committed to supporting this strategy through an unprecedented level of investment in the EU’s digital transition over the next seven years – potentially quadrupling previous levels – as part of new technological and industrial policies and the recovery agenda
  • Cybersecurity must be integrated into all these digital investments, particularly key technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), encryption and quantum computing, using incentives, obligations and benchmarks. This can stimulate the growth of the European cybersecurity industry and provide the certainty needed to ease the phasing out of legacy systems. The European Defence Fund (EDF) will support European cyber defence solutions, as part of the European defence technological and industrial base. Cybersecurity is included in external financial instruments to support our partners, notably the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument. Preventing the misuse of technologies, protecting critical infrastructure and ensuring the integrity of supply chains also enables the EU’s adherence to the UN norms, rules and principles of responsible state behavior.
  • With respect to actions that might be taken, the EC stated that “[t]he EU should ensure:
    • Adoption of revised NIS Directive;
    • Regulatory measures for an Internet of Secure Things
    • Through the CCCN investment in cybersecurity (notably through the Digital Europe Programme, Horizon Europe and recovery facility) to reach up to €4.5 billion in public and private investments over 2021-2027;
    • An EU network of AI-enabled Security Operation Centres and an ultra-secure communication infrastructure harnessing quantum technologies;
    • Widespread adoption of cybersecurity technologies through dedicated support to SMEs under the Digital Innovation Hubs;
    • Development of an EU DNS resolver service as a safe and open alternative for EU citizens, businesses and public administration to access the Internet; and
    • Completion of the implementation of the 5G Toolbox by the second quarter of 2021
    • Complete the European cybersecurity crisis management framework and determine the process, milestones and timeline for establishing the Joint Cyber Unit;
    •  Continue implementation of cybercrime agenda under the Security Union Strategy;
    • Encourage and facilitate the establishment of a Member States’ cyber intelligence working group residing within the EU INTCEN;
    • Advance the EU’s cyber deterrence posture to prevent, discourage, deter and respond to malicious cyber activities;
    • Review the Cyber Defence Policy Framework;
    • Facilitate the development of an EU “Military Vision and Strategy on Cyberspace as a Domain of Operations” for CSDP military missions and operations;
    • Support synergies between civil, defence and space industries; and
    • Reinforce cybersecurity of critical space infrastructures under the Space Programme.
    • Define a set of objectives in international standardisation processes, and promote these at international level;
    • Advance international security and stability in cyberspace, notably through the proposal by the EU and its Member States for a Programme of Action to Advance Responsible State Behaviour in Cyberspace (PoA) in the United Nations;
    • Offer practical guidance on the application of human rights and fundamental freedoms in cyberspace;
    • Better protect children against child sexual abuse and exploitation, as well as a Strategy on the Rights of the Child;
    • Strengthen and promote the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, including through the work on the Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention;
    • Expand EU cyber dialogue with third countries, regional and international organisations, including through an informal EU Cyber Diplomacy Network;
    • Reinforce the exchanges with the multi-stakeholder community, notably by regular and structured exchanges with the private sector, academia and civil society; and
    • Propose an EU External Cyber Capacity Building Agenda and an EU Cyber Capacity Building Board.
• The U.S.-China  Economic  and  Security  Review  Commission released its annual report on the People’s Republic of China (PRC) per its “mandate “to monitor, investigate, and report to Congress on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China.” The Commission argued:
  • Left unchecked, the PRC will continue building a new global order anathema to the interests and values that have underpinned unprecedented economic growth and stability among nations in the post-Cold War era. The past 20 years are littered with the Chinese  Communist  Party’s (CCP) broken promises. In China’s intended new order, there is little reason to believe CCP promises of “win-win” solutions, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence. A clear understanding of the CCP’s adversarial national security and economic ambitions is essential as U.S. and allied leaders develop the policies and programs that will define the conditions of global freedom and shape our future.
  • The Commission made ten “Key Recommendations:”
    • Congress adopt the principle of reciprocity as foundational in all legislation bearing on U.S.-China relations.
    • Congress expand the authority of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to monitor and take foreign government subsidies into account in premerger notification processes.
    • Congress direct the U.S. Department of State to produce an annual report detailing China’s actions in the United Nations and its subordinate agencies that subvert the principles and purposes of the United Nations
    • Congress hold hearings to consider the creation of an interagency executive Committee on Technical Standards that would be responsible for coordinating U.S. government policy and priorities on international standards.
    • Congress consider establishing a “Manhattan Project”-like effort to ensure that the American public has access to safe and secure supplies of critical lifesaving and life-sustaining drugs and medical equipment, and to ensure that these supplies are available from domestic sources or, where necessary, trusted allies.
    • Congress enact legislation establishing a China Economic Data Coordination Center (CEDCC) at the Bureau of Economic Analysis at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
    • Congress direct the Administration, when sanctioning an entity in the People’s Republic of China for actions contrary to the economic and national security interests of the United States or for violations of human rights, to also sanction the parent entity.
    • Congress consider enacting legislation to make the Director of the American Institute in Taiwan a presidential nomination subject to the advice and consent of the United States Senate.
    • Congress amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to clarify that association with a foreign government’s technology transfer programs may be considered grounds to deny a nonimmigrant visa if the foreign government in question is deemed a strategic competitor of the United States, or if the applicant has engaged in violations of U.S. laws relating to espionage, sabotage, or export controls.
    • Congress direct the Administration to identify and remove barriers to receiving United States visas for Hong Kong residents attempting to exit Hong Kong for fear of political persecution.
• The Electronic Privacy Information Center, the Center for Digital Democracy, the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the Parent Coalition for Student Privacy, and Consumer Federation of America asked the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) “to recommend specific changes to the proposed Consent Order to safeguard the privacy interests of Zoom users” in their comments submitted regarding the FTC’s settlement with Zoom. In November, the FTC split along party lines to approve a settlement with Zoom to resolve allegations that the video messaging platform violated the FTC Act’s ban on unfair and deceptive practices in commerce. Zoom agreed to a consent order mandating a new information security program, third party assessment, prompt reporting of covered incidents and other requirements over a period of 20 years. The two Democratic Commissioners voted against the settlement and dissented because they argued it did not punish the abundant wrongdoing and will not dissuade future offenders. Commissioners Rohit Chopra and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter dissented for a variety of reasons that may be summed up: the FTC let Zoom off with a slap on the wrist. Kelly Slaughter focused on the majority’s choice to ignore the privacy implications of Zoom’s misdeeds, especially by not including any requirements that Zoom improve its faulty privacy practices.
  • The groups “recommend that the FTC modify the proposed Consent Order and require Zoom to(1) implement a comprehensive privacy program; (2) obtain regular independent privacy assessments and make those assessments available to the public; (3) provide meaningful redress for victims of Zoom’s unfair and deceptive trade practices; and (4) ensure the adequate protection and limits on the collection of children’s data.”

Coming Events

• On 13 January, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold its monthly open meeting, and the agency has placed the following items on its tentative agenda “Bureau, Office, and Task Force leaders will summarize the work their teams have done over the last four years in a series of presentations:
  • Panel One. The Commission will hear presentations from the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, International Bureau, Office of Engineering and Technology, and Office of Economics and Analytics.
  • Panel Two. The Commission will hear presentations from the Wireline Competition Bureau and the Rural Broadband Auctions Task Force.
  • Panel Three. The Commission will hear presentations from the Media Bureau and the Incentive Auction Task Force.
  • Panel Four. The Commission will hear presentations from the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, Enforcement Bureau, and Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau.
  • Panel Five. The Commission will hear presentations from the Office of Communications Business Opportunities, Office of Managing Director, and Office of General Counsel.
• On 27 July, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will hold PrivacyCon 2021.

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