Anti-Hacking Bill Aiding Verizon Delayed by Snowden Leaks
By Chris Strohm - Jun 28, 2013
Legislation to give Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and Google Inc. (GOOG) legal protection for sharing cyber-attack information with the U.S. government has stalled after leaks about spy programs showed the companies are already turning over data.
Lawmakers have stopped advancing cybersecurity legislation until at least September as they gather more information about the National Security Agency surveillance programs and hear from constituents to assess the political fallout, Senate and House members from both parties said in interviews.
Disclosure of the NSA programs “probably couldn’t have come at a worse time” for advancing a cybersecurity bill, said Representative Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. The Texas Republican said he’s postponed introducing his legislation at least until September.
“There’s very little faith in the institutions of government right now,” said Representative Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a Republican party leader. “If you look like you’re not sufficiently critical and sufficiently vigilant in defending people’s liberties I think they’ll express that at the polls.”
Former NSA contract worker Edward Snowden this month exposed classified programs, authorized by a secret surveillance court, that collect phone-call records of millions of U.S. citizens from New York-based Verizon and monitor Internet communications of suspected foreign terrorists.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-28/anti-hacking-bill-aiding-verizon-delayed-by-snowden-leaks.html
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