Obama calls for new cyberprotections
WASHINGTON — Lawmakers need to promote the benefits of Internet commerce while minimizing the risks of identity theft and other cybercrimes that can damage the economy, President Obama said Monday.
"If we're going to be connected, then we need to be protected," Obama told employees of the Federal Trade Commission as he proposed legislation designed to protect the online privacy of consumers and students. "As Americans, we shouldn't have to forfeit our basic privacy when we go online to do our business."
The president asked Congress to pass a law requiring companies to inform customers within 30 days if their data have been hacked. Obama called for a law that would prohibit companies from selling student data to third parties or otherwise using information about students for profit.
Citing recent high-profile hackings at Sony and other major companies, Obama said business owners should inform consumers as soon as possible when there has been a data breach.
A federal standard would replace a "patchwork" of different state laws throughout the country, he said in proposing the Personal Data Notification and Protection Act.
The Internet has revolutionized American commerce, Obama said, but "with those benefits come risks." Credit card theft costs Americans billions of dollars, he said, and identify theft poses a "direct threat" to economic recovery.
There are also national security implications. Even as Obama spoke, the Twitter and YouTube accounts of the U.S. Central Command appeared to be hacked by supporters of the Islamic State militant group.
Another proposal, the Student Data Privacy Act, would forbid companies from harvesting student data for commercial purposes. "We're saying that data collected on students in the classroom should only be used for educational purposes -— to teach our children, not to market to our children," Obama said.
The visit to the Federal Trade Commission — the first by a president since Franklin Roosevelt in 1937 — was the latest in a series of Obama speeches previewing the State of the Union Address he will deliver Jan. 20. Last week, Obama previewed proposals on manufacturing, home ownership and education.
This week will be devoted to the Internet, cybersecurity and privacy. Tuesday, in addition to a meeting with congressional leaders at the White House, he will visit the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center in Arlington, Va. He'll roll out a broadband proposal in Iowa Wednesday and tout job opportunities in the cybersecurity field in Norfolk, Va., on Thursday.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said he welcomes Obama "back" to the discussion over cybersecurity. Thune said Obama should have been more active in recent years, when a major cybersecurity bill got held up in the Democratic-run Senate.
Obama's "engaged support for similar legislation this Congress would help address cyberthreats, improve privacy protections and would also begin to address concerns over the president's go-it-alone approach of unilateral executive actions on cyber and other issues," Thune said.
Obama's proposals cement the staunch pro-privacy position of this administration, said Peter Swire, a professor of law and ethics at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Swire is a former special assistant to Obama for economic policy and served as chief counselor for privacy in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget during President Clinton's administration.
Obama's is "the first administration to support online privacy legislation," Swire said. "The announcement suggests its continued opposition to cybersecurity legislation that would compromise privacy."
An industry group, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, said Monday it applauded the White House focus on cybersecurity, but it stopped short of endorsement until it sees the full proposal.
