Earlier in January, I reported that Congresswoman Lofgren has proposed amending the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act ("CFAA") in response to the prosecution and subsequent suicide of Aaron Swartz and the JSTOR academic documents hacking, and in response to criticism... Continue reading

Last week, on April 18, the House passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act ("CISPA"). The bill, including amendments, is here: http://www.rules.house.gov/Legislation/legislationDetails.aspx?NewsID=1078. Currently, there is no corresponding Senate bill. The Senate is widely expected, however, to reintroduce information sharing... Continue reading

The Dep't of Justice ("DoJ") and Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") have extended the comments period for the Patent Assertion Entities/Antitrust workshop. In December, a joint workshop was held by the DoJ and FTC to discuss Patent Assertion Entity (PAE) behavior,... Continue reading

The above-captioned hearing was held before the House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigation on March 13, 2013. Members in attendance included: Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI, Chairman), Louie Gohmert (R-TX, Vice Chairman), Howard Coble (R-NC),... Continue reading

The above-captioned hearing was before the House Committee on Homeland Security, held March 13, 2013. Members in attendance included Michael McCaul (R-Texas) Chairman, Peter T. King (R- New York) , Patrick Meehan (R-Pennsylvania), Steven M. Palazzo (R-Mississippi), Chris Stewart (R-Utah),... Continue reading

The above-captioned was a hearing before the House Committee on Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence, Emerging Threats, and Capabilities, held March 13, 2013. The entirety of the statements can be found here. Read more after the bump. Members in attendance... Continue reading

On February 26, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published a request for information ("RFI") on the “Framework for Reducing Cyber Risks to Critical Infrastructure,” as directed by the February 13 Executive Order on Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity.... Continue reading

The Social Networking Online Protection Act (SNOPA), "A bill to prohibit employers and certain other entities from requiring or requesting that employees and certain other individuals provide a user name, password, or other means for accessing a personal account on... Continue reading

The above-captioned Executive Order signed yesterday was developed to manage cybersecurity risks to critical infrastructure, and addresses two key issues: information sharing and development of a cybersecurity framework. Information Sharing Under this Executive Order, the Government will expand current information... Continue reading

Presidential Policy Directive on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience The Presidential Policy Directive, PPD-21, released on February 12 supersedes the 2003 Homeland Security Presidential Directive (PPD-7). The intent of the Directive is to provide an “all hazards” approach to the... Continue reading

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the chair of the US House Intelligence Committee intends to reintroduce H.R. 3523, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act ("CISPA"), which would provide for the sharing of certain cyber threat intelligence and cyber threat information... Continue reading

Introduced yesterday, it's just one page: http://www.lofgren.house.gov/images/stories/pdf/draft%20lofgren%20bill%20to%20exclude%20terms%20of%20service%20violations%20from%20cfaa%20%20wre%20fraud%20011513.pdf This is in response to the prosecution and subsequent suicide of Aaron Swartz and the JSTOR academic documents hacking, and in response to criticism that the preexisting law is both vague and outdated.... Continue reading

Last night, the Senate voted on cloture of S.3414 (The Cybersecurity Act), which failed by 51-47, and which previously failed August 2d vote by failed 52-46. The OpenCongress.org bill summary is, as follows: This bill would establish a new National... Continue reading

The following is a review by Diane Vlassis, JD, of the CLE entitled, "Texts, Lies and Backup Tapes: What You Must Know about E-Discovery to Prove Your Case and Avoid Big Mistakes," which both Sean Harrington and Ms. Vlassis attended:... Continue reading

This op-ed post by Sean L. Harrington provides opinions that do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Minnesota State Bar Association or its other constituents. _____________________________________ Let me share with you the interesting case of Blythe v. Bell, (2012... Continue reading

This op-ed post by Sean L. Harrington provides opinions that do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Minnesota State Bar Association or its other constituents. _____________________________________ This post concerns a First Circuit ruling where plaintiffs who had lost significant... Continue reading

This comment by Sean L. Harrington provides opinions that do not necessarily reflect the positions of the Minnesota State Bar Association or its other constituents. ———————————————— Introduction Over the last several years, I've posted a handful of short blog entries... Continue reading

Barely three weeks after I penned Encryption Password not Testimonial Under the Fifth Amendment, the Eleventh Circuit has held that a defendant’s “decryption and production of the hard drives’ contents would trigger Fifth Amendment protection because it would be testimonial,... Continue reading

Back in 2007 (here) and 2009 (here) I discussed the case of In re Boucher, where a U.S. judge for the District of Vermont ruled that requiring a criminal defendant to produce an unencrypted version of his laptop's hard-drive, which... Continue reading