Bills Introduced – 2-27-20

Yesterday with the House and Senate preparing to leave Washington for the weekend there were 83 bills introduced. Two of those bills may receive additional coverage in this blog:

H Res 875 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that domain name registration information, referred to as "WHOIS" information, is critical to the protection of the United States national and economic security, intellectual property rights enforcement, cybersecurity, as well as the health, safety, and privacy of its citizens, and should remain readily accessible. Rep. Latta, Robert E. [R-OH-5] 

S 3343 A bill to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to provide enhanced security for the medical supply chain. Sen. Hawley, Josh [R-MO]

I will be watching S 3343 for language and definitions that would address cybersecurity issues related to medical device supply chain issues. Unfortunately, I suspect that this bill is probably focused more on issues related to medical supplies (gloves, masks, etc.) and drug precursor chemicals. This would due to the problems that have arisen in conjunction with the supply interruptions from Chinese manufacturers due to the COVID 19 virus outbreak. This is, of course, a serious issue, but not one that I expect to cover in this blog.

H Res 875

I do not normally spend much time covering House or Senate resolutions. Typically, they are proforma statements about broad policy issues that have no practical effect. H Res 875 certainly fits that description, but I think that it is worth mentioning in passing. Brian Krebs has described this issue well and has a personal interest in the preservation (actually restoration) of an open WHOSIS record. He has effectively used the open version of WHOSIS for many years in his investigative reporting on cybersecurity issues.

Since the GDPR is beyond the control or influence of the House of Representatives, this really is tilting at windmills, but such efforts still need to be made from time to time. Kudos to Latta for taking up this issue.