After Defeat of Senate Cybersecurity Bill, Obama Weighs Executive-Order Option

A look at the week of August 6 in public advocacy for the IT channel: Even though cybersecurity legislation was blocked by Senate Republicans last Friday, the White House still might issue an executive order to push legislation through if Congress doesn’t step up, says The Hill. Two bills currently in Congress that would allow states to collect sales tax on items sold online could add more than $800 million in tax revenue for the District, Maryland and Virginia, says the Washington Post. Technology officials warned House members about the reality of overseas expansion for cloud services providers, specifically the efforts by foreign cloud providers and governments to exploit American cybersecurity concerns in order to push users to domestic providers, says CIO.

After Defeat of Senate Cybersecurity Bill, Obama Weighs Executive-Order Option – Even though cybersecurity legislation was blocked by Senate Republicans, the White House still might issue an executive order to push legislation through if Congress doesn’t step up, says The Hill. “In the wake of Congressional inaction and Republicans stall tactics, unfortunately, we will continue to be hamstrung by outdated and inadequate statutory authorities that the legislation would have fixed, said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. He also insisted that ramping up cybersecurity measures is a top priority for the administration heading into the future.

Area Governments Stand to Gain Nearly $900M from Online Sales Tax – Two bills working their way through Congress that would allow states to collect sales tax on items sold online could add more than $800 million in tax revenue for the District, Maryland and Virginia, says the Washington Post. While proponents of the legislation have championed the hundreds of millions of tax dollars added to the area budgets, opponents are saying such measures would not end up making a difference as all but two of the top 25 Internet retailers already collect tax in the District.


Are Foreign Cloud Providers Exploiting Privacy Concerns? – Technology officials warned House members about the reality of overseas expansion for cloud services providers, specifically the efforts by foreign cloud providers and governments to exploit American cybersecurity concerns in order to push users to domestic providers, says CIO. “There are major barriers to the competitiveness of American cloud companies internationally,” said Justin Freeman, corporate counsel for Rackspace. “Concerns about data privacy limit the willingness of foreign companies to do business with U.S. firms and threaten to exclude American companies from competing abroad.”