[liberationtech] POTUS Executive Order on Cybersecurity

[Gregory Foster]

re: the privacy and civil liberties oversight provided for in the EO.

> [Section 5](b) The Chief Privacy Officer and the Officer for Civil 
> Rights and Civil Liberties of the Department of Homeland Security 
> (DHS) shall assess the privacy and civil liberties risks of the 
> functions and programs undertaken by DHS as called for in this order 
> and shall recommend to the Secretary ways to minimize or mitigate such 
> risks, in a publicly available report, to be released within 1 year of 
> the date of this order.


As Shava pointed out, the DHS Officer for Civil Rights and Civil 
Liberties is currently Tamara Kessler.  You may recall that the DHS 
Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties was in the news just last week.

Wired (Feb 8) - "DHS Watchdog OKs 'Suspicionless' Seizure of Electronic 
Devices Along Border":
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/02/electronics-border-seizures/

> The Department of Homeland Security’s civil rights watchdog has 
> concluded that travelers along the nation’s borders may have their 
> electronics seized and the contents of those devices examined for any 
> reason whatsoever — all in the name of national security.
>
> The DHS, which secures the nation’s border, in 2009 announced that it 
> would conduct a “Civil Liberties Impact Assessment” of its 
> suspicionless search-and-seizure policy pertaining to electronic 
> devices “within 120 days.” More than three years later, the DHS office 
> of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties published a two-page executive 
> summary of its findings.
>
> “We also conclude that imposing a requirement that officers have 
> reasonable suspicion in order to conduct a border search of an 
> electronic device would be operationally harmful without concomitant 
> civil rights/civil liberties benefits,” the executive summary said.


Here's that executive summary, with the reviewing official listed as 
Tamara Kessler.
http://www.dhs.gov/sites/default/files/publications/crcl-border-search-impact-assessment_01-29-13_1.pdf

As Joseph said, we'll see if this oversight means much.

gf


On 2/13/13 10:12 AM, Nadim Kobeissi wrote:
> Andy Greenberg of Forbes wrote a story on this:
> http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/02/12/president-obamas-cybersecurity-executive-order-scores-much-better-than-cispa-on-privacy/
>
>
> NK
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 13, 2013 at 11:10 AM, Shava Nerad <shava23 at gmail.com 
> <mailto:shava23 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
>
>     On Wed, Feb 13, 2013 at 10:08 AM, Joseph Lorenzo Hall <joe at cdt.org
>     <mailto:joe at cdt.org>> wrote:
>
>
>
>         On Wed Feb 13 09:55:22 2013, Gregory Foster wrote:
>         > Here's the President's Executive Order, embargoed last night
>         until
>         > delivery of the SOTU:
>         >
>         http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/02/12/executive-order-improving-critical-infrastructure-cybersecurity
>         >
>         >
>         > Section 5 addresses "Privacy and Civil Liberties
>         Protections" for the
>         > information that will be exchanged between critical
>         infrastructure
>         > providers and the DHS/USG.
>
>         One quibble: the EO is mostly about flows from govt. to
>         private sector
>         and since there is no immunity provided like under other
>         legislative
>         proposals, it seems reasonable that sharing in the other
>         direction will
>         be circumspect. Would love to hear other thoughts on this.
>         Glad to see
>         a section on privacy although we'll have to wait to see if
>         that ends up
>         meaning much. best, Joe
>
>
>     Well, it has a provision for full disclosure in a report with a
>     classified sidecar.  *ahem*  I mean, come on.
>
>     *heh*
>
>     -- 
>
>     Shava Nerad
>     shava23 at gmail.com <mailto:shava23 at gmail.com>
>
-- 
Gregory Foster || gfoster at entersection.org
@gregoryfoster <> http://entersection.com/