April 8, 2024 at 04:47PM
Senator Ron Wyden introduced draft legislation to set mandatory cybersecurity standards, improve government collaboration technology, and break the monopolizing effect of proprietary software. The bill aims to enhance government communications security, promote interoperability, and prevent vendor lock-in. It requires the use of end-to-end encryption and outlines various cybersecurity and procurement mandates.
From the meeting notes, it’s clear that Senator Ron Wyden has released draft legislation called the Secure and Interoperable Government Collaboration Technology Act. This legislation aims to address the poor cybersecurity practices by federal technology contractors and big tech companies providing services to the U.S. government. The key points of the draft legislation include:
1. Setting mandatory cybersecurity standards to prevent foreign hacking and save taxpayer money.
2. Requiring the government to set new secure, open standards for collaboration software to promote competition and save taxpayer dollars.
3. Requiring the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to identify a set of interoperable standards, requirements, and guidance for collaboration technology features.
4. Four years after NIST identifies the standards, collaboration technology procured by the federal government must be capable of communicating using the NIST standards.
5. Tasks the Department of Homeland Security with conducting cybersecurity reviews of collaboration technology products widely used by the federal government.
6. Creating a working group to produce biennial reviews of collaboration tech used by the federal government to suggest additions or improvements to the standards.
The draft legislation has gained endorsements from various organizations and individuals, including Accountable Tech, Demand Progress, Fight for the Future, Proton, Nym, the Matrix.org Foundation, and Cory Doctorow.
If you’d like more details, the full text of the draft bill is available here and a one-page summary of the bill is available here. Senator Wyden is also accepting feedback on the draft legislation at [email protected]
Please let me know if I can provide any further assistance or clarity.