The bill’s data breach notification provisions come from a separate bill the committee approved, S 139, the Data Breach Notification Act. Any federal agency or business entity that uses, accesses, or collects sensitive personally identifiable information must notify in the event of a data breach: any U.S. resident whose information was accessed or taken; and any third party that has access or control of that information. Under special circumstances other agencies would be notified as well. The Senate Judiciary Committee has approved data privacy and breach notification legislation before, and it failed to reach the Senate floor. With the number of records exposed by data breaches continuing to grow, it would be nice to see this legislation advance further in the process.

Markup:
The Technology and Innovation Subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee will review the Cybersecurity Coordination and Awareness Act, a piece of draft legislation.
10:30 a.m., 2318 Rayburn Building

November 5

Meeting:
The Senate Judiciary Committee will meet to consider nominations and pending legislation, including bills on data breach notification and data privacy.
10 a.m., 226 Dirksen Building

Hearing:
The Technology and Innovation Subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee will hold a hearing on Department of Homeland Security science and technology research priorities.
2 p.m., 2318 Rayburn Building

October 29

Hearing:
The Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security Subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will hold a hearing on federal cyber defense.
2:30 p.m., 342 Dirksen Building

The first benefit is that it brings high-level attention and informs policy makers about the issues. Watch the debate, which really does highlight the field and our issues, during Congress’ consideration of the resolution (runs from 66:57 to 85:30 in the video). Second, it gives the computing community a useful messaging platform to inform others about computer science education’s benefits and issues. This is really the key takeaway. Because Congress voted on this week doesn’t mean much if the community doesn’t do something to make the week tangible. ACM plans on partnering with key computing organizations – Microsoft, Google, Intel, the Computer Science Teachers Association, the National Center for Women and Information Technology, the Computing Research Association as a start – to develop a website and outreach materials. Third, these resources can be plugged into the schools and to a variety of audiences including policy makers, school administrators, teachers, parents and the community itself to be used in a variety of ways.

There are two lessons from all of this. First, Computer Science Education Week will be what we, the computing community, make out of it. Second, bringing issues to the attention of policy makers and making a local connection in a respectful and thoughtful way can make a difference. We’ll be working hard for the next six or so weeks to develop materials and leverage existing ones for outreach around this event, so stay tuned.

Hearing:
The Elections Subcommittee of the Committee on House Administration will hold a hearing on modernization of election registration.
10 a.m., 1310 Longworth Building

October 22

Meeting:
The President’s Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST) will meet (continues on October 23)
10 a.m.-6 p.m., National Academy of Sciences Building, 2100 C Street, N.W., Washington.

Hearing:
The Technology and Innovation Subcommittee of the House Science and Technology Committee will hold a hearing on cybersecurity activities at the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
2 p.m., 2318 Rayburn Building

October 23

Meeting:
PCAST meeting continues
10 a.m.-4 p.m., National Academy of Sciences Building, 2100 C Street, N.W., Washington.