The Computer & Communications Industry Association is issuing the following statement in response to President Obama’s statement today on the nation’s cyber security infrastructure. The following statement can be attributed to Ed Black, President & CEO of CCIA:
“President Obama announced he plans to appoint both a cyber security czar and someone who understands privacy and civil liberties to the National Security Council cyber security team. This shows the Obama Administration understands the critical balance needed to keep the Internet open and safe and to maintain the freedom and trust of those using it. We know the pressures to deviate from this balance will be strong, and we hope he can stay on course.
“Better cyber security is certainly needed so people trust their information and sensitive data is secure. But if government agencies’ security efforts overreach, the damage from privacy and civil rights violations can be just as damaging to the faith and trust in the sanctity of our communications networks as the malicious actions of terrorists and criminals. It sounded like President Obama was aware of this balance when he announced plans to boost cyber security measures, but said they would not involve monitoring private sector networks or Internet traffic.
“President Obama announced his commitment to shoring up the nation’s cyber infrastructure to better protect the network we all rely on from attacks foreign or domestic. He also committed to protect the Internet from those who would sacrifice the openness and freedom of the Internet for their own parochial interests when he said he ‘remained firmly committed to net neutrality.’ This makes sense in an announcement on the nation’s cyber infrastructure because having Internet traffic content neutral is what everyone from the small business owners to venture capitalists Obama mentioned in his speech rely on daily to do their jobs.”