On December 11, 2015, SIIA and other associations sent a letter to Vice Chairman Diane Feinstein and Chairman Richard Burr of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on the Senate bill S. 2372, The Requiring Reporting of Online Terrorist Activity Act.

This bill would impose a new government mandate that would require online platforms, including social media companies, to report “terrorist activity” to the U.S. Government.  Such activity is vaguely defined thereby leaving companies to make determinations on what constitutes terrorist activity.  Mandated reporting would undermine private sector cooperation with law enforcement.  Furthermore, it would undermine legal methods for the government to serve a warrant, subpoena, or even a National security letter.

Earlier in the week, SIIA released a statement stressing opposition to this bill.

David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy. Follow the SIIA public policy team on Twitter at @SIIAPolicy.