Obama seeks to end culture of silence around data breaches and hacking
President Obama has called for new legislation obligating US companies to be more open when they are subjected to hacking or the loss of credit card details and other sensitive consumer data in the wake of a series of high profile lapses at firms including Sony, Target and Home Depot.
This would be codified within a Personal Data Notification and Protection Act which would require companies inform customers within 30 days of first uncovering a hack, superceding a multitude of state level laws.
In a separate move the president also called for technology firms to be prohibited from profiting from information collected in schools as teachers and pupils increasingly make use of internet connected devices.
Addressing journalists Obama said: “If we’re going to be connected, then we need to be protected. As Americans, we shouldn’t have to forfeit our basic privacy when we go online to do our business. Each of us as individuals have a sphere of privacy around us that should not be breached, whether by our government, but also by commercial interests.”
Consumer advocacy groups have broadly welcomed the initiative whilst expressing reservations that the national level policy may be weaker than some existing state level protections.