Cybersecurity. The Cybersecurity Act of 2012 (S. 3414) would create a National Cybersecurity Council under the chairmanship of the secretary of Homeland Security. The council would impose “voluntary” standards — with incentives for compliance — for owners of critical computer networks.
The Senate rejected a motion to invoke cloture — and thus end a filibuster so the bill could come up for a vote — on August 2, 2012 by a vote of 52 to 46 (Roll Call 187; a three-fifths majority vote of the entire Senate — 60 votes — was needed to invoke cloture.) We have assigned pluses to the nays because the private owners of critical infrastructure are already heavily regulated and don’t need to be further burdened with additional supposedly voluntary regulations in the name of cybersecurity.
