The Homeland Security Department has proposed rules under which it would protect systems information it receives from the private sector. The proposed rule explicitly applies to hardware and software that makes up critical-infrastructure systems. The government relies on many such systems, such as private voice and data networks, for its daily operations.
Companies have been wary of submitting information to the department for several reasons, including the possibility that their competitors could access commercially important data. Some members of Congress and privacy advocates criticized the enacted version of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 as including excessively broad exemptions from the Freedom of Information Act for such information.
The proposed rule-making notice, issued Tuesday, is aimed at implementing the Critical Infrastructure Information Act of 2002, which appears in Subtitle B of Title II of the Homeland Security Act.
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