House passes Cispa cybersecurity bill with support of 92 Democrats

Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act passes by 288-127 but civil liberties concerns could lead to Obama veto

House intelligence committee chairman Mike Rogers, left, with the committee's ranking Democrat, CA "Dutch" Ruppersberger. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP

The House of Representatives on Thursday passed legislation meant to help companies and the government share information on cyber threats, even though concerns linger about the amount of protection the bill offers for private information.
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (known as Cispa) passed 288-127, receiving bipartisan support as 92 Democrats voted in favor. But the White House threatened this week to veto the legislation if further civil liberties and privacy protections are not added.
"We have a constitutional obligation to defend this nation," said the bill's co-author, intelligence committee chairman Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican, on the House floor, arguing that cyber attacks and espionage, particularly from China, are now the top US national security and economic threats. "This is the answer to empower cyber information sharing to protect this nation, to allow those companies to protect themselves and move on to economic prosperity. If you want to take a shot across China's bow, this is the answer."
However, the House minority leader, Nancy Pelosi, reflected concerns shared by the White House and many civil liberties groups, arguing that the bill did not do enough to ensure that companies, in sharing cyber threat data, strip out any personal data of US citizens. "They can just ship the whole kit and caboodle and we're saying minimize what is relevant to our national security," the California Democrat said. "The rest is none of the government's business."
Trying to put some of the privacy concerns to rest, House intelligence committee leaders endorsed an amendment that made the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice – agencies that are civil, not military – the clearing houses of the digital data exchange. Nonetheless, the future of cybersecurity legislation in the Senate remains unclear, given President Obama's veto threat and a lack of action from Senate Democrats.
Several influential industry groups had come out in support of the bill, including the wireless group CTIA, the US Chamber of Commerce and TechNet, which represents large internet and technology companies.

Google's first-quarter results show mobile ad sales stabilising

Internet firm earned $3.3bn in first three months of the year even as average ad price falls by 6% in competition with Facebook

Google may face joint legal action from European countries over data protection concerns. The regulators could even sue to block Google from operating in Europe. Photograph: Britta Pedersen/EPA

Google's latest quarterly results provided further proof that the Internet search leader is figuring out how to make more money as Web surfers migrate from personal computers to mobile devices.
The first-quarter numbers released Thursday show that a recent decline in Google's average ad prices is easing. That's an indication that marketers are starting to pay more for the ads that Google distributes to smartphones and tablet computers.
Mobile ads so far have fetched less money than those viewed on the larger screens of laptop and desktop computers. Google's average price, or the "cost per click" to advertisers, has fallen from the previous year in six consecutive quarters, including the opening three months of the year.
But the latest decrease in average ad prices was just 4%. By comparison, Google's average ad price fell by 6% during the final three months of last year and by 12% during last year's first quarter.
Google's stock increased $4.09, or 0.5%, to $770 in extended trading after the numbers came out.
Google is a good way to monitor the health of digital commerce because it runs the Internet's largest advertising network and is now a major player in the mobile computing market. It's also one of the world's most powerful companies, so what happens to it can affect millions of people and businesses.
Google Inc earned $3.3bn, or $9.94 per share, during the opening three months of the year. That was a 16% increase from $2.9bn, or $8.75 per share, last year.
If not for certain expenses, Google said it would have earned $11.58 per share. That figure exceeded the average earnings estimate of $10.65 per share among analysts surveyed by FactSet.
Revenue climbed 31% from last year to $14bn.
After subtracting advertising commissions, Google's revenue totaled $11bn about $33m below analyst estimates.
Google has been growing at an impressive clip for a company of its size. Its ability to keep growing has given the company a market value of more than $250bn, second only to Apple Inc. among technology companies.
Yet it faces competition with Facebook Inc for ad dollars and attention. For a time, Facebook's popularity had people worried that it would eventually become a more important advertising vehicle than Google's search engine.
Google has countered that by establishing its own social network, Google Plus.
It also makes the most widely used smartphone operating system, Android.
That gives the company channels for sending ads to mobile phone users, through built-in Google apps such as YouTube, maps and search. It is Facebook that has responded to Google's strengths in mobile advertising: Facebook took advantage of Android's openness and release a new app this month to make its social network front and center on phones.
Google dominates the mobile search market with 93% of US mobile search advertising dollars, according to eMarketer. Facebook is at No. 2, ahead of online music service Pandora Inc. and Twitter. EMarketer expects US mobile ad spending to grow 77% this year to $7.29bn, from $4.11bn last year.