Fox's Napolitano Ignores Facts On Voluntary Cybersecurity Measures

Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano baselessly speculated that the government will invade personal privacy as a result of President Obama's executive order on cybersecurity, ignoring the fact that the order merely provides optional help for companies running critical infrastructure to combat cyber threats.

President Obama announced Tuesday during the State of the Union address that he had signed an executive order to improve cybersecurity for critical infrastructure that impacts national security, the national economy, and public health and safety."

On Fox & Friends, Napolitano said the order “goes too far,” making the accusation that the order will allow the government to read personal emails and eventually punish and restrict individuals for what they say on the internet, claiming that “your freedom of expression will shrink.”

But as The New York Times reported, the order has nothing to do with the Internet use of individuals, and instead introduces an entirely voluntary program to help specific companies combat cyber threats:

The order will allow companies that oversee infrastructure like dams, electrical grids and financial institutions to join an experimental program that has provided government contractors with real-time reports about cyberthreats.

It will also put together recommendations that companies should follow to prevent attacks, and it will more clearly define the responsibilities for different parts of the government that play a role in cybersecurity.

The Times further noted that according to industry experts, the most important measures needed to protect against cyberattacks still require congressional approval. Senate Republicans twice rejected cybersecurity legislation last year.

And the American Civil Liberties Union has approved of the privacy measures included in the executive order. The Hill's technology blog reported:

The executive order also makes clear that agencies are required to implement privacy and civil liberties protections into their cyber activities, according to existing privacy principles and frameworks.  Agencies are also required review the privacy and civil liberties impact of their work and publicly release those assessments.

Those privacy-focused measures won approval from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

“The president's executive order rightly focuses on cybersecurity solutions that don't negatively impact civil liberties,” Michelle Richardson, a legislative counsel for the ACLU, in a statement. “For example, greasing the wheels of information sharing from the government to the private sector is a privacy-neutral way to distribute critical cyber information.”