Senate passes of Bipartisan DIGIT Act

WASHINGTON.—The U.S. Senate recently passed the Developing and Growing the Internet of Things (DIGIT) Act, which calls for the creation of a working group of federal entities and experts from the private and academic sectors tasked with providing recommendations to Congress on how to facilitate the growth of connected IoT technologies.

This bipartisan bill, which unanimously passed the Senate in the 115th Congress and was reintroduced in May 2019 by U.S. Sens. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), and Cory Booker (D-N.J.), will also directs the Federal Communications Commission to complete a report assessing spectrum needs required to support the Internet of Things.

The Security Industry Association (SIA) commended the passing of the bill, noting how important it is to the future of the security industry.

“SIA members recognize the Internet of Things' profound impact in allowing devices to perform more effectively and in a more coordinated fashion, especially within physical security,” SIA CEO Don Erickson said in the announcement. “The growth potential of IoT is exciting for both the public and private sectors, and SIA applauds the DIGIT Act for promoting the innovation, proliferation and ubiquitous deployment of these technologies and the United States' continued leadership in this industry.”

In a letter to Sens. Fischer, Schatz, Gardner and Booker, SIA emphasized the profound impact of IoT in allowing devices to perform more effectively, especially within the physical security industry, and applauded the bill's provision highlighting the wide range of IoT issues under the working group's directed report. Additionally, SIA supports the bill's inclusion of the National Institute of Standards and Technology — whose expertise has provided advanced encryption standards and data storage guidance for end user devices that are widely used by SIA members — in the proposed working group.

SIA supports the DIGIT Act along with a coalition of other organizations, including the App Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, CTIA, the Competitive Carriers Association, the Computing Research Association, the Consumer Technology Association, Intel, the Information Technology Industry Council, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, the Semiconductor Industry Association, the Telecommunications Industry Association and VMware. Sen. Fischer's office issued an announcement following the Senate passage of the DIGIT Act recognizing SIA as a supporter of the bill.