Regulatory Cyber Security is an Interactive Public Docket (IPD) centered on cybersecurity policy compliance for both federal and non-federal networks. CRE has a particular interest in reducing litigation risks for non-federal networks.
An IPD is a “shadow” regulatory docket maintained by the private sector to break the monopoly federal regulators have over controlling the content and transparency of a regulatory docket.
The IPD is an extension of CRE’s CyberSecure.US project which called for the creation of an interactive cybersecurity forum.
Regulatory Cyber Security is managed by the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, a regulatory watchdog founded and managed by former regulatory officials of the White House Office of Management and Budget. CRE manages a number of websites dedicated to increasing the transparency of the federal regulatory process.
The Regulatory Cyber Security IPD provides stakeholders with a 24/7 communications capability to federal regulators;
The consideration and ultimate acceptance of the material on an IPD by federal regulators and their regulatory overseers depends in large part on the recognized regulatory expertise and federal credentials of the managers of the organization which hosts the IPD.
What is an IPD?
An IPD is an Interactive Public Docket.. The purpose of an IPD is to break the government’s monopoly over what is contained in a regulatory docket.
More specifically, the docket for a regulatory proceeding and access to it by the public is very limited. Presently the regulators are the sole determinant of what papers used in the pre-Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) stage goes into the docket; the regulators are also the sole determinant of what papers go into the docket subsequent to the close of the public comment period. The public can only affect the content of the docket in a limited time period of say, 60 to 90 days, out of a period of one or more years need to complete a rulemaking.
The IPD changes this dynamic by having an online docket which is available for public input on a 24/7 basis. The public can not only add material at any date but it can also comment on comments made by others.
Regulatory agencies are permitted to upload material from an IPD and insert it into the docket.
Why then would federal agencies view IPD’s? Agencies review IPD’s because they are often the best source of new information generated subsequent to the close of the public comment period; in the case of marine sound an IPD is a repository of new information as it is generated during the lengthy pre-NPRM stage of the rulemaking process.
CRE rules of engagement for an IPD include:
– Dissenting views from those of the sponsor must be posted.
– No adverse statements against a federal employee are permitted
– Editorial control is exercised over obscene or profane statements
– The IPD must be highly interactive which allows comments to be made in an easy fashion and made anonymously if the author so desires.
In keeping with the aforementioned rules of engagement it should be noted that some NGO’s have a different view of the merits of an IPD. CRE recommends that its readers read the views of a leading law professor on the aforementioned views of the NGO which are contained at the end of the post.