Last week's terrorist attacks on the United States are expected to shift government and legislative priorities on a host of technology issues. Internet privacy, for instance, the top technology policy issue barely more than a week ago, will likely be replaced . . .
Last week's terrorist attacks on the United States are expected to shift government and legislative priorities on a host of technology issues. Internet privacy, for instance, the top technology policy issue barely more than a week ago, will likely be replaced by critical-infrastructure protection as the United States seeks to retaliate against what President Bush has called "an act of war." What this means is that pending legislation to protect corporate data about security incidents, voluntarily shared with the government, will likely be fast-tracked. Antispam legislation, on the other hand, may get pushed aside, according to officials at trade and privacy groups, as well as congressional sources.

Moreover, as a result of the attacks, private-sector companies are likely to become a lot more receptive about collaborating with the government and one another on information security issues. One congressional source said government officials have said the attacks are likely to be just the beginning of a wave of assaults that probably will include cyberattacks.