Monday, December 23, 2024

We’re concerned that Congress is considering legislation that would compromise Google's ability to keep users secure by default, as well as break popular features in products like Search and Maps. We’ve previously outlined how this proposal could make our services less helpful and less secure, while not addressing the issues Americans care about most — like privacy, child safety and inflation. As experts gather for the RSA Conference this week, I wanted to share my perspective as a security professional on the real risks that this legislation poses for US security.Our security teams work around the clock, around the world, to identify and stay ahead of threats to our users and platforms. On a typical day, Google blocks more than 100 million phishing attempts across our platforms and tracks over 270 government-backed threat actors from more than 50 countries. This work requires us to make judgment calls quickly, based on indicators and alerts from a huge variety of sources. We don’t always find fire where there’s smoke. But we do prevent millions of attacks from succeeding — and responding to the smoke without hesitation is critical to protecting millions of internet users.A bill introduced in the Senate (S. 2992) could hurt our ability to make quick decisions to keep our products secure, requiring us to ask: would thwarting a potential bad actor violate the law and open us up to legal liability? Even pausing to ask the question would leave millions of users vulnerable for precious minutes while a potential security threat persists. And when it comes to cybersecurity, every second counts. Here are just a few ways the legislation would undermine our ability to keep people safe:

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