Today marks the second day of debate on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives over the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, which would authorize cyber threat information sharing between private companies and the federal government if passed into law.
Privacy advocates and civil liberties groups aren’t fond of the bill, and neither is the White House, which has issued a veto threat. Co-sponsoring the legislation is Maryland’s 2nd district congressman, Dutch Ruppersberger.
Technically Baltimore has reported on different aspects of CISPA in five parts. A recap of what the bill is, what it does and who’s against it:
- Part one: privacy groups believe CISPA is an online privacy overreach that doesn’t adequately protect people’s personally identifiable information.
- Part two: CISPA grants private companies that share cyber threat information with the federal government legal immunity, even if a purported hacker is misidentified.
- Part three: the White House’s Executive Order on cybersecurity already allows for cyber threat information sharing in one direction only, from the federal government to private companies.
- Part four: pro-CISPA interest groups have donated more than $55 million to the campaigns of politicians supporting CISPA.
- Part five: Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger says CISPA does not allow the government to “read your e-mails.”
View an infographic critical of CISPA below*:
*Facebook, which is listed in the infographic as supporting CISPA, appeared to withdraw its support for the bill in March.
