A year ago, the House of Representatives was poised to pass the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). It was a dangerous bill, threatening to obliterate Internet users' privacy rights and, in fact, to trump every privacy law on the books. It would have let companies share users' private information, including the content of email and other communications without personal information being stripped out. And it would have given companies broad legal immunity to do that.
The White House issued a veto threat of that bill, on solid ground:
- "H.R. 3523 fails to provide authorities to ensure that the Nation's core critical infrastructure is protected while repealing important provisions of electronic surveillance law without instituting corresponding privacy, confidentiality, and civil liberties safeguards. [...]"
- "The bill also lacks sufficient limitations on the sharing of personally identifiable information between private entities and does not contain adequate oversight or accountability measures necessary to ensure that the data is used only for appropriate purposes. [...]"
- It would "inappropriately shield companies from any suits where a company's actions are based on cyber threat information identified, obtained, or shared under this bill, regardless of whether that action otherwise violated Federal criminal law or results in damage or loss of life. [...]"
- And finally, it "effectively treats domestic cybersecurity as an intelligence activity and thus, significantly departs from longstanding efforts to treat the Internet and cyberspace as civilian spheres. [...]"
Well, that bad legislation is back, and we have to stop it again. House Republicans have reintroduced it without addressing any of those major flaws. That means that President Obama needs to send the message again that he will not sign a cybersecurity bill that does not protect the privacy of American citizens.
Please join with Daily Kos and Demand Progress by sending an email to President Obama, urging him to reiterate his opposition to this bill.