CISPA Bill To Obliterate Privacy Laws Under Guise of Cybersecurity, A Blank Check of Privacy Invasion
April 26th, 2012Via: Hot Hardware:
There’s a bill currently up for debate in the US House of Representatives that would give companies and government agencies the right to share information when issues of cybersecurity were at stake. If the first thing you thought after reading that was “Wait, don’t we already do this,” the answer is “Yes, we do.” The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is drawing fire for certain provisions that drastically expand the definition of what data can be shared and for the way they handle existing data protections.
At present, the government’s ability to share data on its citizens is fairly restricted, insomuch as the various agencies must demonstrate cause and need. This has created a somewhat byzantine network of guidelines and laws that must be followed — a morass of red tape that CISPA is intended to cut through. One of the bill’s key passages is a provision that gives private companies the right to share cybersecurity data with each other and with the government “notwithstanding any other provision of law.”
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One of the other major issues raised by the groups against CISPA is that none of the proposed amendments restrict how agencies like the CIA or NSA could use the information they gather. In the eyes of many, the push to secure the United States’ digital borders is little more than a power grab based on spooky cyberboogymen. The idea that we suddenly need a new law that would carry a built-in override to the privacy protections already in place seems out of proportion to the dubious reality of current “cyber threats.”
