The much debated and increasingly complained about Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) will receive further tinkering by the bill’s sponsors, Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), who announced yesterday that they would offer amendments to the bill in order to allay concerns by privacy groups. The bill is designed to make it easier for government and the private sector to share information about cyber attacks and how to prevent them. The concern of groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Democracy and Technology is that it would make it too easy for the government to get information on private citizens and prosecute them on matters unrelated to large scale attacks.
One amendment would tighten limitations on how the government can use the information it collects. The government would only be able to use the information to protect against a cyberattack, investigate cyber crime, protect national security, protect against theft or bodily harm or to protect minors from child pornography.
The changes would also narrow the definition of “cyber threat information” and would bar the federal government from retaining or using information beyond the explicit purposes of the bill. Another amendment would restrict the scope of the liability protections for companies that turn over data to the government.
The bill is still headed for a vote on Friday and it may well pass. Where it goes from there is uncertain since the White House indicated no support for the earlier version of the bill.
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