Cybersecurity bill sparks controversy
WASHINGTON -- A Michigan congressman's proposal for combating cyberattacks is getting plenty of support in Congress and the private sector — and plenty of opposition from critics who say it threatens privacy rights.
The proposal by Republican Rep. Mike Rogers of Brighton, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, would encourage the intelligence community and the private sector to share certain information to better protect computer networks from cyber-threats.
Under Rogers' bill, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), private companies and the government could share any information "directly pertaining to a vulnerability of, or threat to" a computer network. Currently, the government can't share classified intelligence on cyber-threats with the private sector.
The bill is one of several measures being considered by Congress following high-profile attacks targeting Google and the NASDAQ stock exchange. It passed the Intelligence Committee 17-1 in December and likely will be heard on the House floor later this month.
The bill is supported by 30 companies, including Facebook and Microsoft.
"The broad base of support for this bill shows that Congress recognizes the urgent need to help our private sector better defend itself from these invidious attacks," Rogers said in a statement last month. He said the bill would not increase federal spending or create a new government bureaucracy.
But the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Democracy and Technology say the bill lacks explicit privacy protections and doesn't specifically define what information companies should share with the government.
They also say the bill wouldn't require companies to strip shared information of details that could be used to identify specific people.
"What we're fundamentally deciding here is whether to blow a hole through all of our privacy laws and allow companies to turn over very sensitive information to the government," ACLU legal counsel Michelle Robertson said. "It's a threshold question — what will they turn over?"
Opponents of Rogers' bill have organized a "Stop Cyberspying Week" beginning Monday to attack the proposal.
Last Sunday, the Internet collective known as Anonymous claimed responsibility for denial-of-service attacks targeting the websites of two groups that support Rogers' bill, USTelecom and Tech America.
In a YouTube video, Anonymous compared the bill to the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act in its potential to harm Internet users. Congressional action on that proposal, designed to crack down on "rogue" websites that trade in pirated content, was postponed indefinitely after intense Internet lobbying against it.
During a conference call Tuesday, Rogers said "there is no comparison" between his bill and the Stop Online Piracy Act because his bill would not allow the government to censor information, shut down websites or monitor people.
The bill's supporters said they're working on modifying it to resolve some of the issues raised by critics.
The bill is designed to help prevent computer networks that help maintain critical infrastructure and to prevent economic espionage, which sponsors of the bill say results in $2 billion to $400 billion in losses every year.
"Intelligence sharing is the only way we're going to be able to protect the private sector," said Republican Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the bill's co-sponsor.
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