Rob
04-25-2013, 09:02 PM
According to the chairman of a key Senate committee, the cybersecurity bill passed by the House is "important" but its privacy protections are "insufficient."
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/2237/capitol01610x406.jpg
(Credit: Shara Tibken/CNET)
The Senate will almost certainly kill a controversial cybersecurity bill, recently passed by the House, according to a U.S. Senate Committee member.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-NY), the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said the upper house will not take up the bill, he told U.S. News on Thursday.
A spokesperson for the committee confirmed to CNET the comments made by Rockefeller.
In a statement on April 18, Rockefeller said CISPA's privacy protections are "insufficient." Staff and senators are understood to be "drafting separate bills" that will maintain the cybersecurity information sharing while preserving civil liberties and privacy rights.
Rockefeller's comments are significant as he takes up the lead on the Commerce Committee, which will be the first branch of the Senate that will debate its own cybersecurity legislation.
The Cyber Information Sharing and Protection Act, commonly known as CISPA, permits private sector companies -- including technology firms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google and Microsoft, among others -- to pass "cyber threat" data, including personal user data, to the U.S. government.
This means a company like Facebook, Twitter, Google, or any other technology or telecoms company, including your cell service provider, would be legally able to hand over vast amounts of data to the U.S. government and its law enforcement -- for whatever purpose it deems necessary -- and face no legal reprisals.
Civil liberties groups have called it a "privacy killer," and "dangerously vague," and warned that it may be in breach of the Fourth Amendment.
After CISPA passed the House the first time last year, the Senate shelved the bill in favor its own cybersecurity legislation. Following today's statements, the Senate is edging closer to repeating its actions for a second time.
It comes a week after he tweeted on the day of CISPA's passing in the House: "CISPA is important first step, but Senate is committed to action on all solutions to strengthen cybersecurity. We have work to do."
Developing, more soon.
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/2237/capitol01610x406.jpg
(Credit: Shara Tibken/CNET)
The Senate will almost certainly kill a controversial cybersecurity bill, recently passed by the House, according to a U.S. Senate Committee member.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-NY), the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said the upper house will not take up the bill, he told U.S. News on Thursday.
A spokesperson for the committee confirmed to CNET the comments made by Rockefeller.
In a statement on April 18, Rockefeller said CISPA's privacy protections are "insufficient." Staff and senators are understood to be "drafting separate bills" that will maintain the cybersecurity information sharing while preserving civil liberties and privacy rights.
Rockefeller's comments are significant as he takes up the lead on the Commerce Committee, which will be the first branch of the Senate that will debate its own cybersecurity legislation.
The Cyber Information Sharing and Protection Act, commonly known as CISPA, permits private sector companies -- including technology firms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Google and Microsoft, among others -- to pass "cyber threat" data, including personal user data, to the U.S. government.
This means a company like Facebook, Twitter, Google, or any other technology or telecoms company, including your cell service provider, would be legally able to hand over vast amounts of data to the U.S. government and its law enforcement -- for whatever purpose it deems necessary -- and face no legal reprisals.
Civil liberties groups have called it a "privacy killer," and "dangerously vague," and warned that it may be in breach of the Fourth Amendment.
After CISPA passed the House the first time last year, the Senate shelved the bill in favor its own cybersecurity legislation. Following today's statements, the Senate is edging closer to repeating its actions for a second time.
It comes a week after he tweeted on the day of CISPA's passing in the House: "CISPA is important first step, but Senate is committed to action on all solutions to strengthen cybersecurity. We have work to do."
Developing, more soon.