CISPA Passes House, Obama Threatens Veto

Associated Press  

Although the vote was set for tomorrow, the U.S. House just sneak-passed H.R. 3523, a.k.a. CISPA, the Cybersecurity Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, by a vote of 248-168.

Bad news bears...

Although the spiritual successor to SOPA is one step closer to becoming a reality, GamePolitics reports that the White House released a statement on Wednesday threatening to veto CISPA if provisions regarding the sharing of personal identifiable information between companies and government agencies weren't revised:

"The administration looks forward to continuing to engage with the Congress in a bipartisan, bicameral fashion to enact cybersecurity legislation to address these critical issues... However, for the reasons stated herein, if H.R. 3523 were presented to the president, his senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bill."

Amendments to H.R. 3523 that address many of the concerns the Obama Administration may have with the measure are being headed up by U.S. Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), who feel confident they can avert executive derailment. POLITICO talked to Rogers:

"'This is just, I think, them kicking up some dust,' said Rogers, who is backing a number of amendments that would try to address many of the issues raised by the administration.'We think we can answer questions to get it to a place where the president will sign it,' Rogers said."

The last time privacy-infringing legislation was brought onto the public stage, it shut down pockets of the Internet for a day. Swaths of anti-SOPA propaganda were strung about the series of tubes, educational and cautionary. And SOPA was smote upon the mountainside.

But then... what is CISPA? Luckily for you - and me - Gizmodo just posted an article with that exact same headline:

"The scariest part of CISPA is how astonishingly broad and loose it is, like some sort of giant, poorly-built rope bridge. Over a volcano. CISPA would permit any private company (Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, Google, you name it) to give away any and all data it's collected on you when asked by a government agency. Literally any government agency. This data would then head to the Department of Homeland Security."

The writers also saw fit to make CISPA impervious to the Freedom of Information Act, the flagship law for transparency in the U.S. Government. This is the law that allows the public to force the powers that be into deciding whether or not information should be released to the public.

CISPA may have time on the Senate floor next month. Go read up on CISPA through all my meticulous sources - learn yourself, so you might defend yourself.

VIA: GamePolitics
SOURCE: POLITICO | Gizmodo | Sunlight Foundation