CISPA: A guide to the 'Big Brother' cyber security bill - The Week

CISPA: A guide to the 'Big Brother' cyber security bill

Civil libertarians and open-web advocates are up in arms about a far-reaching bill coming up for a big vote in the House. Here's why

posted on April 25, 2012, at 12:31 PM

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) has slammed the cyber security bill CISPA, calling it "the latest assault on internet freedom." Photo: Patrick Fallon/ZUMA Press/Corbis

An unprecedented internet-driven public outcry sank the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in January, and now privacy advocates and web-freedom activists are trying to stop another House bill targeting the internet: The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). They don't have much time. The bill, which quixotic presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) calls "Big Brother writ large," is scheduled for a vote on May 27, and it has at least 113 cosponsors. What is CISPA, why don't critics like it, and what are the odds it will pass? Here's what you need to know:
What does CISPA do?The bill is designed to make it easier for the government and private companies to share information that might thwart cyber attacks by everyone from hacker groups like Anonymous to secret-pilfering nations. Companies and the government already can, and do, share some private information about individual web users, but they face the risk of lawsuits. CISPA would allow companies to freely share "cyber threat information" without consequence. The idea is that if everyone can freely pool information about cyber threats, they'll be easier to stop.
Why is that controversial?The problem stems largely from one word: "Notwithstanding," says Declan McCullagh at CNET News. By including the caveat that any web-related service provider may share "cyber threat information with any other entity," including the military and National Security Agency, "notwithstanding any other provision of law," CISPA's backers want the bill to "trump all existing federal and state civil and criminal laws. It would render irrelevant wiretap laws, web companies' privacy policies, educational record laws, medical privacy laws, and more." It's "a classic example of over-legislation," says DJ Pangburn at Death and Taxes.
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