By: Tom Gottheil
Last week, in a closed-door meeting, the House Intelligence Panel voted 18-2 to approve the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), a controversial proposal to encourage information sharing between private companies and the federal government. It is expected to be brought to a full vote on the floor of the House as soon as Thursday, though President Obama has threatened to veto the bill without changes to its corporate liability rules.
The bill’s stated purpose is to investigate and deter cyber attacks against US information infrastructure. In order to facilitate data sharing between technology companies and the government, CISPA broadly limits civil and criminal corporate liability for good-faith compliance with its terms. These limits worry civil liberties groups and activists, who contend that the lack of protection for private information in the bill, combined with its immunity provisions, could result in companies disclosing vast quantities of personal information without legal recourse for those whose data is disclosed.
Despite broad corporate support for CISPA, it was defeated in the Senate last year. A slightly modified version will be coming to the floor of the House of Representatives in the coming days. However, with President Obama’s veto threat looming, the future of CISPA is once again uncertain.