By: Ashley Belton
National security often comes at odds with privacy interests, as evidenced by the White House’s reaction to the latest cybersecurity bill currently being considered by the House. On April 16th, the White House threatened to veto a House bill, which would permit private entities to share with the government and other private entities information pertaining to threats to computer networks. Additionally, the bill would grant private companies immunity from lawsuits if they engaged in such information sharing. The bill is a reflection of the fact that national security threats are increasingly taking the form of cyber attacks; and the government is struggling to combat such dangers while taking into account privacy concerns.
A spokesman for the National Security Council, Caitlin Hayden, identified the administration’s issue with the bill: under the current version of the bill, private companies are not required to remove irrelevant personal information before sharing such information with the government or with each other. Thus, there is no protection against private companies sharing data that could be used to identify ordinary citizens. This criticism is in line with the principle of minimization, that is, the government should only acquire information which is necessary to effectuate its interests, and it should minimize any interference with citizens’ right to privacy.
The House is to vote on the bill later this week. The bill has already faced much criticism from civil liberties groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Democracy and Technology.
For more information:
Chris Strohm, Obama Threatens Veto of Revised House Cyber Measure, Bloomberg (Apr. 16, 2013, 4:12 PM), http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-16/obama-threatens-veto-of-revised-house-cyber-measure.html.
Somini Sengupta, Civil Liberties Fears Doom House Cybersecurity Bill, NYT (Apr. 16, 2013, 9:23 PM), http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/16/civil-liberties-fears-dooms-house-cybersecurity-bill/.