Civil Liberties Groups Renew Opposition To House Cybersecurity Bill

Civil liberties groups are back actively opposing a cybersecurity bill that the House is scheduled to consider.

The Center for Democracy and Technology and the Constitution Project never really dropped objections to the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, but after discussions with the bill's sponsors, the groups said on April 24 they would not actively oppose the bill and focus on amendments instead. But on April 25, the House Rules Committee shot down 22 of 43 submitted amendments to the bill, known as CISPA. All but one Republican amendments were made in order, while four out of 19 Democratic amendments and four with 10 bipartisan support made the cut. Five amendments were withdrawn. "In issuing a rule excluding amendments on two of the major privacy and civil liberties issues remaining in CISPA -- the flow of information to the National Security Agency and the authority to use information for non-cybersecurity purposes -- the House leadership has squandered an opportunity to achieve balanced cybersecurity legislation," CDT said in a statement.