Sen Wyden, Lone Senate Cyber Critic, More Opposed Than Ever To Bill

Sen Ron Wyden (D-OR), the lone opponent of a controversial Senate cybersecurity bill as it passed through committee, is prouder than ever of his vote against the legislation.

"The more I talk to people on the outside, the more convinced I am it was the right thing to do to vote against that legislation,” Sen Wyden said. “The reason why is that the bill was written so vaguely and so broadly that it will incentivize companies to share large volumes of their customers’ personal information with the government, even when it is not needed for cybersecurity purposes.” Sen Wyden, who has repeatedly warned that congressional cybersecurity efforts are more akin to "surveillance" than security, was the only member of the Intelligence Committee to vote against the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) in March. He also raised fears about the different treatment it hands out for companies and for individuals. CISA has a “cyber double standard,” Sen Wyden said, because people’s information can be used for non-cyber purposes -- such as to aid law enforcement -- but companies have liability from their information being used to hurt them. “The imbalance here -- where they have all the freedom and yet the information of the typical Americans is shared without protections -- suggest to me that something is really out of line,” he said.