Senate to Advance Anti-Hacking Bill Despite Privacy Objections

Privacy advocates are objecting to a bill expected to advance in the Senate that would shield companies from lawsuits when they share information about cyber attacks with each other and federal agencies. “It’s not a bill that would enhance cybersecurity nearly as much as it would enhance the government’s surveillance capabilities,” said Robyn Greene, policy counsel for the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute, a Washington think tank. Industry groups such as the Financial Services Roundtable largely support the bill, which is scheduled for a vote in the Senate intelligence committee and has the backing of the panel’s ranking Democrat and Republican chairman. While there is broad agreement companies should get legal protections for sharing data about online threats, Congress has failed for four years to pass legislation in part due to concerns over privacy and government spying.