Democracy Now: Critics Decry Proposed CISPA Cyber-Security Bill Granting “Unfettered Access” to Online Info
In news from Capitol Hill, House lawmakers are expected to vote this week on a cyber-security bill that has faced widespread criticism for violating privacy rights online. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, would allow internet companies to hand over confidential customer records and communications to the National Security Agency and other intelligence and law enforcement agencies. In a letter on Monday, 18 Democratic House members expressed concerns about the bill’s broad and ambiguous language. They wrote that unless specific limitations were put in place, the bill “would, for the first time, grant non-civilian federal agencies, such as the National Security Agency, unfettered access to information about Americans’ internet activities and allow those agencies to use that information for virtually any purpose.” Nearly 750,000 people have signed an online petition to stop CISPA.
