We thought we killed all those awful, horrible destroy the internet-type bills in SOPA, PIPA and CISPA. We might have been wrong. Like a zombie looking for human blood, or a sore loser demanding a rematch, US members of parliament Dutch Ruppersberger and Mike Rogers plan to re-introduce CISPA to the US House of Representatives later this year.
The problem with CISPA — or the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act — that made it so damn scary was that it would have allowed any American company to give away all the data it has collected on you if asked by the US government. Sure that sounds OK, but CISPA had very vague terms and very little oversight, it could have resulted in a free-for-all on privacy.
When CISPA came about last year, US President Obama threatened its livelihood with a veto. This time around, Ruppersberger is working with the White House to let it go through (it passed the US House of Representatives). He told The Hill:
“We’re working on some things…working with the White House to make sure that hopefully they can be more supportive of our bill than they were the last time.”
Ideally, CISPA would prevent cyberattacks from happening and make it easier for companies to share info about cyber threats and attacks. But we’ll see what shape it will really take as it’s re-introduced later this year. [The Hill]