The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), a controversial cybersecurity bill that would set up a system for the government to collect information from Web and telcom companies on user activities thought to be potentially dangerous to national security, passed the U.S. House in April but stalled after that, with a distinctly different Senate version failing to pass in August.
Now one of CISPA’s major bipartisan cosponsors, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.), who first introduced the legislation along with Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), is saying that he will reintroduce the bill this year and is working with the White House to ensure it makes it into law, The Hill reported Tuesday evening.
Web freedom advocacy groups and activists criticized the initial version as potentially paving the way for companies and governments to violate user privacy by accessing information and taking law enforcement actions against users without warning.
Separately, Rogers in an address Wednesday said the U.S. was “under siege” on the Internet, as countries including Russia, China and Iran developed capabilities of launching cyber attacks, the Hill reported.
(H/T: The Next Web)
