A technology trade group whose guiding lights includes executives from Google, Microsoft and Yahoo has sent a letter to Congress this week for CISPA - Act Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection - legislation on
The letter TechNet President Rey Ramsey is addressed to the leaders of House Intelligence Committee - Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) and Dutch Ruppers berger representative (D-Md.) - and congratulate the committee to provide liability protection for companies would share the data in CISPA and make an effort to strengthen the protection of privacy in the legislation.
CISPA is designed, his supporters said, to protect against foreign cyber threats by allowing private companies to voluntarily share information with the intelligence agencies of the government without fear of being prosecuted on privacy issues.
Declan McCullagh noted that under federal law, any person or company that helps someone "intercept any wire, oral, or electronic communication" - unless specifically authorized by law - could face criminal charges, but CISPA would void those confidentiality protections.
Tech trade groups and some technology companies are backing CISPA not because they necessarily love, but because they see it as better than a competitor draft law is not legal.
Ramsey's letter includes a list of members of the Executive Council of TechNet, with names such as Yahoo Marissa Mayer, Google's Eric Schmidt, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith. He says CISPA "recognizes the need for legislation that encourages voluntary cybersecurity effective, bi-directional, real-time sharing of information on cyber action to protect networks," but this implies that further work could be necessary.
"As the legislative process unfolds," the letter said, "We look forward to continuing the dialogue with you and your colleagues on new protections for privacy, including discussions on the role of a calendar interface for sharing information. "
Beltway Blog The Hill reported that the previous letter, note that privacy advocates want to see CISPA amended a civilian agency like the Department of Homeland Security cyberthreat receive data first, before passing to a body information such as the National Security Agency.
The ACLU wrote in its current form CISPA "empowers the military, including agencies such as the NSA to collect Internet records using the Internet everyday Americans" and that "it is an established principle long as the army is not allowed to spy on Americans. "
The main reason CISPA is so controversial is that it supersedes all other state and federal law on the books, including laws relating to privacy e-mail, allowing companies to share data with federal government. The data that can be shared include broad categories of information about security vulnerabilities, the availability of network intrusion attempts and denial of service, with no limit on the inclusion of personal data.
The House Intelligence Committee, however, rejected the fears of privacy. A document "Myth v. Fact" (PDF) prepared by the committee said any claim that "this law creates a program for monitoring large-scale government" is a myth.
