14 DAY TRIAL // The controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, better known as CISPA, has little chances of passing to the Senate in its current form.
According to a Mashable report, the House of Representatives’ version of the Act won’t reach the Senate in its entirety, but some of its features might be included in other bills.
CISPA passed the House last week, for the second time, with support from all parties, despite the fact that the White House has issued a veto threat if privacy and civil liberties issues are not addressed.
Another report says that staff and senators are dividing the issues and the key provisions that are absolutely necessary and they’ll be drafting separate bills.
CISPA is expected to stall in the Senate as they debate about each facet of the issue. However, even if the Act doesn’t pass in its entirety, some of its elements might be found in other bills in the near future.
In its current form, CISPA allows businesses and federal agencies to share information regarding cybersecurity threats. At the same time, the bill also poses a threat to the privacy of all Internet users.
Those who support the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act have strong business interests and argue that sharing is necessary to deflect hackers in real time.
However, opponents of the bill claim that such a law means compromising online privacy. Furthermore, it would offer protection to the companies that share data with the government.
On April 22, nearly 400 websites have joined Anonymous in protest by closing down regular activities and displaying an anti-CISPA banner, much like they did last year when they opposed SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act).
Major companies have been absent from this protest yet again, as they were last year when Internet users from all over the world were making a point of telling legislators that they have no right to control their Internet activity in order to protect business interests.