CISPA Not Fixed Yet - Amendments Needed - Contact Congress

This week, Congress is considering legislation that could result in large amounts of Internet traffic flowing to the super-secret National Security Agency with inadequate limits on its use.

CISPA—the Cyber Intelligence Sharing & Protection Act of 2011—would allow companies to monitor private email, Internet searches, and other online activity and then share cyber threat information with the government.

CDT has worked hard to add privacy protections to the bill. But we're not done yet, and you shouldn't be either.

Under CISPA, cyber threat information collected by private ISPs could go directly to the National Security Agency, a military agency that operates secretly and with little public accountability. The government could store and search this information not only for cybersecurity, but also for other national security purposes.

On Thursday and Friday this week, the US House of Representatives will take up CISPA. Amendments will be offered to make it clear that a civilian agency, not the military, should be in charge of government efforts aimed at private sector cybersecurity. Another amendment will make it clear that cyber threat information cannot be data-mined for non-cyber purposes.

Tell Congress that your privacy matters and that CISPA, despite improvements, still gives the military too much power. Tell your representative to vote YES on amendments limiting the role of the NSA and ensuring that information disclosed to the government can only be used for cybersecurity purposes.