The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) has passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 288-127, securing 92 Democratic votes, compared with just 42 for a similar bill last year. This comes in the wake of a recent cyberattack by North Korea that disabled tens of thousands of computers and servers of South Korean banks and broadcasters, as well as a hack on the Associated Press Twitter feed, alleging two explosions at the White House and resulting in the stock market temporarily plunging The legislation, supported by virtually every arm of industry, aims to allow businesses to counter the threat of hacking that is becoming increasingly sophisticated from China, Russia, and Eastern Europe. The bill allows the federal government and businesses to share technical data without regard to anti-trust or classification laws.

Privacy and civil liberties groups oppose the bill, however, because it grants such companies that share information legal immunity if hacked so long as they act in good faith to protect their networks. There is also no requirement that personal or credit information be redacted prior to records being shared with the government.

Business groups, however, say that the privacy concerns are overblown, and the industry has an overriding interest in maintaining trust with its customers, and thus safeguarding their private information.

The bill must now pass the Senate before going to the President; the Senate has not yet taken up the issue, as it remains focused on other high-profile matters such as immigration and gun control. The White House has also threatened to veto the bill, stating that “citizens have a right to know that corporations will be held accountable – and not granted immunity – for failing to safeguard personal information adequately.”

Source: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/national_world&id=9075796

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