Last week the alarm was raised when the House of Representatives passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act or CISPA, which would essentially allow a free flow of information between private companies and the federal government. Fears were heightened, as those of us who live our lives online had some serious concerns about how this bill would destroy our right to privacy by allowing the government to have access to our private account information without our knowledge. After a seemingly endless barrage of tweets and status updates urging individuals to get angry, the bill was shelved today the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. It will mostly likely take months for a new cyber security bill to be drafted.
While Congress is adamant that file sharing is an integral and indeed crucial part of cyber security, it remains difficult, if not impossible for law makers to draft legislative language allowing for us to catch would be hackers without encroaching on individual privacy rights. Currently top American intelligence officials are warning that our nation is experiencing a greater threat from hackers than we are from traditional terrorists. This combined with more and more corporations lobbying for tougher anti-piracy legislation means that our elected officials are going to have to solve this conundrum sooner rather than later.
A large reason for the failure of CISPA to make it to a floor vote on the Senate was the threat of a veto by President Obama if the bill reached his desk. While the President should be keeping the issue of national security at the forefront of his mind, it's refreshing to think that in his second term Barack Obama is still focusing on the rights of the people. With legislation involving the internet having far more support among Republicans than Democrats I would not be surprised if the House waited a few more years before reattempting this legislation in the hopes that the odds will be more in their favor. Of course at the same time all it would take is one major cyber attack for the tides to turn in support of an online Big Brother.
