Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act Current Event

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act or CISPA is legislation that is currently being resurrected in the House of Representatives after failing to make it to a vote in the senate last year as reported as previously threatened with veto by President Obama.(WILHELM, 2013). According to the bill’s author, as reported by Wilhelm (2013) the bill aims to allow more sharing of “cyber threat intelligence” between the U.S. government and private sectors.
There is quite a threat to individual freedom of speech and privacy if this bill is enacted. The proposed legislation would give tremendous powers to private industry if passed and severely limit the ways in which users enjoy privacy on the internet. Individual’s simply pirating movies or software could be classified as “cyber-threats” and become the target of combined governmental and civilian action.
Personally, I perceive the proposed legislation as a threat to freedom of speech and privacy. Because of technology, terrorism and widespread global unrest, Americans’ have given the government powers beyond what our founders ever envisioned as evidenced by the most recent renewal of The Patriot Act As cyber threats evolve it is vital to have legislation to enable appropriate response, however this legislation must be carefully crafted as to not allow any party to be above the law.

Reference:
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2013/02/23/recently-hacked-heres-microsofts-statement-on-pending-cybersecurity-legislation/ WILHELM, M. (2013, Febuary 23).
Recently hacked, here’s Microsoft’s statement on pending cybersecurity legislation. Retrieved from THE NEXT WEB: http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2013/02/23/recently-hacked-heres-microsofts-statement-on-pending-cybersecurity-legislation/