Among the riders that did make it onto the omnibus budget bill accord reached late Tuesday was a version of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), which would provide liability for companies, including ISPs, who share cyber threat information with the government and each other.
ISPs supported the bill, but various public interest groups and a number of legislators have argued it guts privacy protections and allows government surveillance overreach. The issue is obviously a hot-button one in an age of growing terrorist threats. Republican presidential candidates debated the issue in their Dec. 15 debate, with the candidates divided. Rand Paul, for example, is particularly concerned about government surveillance.
The Obama Administration supports granting the limited liability, though critics of CISA say the budget bill version essentially provides blanket liability protection, not narrow.
After the bill was added, the American Civil Liberties Union, Fight for the Future and Access Now all criticized the move, calling it a usurpation of the Democratic process, an attempt to expand government surveillance, and a failure to protect the Internet.
Fight for the Future said the President should veto the budget bill over the issue. "[N]ow it’s up to President Obama to prove that his administration actually cares about the Internet," said Fight for the Future campaign director Evan Greer.
"If he does he has no choice but to veto this blatant attack on Internet security, corporate accountability, and free speech."
