A controversial cybersecurity bill known as CISA that will soon be debated about in Congress has been heavily criticized by technology companies, and Twitter is the latest to get involved in the action.
Twitter tweeted, “Security & privacy are both priorities for us and therefore we can’t support #CISA as written. We hope to see positive changes going forward.”
CISA, which stands for the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, would require that more information be shared between private companies and the United States government. The proposed Act has attracted major criticism from technology companies. Some of the companies that have lashed out against the proposal include Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft.
The Computer and Communications Industry Association, which represents all of the companies listed above said in a blog post, “CISA’s prescribed mechanism for sharing of cyber threat information does not sufficiently protect users’ privacy or appropriately limit the permissible uses of information shared with the government. In addition, the bill authorizes entities to employ network defense measures that might cause collateral harm to the systems of innocent third parties.”
Yelp and Reddit have also spoken out against the Act.
The United States Senate could start discussing the Act as early as Tuesday, but it is unknown when the Senate would be able to advance the measure.
Additionally, two other information sharing bills are also attracting negative attention from technology companies. These two other bills are the Protecting Cyber Networks Act (PCNA) and the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC).
Advocacy groups have also blasted the proposed Act. One such group is Fight for the Future, which is led by their campaign director Eric Greer.
In an email, Greer wrote, “It’s outrageous that Congress is even considering passing a law that would further erode Internet users’ privacy and security at a time when both are already so fragile. CISA’s supporters have repeatedly claimed that the tech industry needs this legislation, but now nearly every major tech company has come out opposing it, not only because they know it won’t stop cyberattacks, but also because it’s supremely unpopular with their users.”
Meanwhile, the United States Chamber of Commerce says that it supports CISA.
Senior director of National Security at the Chamber of Commerce Matthew Eggers wrote, “CISA has been thoughtfully crafted to protect individuals’ privacy, while providing greater legal certainty to increase the timely exchange of actionable cyber threat information.”
With a massive amount of backlash coming from major technology companies, the Act will have a very difficult time getting through Congress. Still, it’s likely that there will be a significant debate taking place before this is all said and done.
Stay Connected
