Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is pushing for a vote on the infamous Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) prior to a four-week recess beginning August 10. As of right now, however, there are no immediate plans to vote on the bill.(1)
CISA is a bill that just won’t die. Critics have dubbed CISA the “zombie bill,” since it continues to be resurrected from the abyss.(2) The bill is a resuscitation of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2013 (CISPA), which passed the House but failed in the Senate.(3) Both bills encourage private businesses to break the privacy rights of law-abiding citizens by sharing sensitive information with federal agencies. Unlike CISPA, however, CISA is a bill that may not be swept under the Senate’s rug.
Proponents of the bill argue that CISA will enable companies to respond to cyber attacks more quickly and efficiently. Advocates reference the hackers who broke into the computer systems of Sony Pictures in late 2014 as justification for the bill.(4)
Members of Congress in favor the bill are puppets dancing on a financial string plucked by the surveillance industry; most members supporting the bill have been paid twice as much by the field as members against the bill.(5) These politicians recognize that the bill is not about ensuring the safety of its citizens; it’s about stripping innocuous citizens of the basic right to freedom of speech – without fear of being monitored by the government and its favored corporations.
An expansion of federal power
CISA is nothing but an attempt to expand powers that the government already holds: It is touted as a cybersecurity bill, when in reality, CISA is a surveillance bill. CISA gives companies special protection to gather private data from customers and share that information with the government.(4)
The bill is written in loose, ill-defined language so that businesses will disseminate information without fear of a lawsuit. Under CISA, companies that provide the government with information are granted immunity to all existing surveillance laws.(5) They can share information about a person insofar as they qualify as a “cyber threat indicator” (whatever that means). The information shared can consist of anything from email content to passwords. In its bare-naked form, CISA is a bill that legalizes all forms of corporate and government spying.
Opponents of the bill note that CISA will not thwart future cyber attacks. To the contrary, the bill has the potential to make cyber attacks more prevalent by allowing companies to “back hack” suspecting hackers.(1) Back hacks can be misdirected and disrupt various computer networks, such as library databases. This could turn the internet into a battlefield between David versus Goliath, where lowly freelance criminals and wealthy companies launch cyber attacks at each other.
Information could be used for crimes unrelated to cyber attacks
The bill doesn’t just favor the peaks of government; CISA also allows local governments and law enforcement agencies to obtain information from private companies. These institutions could collect the information without a warrant insofar as it helps prevent a domestic terrorist threat.(4) This would enable local law enforcement agencies to use computer data for crimes that are not cyber-related.
The internet is one of the best gifts technology has ever bestowed upon humanity. It is a means to provide freedom of expression that would otherwise be frowned upon in the social environment. CISA doesn’t prevent cyber attacks, but it does prevent free speech. Hopefully, members of Congress will kill this zombie bill once and for all.
Sources include:
(1) PCWorld.com
(2) Wired.com
(4) Truth-Out.org
(5) TheHill.com
