A Few Thoughts Re: The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA)...

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is scheduled to be debated in the House of Representatives the week of April 23rd, 2012.

The context of this bill still encompasses broad definitions that fail to create the safeguards that the representatives insist are present, and in turn, leave the door open for unintended consequences.

Generally speaking, CISPA pertains to information sharing.  It creates very broad legal exemptions which allow the government to share Cyber Threat Intelligence with private companies and in turn, allow companies to share Cyber Threat Intelligence with the government.  The main purpose is the enhancement of cyber security. 

The problems arise from the definition of the terms Cyber Threat Intelligence.  The bill defines Cyber Security Systems and Cyber Threat Information as anything to do with protecting a network from:

(a)  Efforts to degrade, disrupt, or destroy such a system or network; or

(b)  Theft or misappropriation of private governmental information, intellectual property, or personally identifiable information.

(This definition was provided by H.R. 3523: Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011).

This definition could easily be interpreted to include copyright policing systems at any point along a network, and since one of the recipients of this shared information would be the Department of Homeland Security, this information could be used to lock down the Internet.

The insistence from the House of Representatives references foreign based attacks on domestic companies (stealing information) rather than media piracy.  Unfortunately, no definitions in the bill create any such restriction, allowing for a wide diversification of interpretations.

The bill specifically prohibits the government from mandating an individual to hand over information – sharing is voluntary.  Undoubtedly, CISPA will allow for invasions of privacy that amount to surveillance.

Moreover, the government can collect this data (including identifying information of users); they are free to use this information for the defined Cyber Security definitions or National Security purposes; and they are allows to search the information for the same aforementioned reasons.

Content for this article was derived from www.GovTrack.us, a website to monitor our representatives in Congress and/or to research pending legislation that might impact our lives and/or businesses.