Should the Congress Pass CISPA? >
CISPA Will Improve U.S. Cybersecurity
To improve U.S. cybersecurity, let's pass CISPA
April 18, 2012
About Matthew Eggers:
Matthew Eggers is the senior director of national security and emergency preparedness for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The U.S. House of Representatives will have an opportunity next week to pass a critically important cybersecurity bill. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (H.R. 3523) is sponsored by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, a Republican from Michigan, and Ranking Member C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger, a Democrat from Maryland. This bill is supported by more than 100 of their colleagues.
The business community has embraced H.R. 3523 because it seeks to answer a basic question—How can lawmakers help companies protect their computers and networks against global cybersecurity threats? This bill would make limited and practical changes to policy. It would establish an information-sharing framework that is voluntary and imposes no new federal mandates on private citizens or business entities.
[Read the U.S. News debate: Should Congress Pass Anti-Online Piracy Legislation?]
The Rogers-Ruppersberger bill would guard Americans' privacy by prohibiting the government from forcing private companies to hand over personal information while encouraging companies to anonymize the information that they do share with appropriate entities.
Most important, the Rogers-Ruppersberger bill would address head-on the needs of companies to receive targeted information to protect their computer networks and customers' personal data. Business owners and managers need timely and actionable information so that they can beat back advanced and sophisticated attacks coming from organized criminal gangs and foreign governments. Likewise, voluntary information-sharing with federal partners, such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, would improve the government's ability to protect itself and the business community against foreign cyberthreats.
[Read: Civil Liberties Organizations Launch Protests Against CISPA]
H.R. 3523 would help tip the scales in businesses' favor against online raiders who seek to steal private information or potentially disrupt infrastructure networks.
In addition, the bill would give businesses certainty that cybersecurity information shared with the government would be provided safe harbor and not lead to frivolous lawsuits, among other protections.
Reps. Rogers and Ruppersberger deserve praise for crafting their bill in a bipartisan and open manner. H.R. 3523 is a positive, nonregulatory bill that would help the nation chart a path forward on cybersecurity. In short, we need to get serious and pass the Rogers-Ruppersberger bill.
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- Other Arguments
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#121521
No — CISPA will unnecessarily undermine decades of bedrock privacy law
RAINEY REITMAN, Activism Director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation
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#219022
No — CISPA presents a false choice between network security and Internet users' rights
KENDALL BURMAN, Senior National Security Fellow at the Center for Democracy & Technology
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#316019
No — CISPA's most current draft does not come close to addressing the civil liberties threats posed by the bill
SHARON BRADFORD FRANKLIN, Senior Counsel at the Constitution Project
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#531156
Yes — CISPA protects America's greatest resource—its ideas
JAMES K. CONZELMAN, President & CEO of The Ripon Society.
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#633159
Yes — CISPA represents the best, most flexible, and effective approach to developing a more robust and responsive cybersecurity infrastructure
CORDELL CARTER, Vice President of the Business Roundtable.
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#722152
Yes — CISPA allows the government and private sector to defend America against these cyberattacks, writes the Intelligence Committee chairman
MIKE ROGERS, Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
