guardian.co.uk,
James Ball, Tuesday 24 April 2012
 |
| Alec Ross Senior Advisor for Innovation to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Photograph: Ramin Talaie/Corbis |
A senior
State Department official has stressed the Obama administration's opposition to
a controversial cybersecurity bill ahead of a vote in the House of
Representatives later this week.
The Cyber
Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (Cispa) is intended to facilitate
sharing of information on online threats across different federal agencies and
private companies. It has been criticised by both activists and politicians of
both Democrats and Republicans for vague wording and insufficient safeguards.
Ahead of
the bill coming in front of the House of Representatives alongside three other
cybersecurity bills, Alec Ross, a senior adviser for innovation to Hillary
Clinton, reiterated the administration's opposition to the proposals in more
explicit language than previous statements from officials.
"The
Obama administration opposes Cispa," he told the Guardian. "The
president has called for comprehensive cybersecurity legislation. There is
absolutely a need for comprehensive cybersecurity legislation.
"[But]
part of what has been communicated to congressional committees is that we want
legislation to come with necessary protections for individuals."
Ross
refused to be drawn, however, on whether the White House would consider vetoing
the bill were it to pass through Congress
Ross's
comments came as Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul set out his own strident opposition to Cispa.
"Cispa
permits both the federal government and private companies to view your private
online communications without judicial oversight provided that they do so of
course in the name of cybersecurity," he said on Monday.
"Simply
put, Cispa encourages some of our most successful internet companies to act as
government spies, sowing distrust of social media and chilling communications
in one segment of the world economy where Americans still lead."
The open
internet group EFF has warned that Cispa's broad wording could class many
routine internet activities, such as using encryption on emails or enabling
anonymity using a service called TOR, as potential threats. The act could also
indemnify companies acting for security purposes from civil and criminal liability,
including violating a user's privacy, provided these were not intentional, the
group warned.
Despite the
opposition, Mike Rogers, the chairman of the house intelligence committee and
primary sponsor of the bill, remains confident it will be passed by the House
of Representatives this week.
"I
feel pretty confident that we'll close out the bill," he told the Talking Points Memo blog on Monday. Rogers also reportedly told the site he was not
aware of a final stance from the Obama administration regarding his bill, and
said he had met with some advocacy groups and modified Cispa as a result.
"There's
some people who aren't interested in having any bill happen," Rogers told
TPM. "But we've had an open and transparent dialogue with everyone who has
chosen to engage with us, and there's been major progress made. This has
always been a collaborative effort."
Three other
cybersecurity-related bills are passing through the house this week – the Data
act, which creates more oversight on security of federal computer systems and
data; the Cybersecurity Enhancement Act, aimed at targeting federal
cybersecurity research, and a third computer research and design bill.
Related Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment