Senate Rightly Rejects Advancement of Cybersecurity Bill

Today, the Senate voted not to take up the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act under procedures that would have precluded privacy amendments.  The Senate is expected to consider the bill at a later date under procedures that would allow amendments. Greg Nojeim, the Director of CDT’s Freedom, Security and Technology Project, said:

“Senators are unwilling to be stampeded into voting up or down on a bill that emerged from a secret mark-up unless they are given a chance to offer amendments to fix it.”

The Senate bill is unique among the three pending cybersecurity information sharing bills because it would permit companies to share information derived from users’ internet communications directly with the NSA. CDT’s concerns with the bill are outlined in a one-pager.