Senate To Take Up Cybersecurity Bill

WASHINGTON – Today the Senate voted to take up the Cyber Security Act and will begin debating amendments next week.

The following statement can be attributed to Gregory T. Nojeim, CDT Senior Counsel.

“Now is the time for Senators to strengthen, not reverse, strong privacy protections in the cybersecurity bill. Senators should reject any amendments that would permit unfettered information sharing with the NSA – a military agency with little to no public accountability – as well as any amendment that would broaden the non-cybersecurity uses for which the government can use shared information. This will keep cybersecurity from becoming a backdoor wiretapping program.

“An amendment offered by Senators Al Franken and Rand Paul to remove overbroad authority for companies to monitor, block and modify customers’ private communications without appropriate limitations would fully address perhaps the most important remaining civil liberty issue in the bill,” Nojeim added. “CDT strongly urges Senators to support this bipartisan amendment.”