The White House proposal to encourage businesses to share data with the government on “cyber threats” would make it easier for law enforcement and other agencies to collect private information on Americans.
President Obama announced his new Internet legislative proposal Tuesday, but privacy analysts warn it’s simply another CISPA-style government takeover of the Internet, including increased data collection, under the guise of “cybersecurity.”
“The status quo of overweening national security and law enforcement secrecy means that expanded information sharing poses a serious risk of transferring more personal information to intelligence and law enforcement agencies,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation revealed. “Given that the White House rightly criticized CISPA in 2013 for potentially facilitating the unnecessary transfer of personal information to the government or other private sector entities when sending cybersecurity threat data, we’re concerned that the Administration proposal will unintentionally legitimize the approach taken by these dangerous bills.”
The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act was a 2013 “cybersecurity” bill which granted private companies legal immunity for sharing private customer data with the government for “cybersecurity purposes,” and even though the bill stalled in Congress, Obama’s proposed Internet legislation is the spiritual successor of CISPA.
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