CISPA: Who’s for it, who’s against it and how it could affect you

With the House’s passage of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, the bill’s proponents and opponents on both sides of the aisle are gearing up for a fight over the legislation as it heads to the Senate. Here’s a quick look at who’s for CISPA, who’s against it and why.

Facebook, Microsoft, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Technology companies have lent their support to the bill because they say it provides a simple and effective way to share important cyber threat information with the government.

Gallery

Visa drops Global Payments after security breach: Credit card processor Global Payments said Visa had dropped it from a compliant providers registry after a security breach occurred. The breach could affect up to 1.5 million credit card numbers, Global Payments said. Global Payments, which also processes transactions for MasterCard, is to the latest to fall victim to a data breach. Here’s a look at some other financial institutions or holders of financial information that have fallen victim to some kind of breach.

Gallery

SOPA debate: Who’s involved and what are the stakes?: A look at the politicians, companies and lobbying groups involved in the dispute over the Stop Online Piracy Act.

“When one company detects an attack, sharing information about that attack promptly with other companies can help protect those other companies and their users from being victimized by the same attack,” said Facebook Vice President of Public Policy Joel Kaplan in a blog post. “Similarly, if the government learns of an intrusion or other attack, the more it can share about that attack with private companies (and the faster it can share the information), the better the protection for users and our systems.”

Technology associations: The technology industry is fully behind the bill, with associations such as Tech America, the Software & Information Industry Association, the Business Software Alliance and the Telecommunications Industry Association all applauding the House’s passage. The common thread through all of the statements issued by industry groups point to the fact that the bill allows companies to share vital information with the government without giving additional power to any part of it. An alternative bill in the Senate, co-sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), would grant that oversight to the Department of Homeland Security.

Bipartisan support, bipartisan dissent: The law was proposed by Reps. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) and Mike Rogers (R.-Mich.), and has had bipartisan support. While most of the bill’s most vocal supporters are Republicans, 28 Democrats joined with the majority to pass the bill.

“We can’t stand by and do nothing as U.S. companies are hemorrhaging from the cyber looting coming from nation states like China and Russia,” said Rogers in a statement. “America will be a little safer and our economy better protected from foreign cyber predators with this legislation.

There is also, however, bipartisan dissent on the bill. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) said in a statement Monday that “CISPA is Big Brother writ large, putting the resources of private industry to work for the nefarious purpose of spying on the American people.” And Rep Jared Polis (D-Colo.) made an impassioned speech against CISPA on the House floor, saying that the bill would “waive every single privacy law ever enacted.”

The American Civil Liberties Union: In a statement, Michelle Richardson, ACLU legislative counsel, said that “CISPA goes too far for little reason. Cybersecurity does not have to mean abdication of Americans’ online privacy. As we’ve seen repeatedly, once the government gets expansive national security authorities, there’s no going back. We encourage the Senate to let this horrible bill fade into obscurity.”