US Senate Passes the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act 74-21 (dailydot.com)

blottsie writes with news that the U.S. Senate voted 74-21 in favor of CISA, a controversial cybersecurity bill. All five amendments submitted in an attempt to bolster privacy failed to pass. From The Guardian's coverage: Try asking the bill’s sponsors how the bill will prevent cyberattacks or force companies and governments to improve their defenses. They can’t answer. They will use buzzwords like “info-sharing” yet will conveniently ignore the fact that companies and the government can already share information with each other as is. There were barely any actual cybersecurity experts who were for the bill. A large group of respected computer scientists and engineers were against it. So were cyberlaw professors. Civil liberties groups uniformly opposed (and were appalled by) the bill. So did consumer groups. So did the vast majority of giant tech companies. Yet it still sailed through the Senate, mostly because lawmakers - many of whom can barely operate their own email - know hardly anything about the technology that they’re crafting legislation about.

Comments

Re:incorrect final sentence

[Anonymous Coward]

Exactly! The Senators who passed it very likely knew exactly what they are doing - appeasing their largest donors and extending the power of the government.

Re: Blaming ignorance is more credit than they des

[Anonymous Coward]

Disagree, I think it's completely relevant and on topic. The people writing these bills have absolutely no idea how the technology works, but are quite comfortable throwing away our privacy rights based on that. They are technophobic imbeciles who are driven by fear, and that's a scary thing because they have a lot of power. This is the perfect example because apparently NOBODY except the lawmakers wants this legislation, yet they don't care and vote based on their fear. It's very important that people realize the current set of lawmakers are almost entirely out of touch with modern technology, and that can have a massive stifling effect on our economy which a large portion of is based on this tech. We need young, new blood in these seats.