CISPA passes House in unexpected last-minute vote
The House of Representatives has approved Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act with a vote count of 248-168. The bill is now headed for the Senate. President Barack Obama will be able to sign or cancel it pending Senate approval. - Initially slated to vote on the bill Friday, the House of Representatives decided to pass Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) Thursday after approving a number of amendments. Apart from cyber and national security purposes, the bill would now allow the government to use private information obtained through CISPA for the investigation and prosecution of “cybersecurity crime,” protection of individuals and the protection of children. The new clauses define “cybersecurity crime” as any crime involving network disruption or hacking.
The key difference between CISPA and the defunct SOPA/PIPA bills is that CISPA has support from a number of tech companies, including Microsoft, Intel, Facebook and others. (SoftWareArchiveNet)
Cyberwar Central: Why CISPA sucks and what you can do about it
Russia Today: ‘CISPA: Patriot Act for the web’ – Internet activist
Time/Techland: 5 Reasons the CISPA Cybersecurity Bill Should Be Have Been Tossed
Jason Ditz: ‘Cybersecurity Bill’ CISPA Broadened Then Passed Through House - Already subbed “SOPA 2” by many of its detractors for its broad language and its potential use to violate the privacy of individual Americans, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) was actually given even broader authority by an amendment today, then passed in a 248-168 vote. The bill nominally aimed to strengthen information sharing across the intelligence community, but also encourages them to collect data on American citizens that they believe might conceivably benefit national security.