CISPA cybersecurity bill 'not being rushed through'
A senior U.S. House of Representatives aide said at an event held this evening at CNET's headquarters that he was astonished by the recent groundswell of opposition to a cybersecurity bill expected to be voted on next week.
"I'm really astounded to keep hearing this drumbeat that it's vague," Jamil Jaffer, senior counsel to the House Intelligence Committee, said during a roundtable on the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA (PDF), moderated by CNET chief political correspondent Declan McCullagh.
Jaffer said that CISPA's critics -- who have gathered nearly 700,000 signatures on a petition opposing it -- are ignoring its broad bipartisan support, including a 17 to 1 committee vote last December in favor of the bill along with 112 co-sponsors. CISPA opponents, which include the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU, say the measure is being "rushed through," said Jaffer, who appeared from Washington through a Google Hangout. "I can't disagree with that more."
