EFF opposes CISPA on Hackers and Founders Panel

Yesterday, EFF participated in a panel discussion about CISPA moderated by CNET's Declan McCullagh and put on by Hackers and Founders. We were happy to have the opportunity to do so, and although we disagreed quite a bit with a key proponent of the bill, House Permanent Select Intelligence Committee staffer Jamil Jaffer, one area where we agreed is that more people should read the text of the bill. Let's not let this legislation rush through right when people are starting to question it—if Jamil and other staffers stand behind the bill, why not give it another week or two to let the public debate mature?

The fundamental problems with the bill are numerous. The language of the bill is too broad, and it's hard to know what information will actually be shared by private entities as a result of the bill, or what “cybersecurity systems” will do once they are enabled (if indeed they are different than what companies are doing already, an unknown). CISPA also grants sweeping immunity to companies to share information “notwithstanding any other provision of law,” and unsurprisingly has a fair amount of industry support as a result. McCullagh rightly called this a “wildcard" clause; it is a lazy way to encourage information sharing that does not adequately protect the civil liberties of Internet users in the United States.