Cybersecurity bill divides business community
The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act would make it easier for companies to share information with the government to prevent cyber attacks.
The bill would protect companies from lawsuits and make it easier for them to share information with the federal government.
“We’re all interconnected,” said Jason Kratovil, a vice president of the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents banks and credit card companies in Washington. “And it just makes smart sense when we’re dealing with very, very sophisticated cyber threats to try to find a way to work cooperatively.”
But privacy advocates say the cybersecurity bill would allow massive amounts of data to be shipped to the government, without strong enough requirements that personal information be stripped out first.
“Sharing information without robust privacy standards — that is not a cybersecurity bill, it is a surveillance bill,” said Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden from Oregon.
Two tech trade groups recently announced their opposition to the legislation. They’re facing off against banks and retailers who believe the cybersecurity bill would help them keep hackers away.
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