Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act

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Overview

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) is bill allowing technology and manufacturing companies to easily share Internet traffic information with various United States government agencies. The bill has been criticized by civil liberties groups as being a surveillance bill in disguise, claiming it would be an encroachment on privacy much like the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA).

Background

On July 10th, 2014, CISA was introduced during the 113th Congress, where it passed the Senate Intelligence Committee but did not reach a full senate vote prior to the end of the congressional season. On March 12th, 2015, the bill was reintroduced to the 114th Congress where it passed the Senate Intelligence Committee again. The bill was blocked after Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell attempted to attach it to an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act and was scheduled to be voted on separately in October.

Notable Developments

Online Reaction

On July 29th, 2015, the Electronic Frontier Foundation legislative analyst Mark Jaycox submitted an "ask me anything" post to provide information to help stop the bill to the /r/IAmA^[2] subreddit. In three months, the post received more than 6,800 votes (97% upvoted) and 900 comments. On September 29th, the site Decide the Future^[4] was launched by the civil rights nonprofit Fight for the Future to urge United States citizens to contact their congressional representatives to stop the bill (shown below).

DIAL 1-985-222-CISA TO STOP CISA This bill would put corporations above the law and let them share your data with the U.S. government The Senate is voting. Last chance to contact them. GILLIBRAND SCHUMER Email Congress to Stop CISA! Your name Email Street Address Zip SenGillibran SEND NOW @SenSchumer 202) 224-6542

On October 24th, Fight for the Future published a press release accusing Facebook^[5] of privately supporting the CISA bill. On October 26th, Fight for the Future submitted a post answering questions about the bill to the /r/IAmA^[1] subreddit, where they referred to CISA as "a surveillance bill in disgusie." Within 48 hours, the post gained over 7,000 votes (97% upvoted).

Passage

On October 27th, 2015, the Senate voted to pass the bill in a vote 74-21. The bill contained provision providing immunity to companies from lawsuits stemming from shared data. That day, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (who voted against the bill) posted a tweet^[3] stating that "our civil liberties and right to privacy shouldn't be the price we pay for security" (shown below).