Members of the House of Representatives submitted a slew of amendments to CISPA this afternoon in an effort to address the concerns of many in the digital activist community, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Center for Democracy and Technology. The amendments aim to protect consumer privacy, restrict the amount of time that information may be retained by the government, and prevent data mining of information generated by the private sector for cybersecurity purposes, among other changes submitted by lawmakers.
The proposed amendments haven’t satisfied all concerns -- CDT released a statement following rumors that they had dropped their opposition to the bill, saying that although the potential changes are promising, the issues of flow of internet data directly to the NSA, as well as the use of information for purposes unrelated to cybersecurity still need to be addressed.
Engine dropped its formal opposition to CISPA after working with the House Permanent Select Committee to remove provisions dealing with intellectual property, which, as written, left open the potential for innovation-crippling abuses.
