Cybersecurity Bill CISA Passes in Senate

The US Senate easily passed a controversial cybersecurity bill on Tuesday that aims to boost cyber defenses in the country and facilitate information sharing between companies and the government on matters relating to cybersecurity. However, critics have argued that the legislation will authorize the government to get its hands on sensitive personal data unrestrained.

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) cleared the Senate on a 74-21 vote. The White House also announced its support for the bill last week, although it sees some revisions to be made before it can be presented to the President, Reuters reported.

However, several tech companies such as Apple, Twitter and trade associations are against the bill. They argue that that it does not contain adequate protections to ensure data privacy and could intensify government surveillance.

“We don’t support the current CISA proposal,” Apple said in an unattributed statement last week. “The trust of our customers means everything to us and we don’t believe security should come at the expense of their privacy.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, on the other hand, has come out in support of the bill as it considers it as a crucial step to help protect networks from cybercriminals after years of futile attempts by Congress to pass cybersecurity legislation, US News reported.

“The legislation passed by the Senate today bolsters our cyber defenses by providing the liability protections needed to encourage the voluntary sharing of cyber threat information,” the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) said in a statement. “We applaud the Senate for moving this important bill and urge Congressional leaders to act quickly to send this bill to the president’s desk.”