WASHINGTON — The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, also known as the bill that wouldn’t die, or the “Zombie Bill,” may be getting a new lease on life.
After very public anti-privacy campaigns and a threatened veto from the president derailed the proposal, a bill that may strongly resembles it, aimed at beefing up U.S. cyber security threat information sharing between private companies and the government, may be reintroduced in the Senate. Supporters say U.S. national security is threatened by cybercrime and cyber espionage and fighting the threats requires sharing information to help shore up defenses.
The bill has been resurrected twice since it was proposed in 2011 by Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. The most recent activity was a passage in the House in April.
The goal of the bill is to make it easier for private companies to share information with the government and vice -versa — in real time — regarding potential cyber threats. Opponents fear the new legislation would give the government the authority to pluck people’s personal information without any obstruction.
However, panic over recent disclosures of the National Security Agency’s surveillance program involving millions of phone records and data locations of Americans stalled progress on the bill.
“I look forward to working with my Senate colleagues to get cyber threat information sharing legislation passed into law this year,” said Rogers, chairman of House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in a news release in April after the House 288-127 vote.
Last month, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Sen. Diane Feinstein, D-Calif., and top Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia said they’re close to introducing the Senate version of the CISPA bill. Chambliss has said that if the Senate passes it — it would most likely be merged with Rogers’ House version.
After the House passed the information-sharing bill in April, the White House said, “Senior advisers would recommend that he (President Barack Obama) veto the bill,” citing privacy concerns.
The new Senate bill is still being written, but Feinstein and Chambliss have said the language would be similar to the House bill, although the scope of the information that could be shared would be narrower.
According to a report by cyber security giant McAfee Inc. and the Washington Center for Strategic International Studies, the cost of cybercrime and cyber espionage to the U.S. could reach $100 billion annually.
“The Chinese are stealing information at an alarming rate,” said Rogers’ spokeswoman Kelsey Knight.
Steven Krisfalusy, managing partner of the Beringer Group, a small Ohio-based Internet security business, said the problem is massive and cyber espionage is the new frontier for terrorists.
“You don’t have to use a bomb anymore. You shut down a country’s power grid,” he said.
However, Krisfalusy said the information sharing bills are not the answer.
“I don’t see how they can make any guarantee that it’s going to stop this,” he said. “I don’t know if there is anything on the horizon to stop it for any long term.”
