Last week, the Senate passed the controversial cybersecurity bill known as CISA with a vote of 74-21, with the remaining 5 taking a neutral stance.
The bill, if passed, will allow and encourage companies to share user and customer information with the government in an attempt to combat cybercrime. Opponents of the bill view it as an enormous loophole giving the government another opportunity to spy on the public while doing relatively little to thwart actual cybersecurity threats.
Cybersecurity and surveillance are both huge topics of concern for citizens and government officials alike. Hacking and leaking private information is on the rise. As the below graphic shows, the first four months of 2014 had over 100,000,000 more private records lost or stolen than in all of 2013.
Major security breaches to Sony, T-Mobile, Target, Adobe, Snapchat, Yahoo, and others have put customer and employee information in the hands of unknown hackers as well as the public. It goes without saying that measures need to be taken to prevent this trend from continuing, but many would like this to be done without sharing this information with government agencies instead.
(Image by University of Cincinnati)
“CISA allows private companies to immediately share a perfect record of your private activities,” explains former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who infamously leaked classified information on the NSA’s surveillance practices. “And the government reward for doing it by granting them a special form of legal immunity for their cooperation.”
Snowden isn’t alone in his view. Activist organizations such as Demand Progress and Fight for the Future have been rallying against CISA and related bills for years now. Tech companies like Apple and Dropbox as well as the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which represents Google, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, eBay, Microsoft, PayPal, and more, have publicly spoken out against the bill
Despite disagreeing with the possible surveillance loophole, CISA’s opponents do acknowledge a need for something to be done about cybersecurity.
The Internet Society published a white paper titled Collaborative Security that details an alternative plan to protect data without compromising privacy. It suggests that no one organization is responsible or even capable of handling all the issues under the cybersecurity umbrella, and puts the Internet’s safekeeping in everybody’s hands.
“Everyone has a collective responsibility for the security of the Internet,” the paper explains, “Multistakeholder cross-border collaboration is an essential component.”
The true effects of CISA will only be known if it is combined with two similar bills that have already passed in the House of Representatives and is signed by President Obama. In the meantime, take a look at who voted for or against the bill below:
Alexander (R-TN), Yea
Ayotte (R-NH), Yea
Baldwin (D-WI), Nay
Barrasso (R-WY), Yea
Bennet (D-CO), Yea
Blumenthal (D-CT), Yea
Blunt (R-MO), Yea
Booker (D-NJ), Nay
Boozman (R-AR), Yea
Boxer (D-CA), Yea
Brown (D-OH), Nay
Burr (R-NC), Yea
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Capito (R-WV), Yea
Cardin (D-MD), Nay
Carper (D-DE), Yea
Casey (D-PA), Yea
Cassidy (R-LA), Yea
Coats (R-IN), Yea
Cochran (R-MS), Yea
Collins (R-ME), Yea
Coons (D-DE), Nay
Corker (R-TN), Yea
Cornyn (R-TX), Yea
Cotton (R-AR), Yea
Crapo (R-ID), Nay
Cruz (R-TX), Not Voting
Daines (R-MT), Nay
Donnelly (D-IN), Yea
Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Enzi (R-WY), Yea
Ernst (R-IA), Yea
Feinstein (D-CA), Yea
Fischer (R-NE), Yea
Flake (R-AZ), Yea
Franken (D-MN), Nay
Gardner (R-CO), Yea
Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea
Graham (R-SC), Not Voting
Grassley (R-IA), Yea
Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Heinrich (D-NM), Yea
Heitkamp (D-ND), Yea
Heller (R-NV), Nay
Hirono (D-HI), Yea
Hoeven (R-ND), Yea
Inhofe (R-OK), Yea
Isakson (R-GA), Yea
Johnson (R-WI), Yea
Kaine (D-VA), Yea
King (I-ME), Yea
Kirk (R-IL), Yea
Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Lankford (R-OK), Yea
Leahy (D-VT), Nay
Lee (R-UT), Nay
Manchin (D-WV), Yea
Markey (D-MA), Nay
McCain (R-AZ), Yea
McCaskill (D-MO), Yea
McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Menendez (D-NJ), Nay
Merkley (D-OR), Nay
Mikulski (D-MD), Yea
Moran (R-KS), Yea
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Murphy (D-CT), Yea
Murray (D-WA), Yea
Nelson (D-FL), Yea
Paul (R-KY), Not Voting
Perdue (R-GA), Yea
Peters (D-MI), Yea
Portman (R-OH), Yea
Reed (D-RI), Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea
Risch (R-ID), Nay
Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Rounds (R-SD), Yea
Rubio (R-FL), Not Voting
Sanders (I-VT), Nay
Sasse (R-NE), Yea
Schatz (D-HI), Yea
Schumer (D-NY), Yea
Scott (R-SC), Yea
Sessions (R-AL), Yea
Shaheen (D-NH), Yea
Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Sullivan (R-AK), Nay
Tester (D-MT), Nay
Thune (R-SD), Yea
Tillis (R-NC), Yea
Toomey (R-PA), Yea
Udall (D-NM), Nay
Vitter (R-LA), Not Voting
Warner (D-VA), Yea
Warren (D-MA), Nay
Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
Wicker (R-MS), Yea
Wyden (D-OR), Nay
How did your senators vote?
Photo Credit: Peter Gudella / shutterstock.com