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