Privacy groups launch protest against cybersecurity bill

A coalition of Internet advocacy groups - including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), and Reporters Without Borders - launched "a week of Internet-wide protests" today, which calls on Web users to tweet their lawmakers with their opposition to the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 (CISPA).

Backers said the legislation would help improve cybersecurity by making it easier for ISPs and companies such as Facebook and Google to collect and share threat information with the government. What sparked the privacy worries is the section of CISPA that says "notwithstanding any other provision of law," companies may share information "with any other entity, including the federal government." It doesn't, however, require them to do so.

"We are deeply concerned about the information-sharing component of this bill," said Rainey Reitman activism director at the EFF. "Companies would be allowed to ship any kind of personal information to the government without any judicial oversight."

"Freedom of expression and the protection of online privacy are increasingly under threat in democratic countries, where a series of bills and draft laws is sacrificing them in the interests of national security or copyright," Reporters Without Borders said in a statement.

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