Corporate SOPA opponents approve of CISPA

Those who believed that the tech industry opposed the now-"dead" anti-piracy bills SOPA and PIPA purely because they made for bad law might be confused by the industry's backing of a new law, CISPA, that's being called "the new SOPA." It isn't quite that, however. Big Tech is all for it.

That's because, unlike SOPA and PIPA, it absolves Internet companies of any responsibility or liability in the battle against Internet "security threats." The problem with CISPA -- the Cyberintelligence Sharing and Protection Act -- is that it could be interpreted in such a way that just about any online activity, including alleged piracy, could be considered a security threat. It must be noted that, unlike under SOPA or PIPA, Internet companies can refuse requests for information -- compliance is voluntary.