House should kill cybersecurity bill

[Commentary] When political polar opposites like Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX) are both arguing against a piece of legislation, you know it must have serious problems. The bill before the House is the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, known as CISPA. It has the best of intentions, to bolster the nation's defense against the very real threat of cyberattacks. But Democrat Lofgren is right when she argues it gives the government far too much access to the online data of every American Internet user. Paul's criticism goes even further, saying it makes "government spies" of companies such as Google and Facebook. He says it would allow them to share all kinds of information with the government, including members' emails, the websites they visit and the medical, educational and financial records they may have online. A House vote is scheduled April 27. Congress needs to kill this bill and start over. When it does, it should include Rep Lofgren or someone like her to help write it with the privacy interests of America's Internet users in mind.