House to amend cybersecurity bill, privacy group sees 'good progress'

The authors of a House cybersecurity bill said they will offer several amendments to address the concerns of privacy groups. After the announcement of changes by authors Reps. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Dutch Ruppersberger (D-MD), the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), one of the leading groups campaigning against the bill, said it still has concerns but will "not oppose the process moving forward in the House."

"In sum, good progress has been made," CDT said in a statement. "The committee listened to our concerns and has made important privacy improvements and we applaud the committee for doing so." One amendment would tighten limitations on how the government can use the information it collects. The government would only be able to use the information to protect against a cyber attack, investigate cyber crime, protect national security, protect against theft or bodily harm or to protect minors from child pornography. CDT argued that the bill should be further amended to only allow the information to be used for cybersecurity purposes. The amendments would also narrow the definition of "cyber threat information" and would bar the federal government from retaining or using information beyond the explicit purposes of the bill. Another amendment would restrict the scope of the liability protections for companies that turn over data to the government.