Civil liberties groups urge rejection of White House-supported cyber bill

A coalition of civil liberties groups urged the Senate to reject the White House's preferred cybersecurity bill, which is sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).

The American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and others warned that the Lieberman-Collins Cybersecurity Act would allow military spy agencies to gain access to people's personal information. The coalition also included free-market groups such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute, the American Conservative Union and Americans for Limited Government. The Lieberman-Collins bill gives the Homeland Security Department a central role in overseeing the flow of information, but the bill would still allow the Homeland Security Department to authorize spy agencies to collect civilian data. The groups criticized the bill for allowing the government to use the information for criminal investigations unrelated to cybersecurity. They also said the bill's immunity provisions are overly broad. "Therefore, we urge you to oppose S. 2105 in its current form and to support amendments to address each of these fundamental civil liberties issues," the groups wrote.