ACLU: CISPA Is Dead (For Now)

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) is all but dead, again.

The controversial cybersecurity bill, which passed the House of Representatives last week, will almost certainly be shelved by the Senate, according to a representative of the Senate Commerce Committee. "We're not taking [CISPA] up," the committee representative said. "Staff and senators are divvying up the issues and the key provisions everyone agrees would need to be handled if we're going to strengthen cybersecurity. They'll be drafting separate bills." Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), chairman of the committee, said the passage of cybersecurity legislation is "important," but said the bill's "privacy protections are insufficient." That, coupled with the fact that President Barack Obama has threatened to veto the bill, has even CISPA's staunchest opponents, such as the American Civil Liberties Union, ready to bury CISPA and focus on future legislation.

"I think it's dead for now," says Michelle Richardson, legislative council with the ACLU. "CISPA is too controversial, it's too expansive, it's just not the same sort of program contemplated by the Senate last year. We're pleased to hear the Senate will probably pick up where it left off last year."