A New Cybersecurity Bill Could Give the NSA Even More Data

Privacy groups are sounding the alarm that a new Senate cybersecurity bill could give the National Security Agency access to even more personal information of Americans.

The Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act would create a "gaping loophole in existing privacy law," the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and dozens of other privacy groups wrote in a letter to senators.

"Instead of reining in NSA surveillance, the bill would facilitate a vast flow of private communications data to the NSA," many of the same privacy groups warned in a second letter to lawmakers.

The goal of the bill, authored by Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein and ranking member Sen Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), is to allow the government and private sector to share more information about attacks on computer networks. Privacy groups are worried that the legislation could encourage a company such as Google to turn over vast batches of emails or other private data to the government.