White House pushes for privacy safeguards in cybersecurity bill

Senior administration officials stressed the importance of including strong privacy protections in cybersecurity legislation. Without adequate protections, "the companies that run the Internet would no longer be accountable to the laws that protect privacy" and could "disclose very broadly, private sensitive information to the government," one official said. The call for strong privacy protections came ahead of a House vote scheduled this week on the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). The officials declined to discuss specific legislation during the call, but the House bill has drawn heated opposition from civil liberties groups worried about how it would affect privacy.