White House threatens veto against CISPA, citing privacy concerns

The White House threatened to veto a cybersecurity bill the House will vote on this week, citing concerns it lacks vital privacy protections.

In a statement of Administration policy, the White House said it seeks additional improvements to the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). And it adds, "if the bill, as currently crafted, were presented to the president, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill." The White House listed a set of outstanding privacy concerns it has with the bill, many which have been voiced by privacy advocates in recent weeks. Among them, the White House noted that the bill does not include a measure that would require companies to take "reasonable steps to remove irrelevant personal information" from cyber threat data prior to sharing it with the government and other peers in the private sector. The White House also argued that "newly authorized information sharing for cybersecurity purposes from the private sector to the government should enter the government through a civilian agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)."