CISA authors lash out at “knee jerk” critics
The sponsors of CISA, the controversial Senate cyberthreat information sharing bill, lashed out at critics of their legislation Friday, in the wake of another major consumer credit breach.
In a statement about the T-Mobile/Experian breach, Sens. Richard Burr, R-N.C. and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif, respectively the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, accused the bill’s critics of a “knee-jerk reaction.”
“Despite strong bipartisan support in the committee and the Senate, and support from the administration and the business community, there are some groups that are opposing the bill out of a knee-jerk reaction against any communication between the government and industry. If these special interest groups are successful in mischaracterizing this bill, which authorizes purely voluntary sharing, they will only succeed in allowing more personal information to be compromised to criminals and foreign countries,” the senators said.
They said CISA, two versions of which have already passed the House, “includes strong commitments to personal privacy” and stressed that its provisions were “entirely voluntary.”
The bill has stalled in the Senate owing to opposition from privacy mavens and a crowded timetable.
