This is one of the better analyses I've seen of CISPA. I'll save tptacek some time and quote liberally from the article:
"It's unclear why new legislation is needed to allow this kind of uncontroversial information sharing to occur. Network administrators and security researchers at private firms have shared threat information with one another for decades. And the law also allows information sharing between private firms and the government in many circumstances. For example, a private company is already free to notify the FBI if it detects an attempt to hack into its network."
[...]
"The "notwithstanding" approach to cybersecurity is fundamentally flawed because it's almost impossible to predict which parts of US law might be effectively changed by the new law, or to prevent unintended consequences from unduly broad sharing. It would be far better for Congress to figure out which specific privacy laws (if any) prevent effective network security responses and explicitly reform those provisions."
[...]
"Given the roaring success of the Internet's backlash against the Stop Online Piracy Act, CISPA opponents have an irresistable temptation to compare the two bills. Both bills represent attacks on the rights of Internet users, but the similarity largely ends there.
A better analogy is the 2008 FISA Amendment Act, which granted major telecommunications incumbents retroactive immunity for their participation in warrantless wiretapping and eliminated judicial oversight for a broad category of government surveillance. CISPA is likely to further erode the already weak legal restraints on government surveillance of Americans, and there's no meaningful judicial oversight of information shared under the "cyber threat" program."
"It's unclear why new legislation is needed to allow this kind of uncontroversial information sharing to occur. Network administrators and security researchers at private firms have shared threat information with one another for decades. And the law also allows information sharing between private firms and the government in many circumstances. For example, a private company is already free to notify the FBI if it detects an attempt to hack into its network."
[...]
"The "notwithstanding" approach to cybersecurity is fundamentally flawed because it's almost impossible to predict which parts of US law might be effectively changed by the new law, or to prevent unintended consequences from unduly broad sharing. It would be far better for Congress to figure out which specific privacy laws (if any) prevent effective network security responses and explicitly reform those provisions."
[...]
"Given the roaring success of the Internet's backlash against the Stop Online Piracy Act, CISPA opponents have an irresistable temptation to compare the two bills. Both bills represent attacks on the rights of Internet users, but the similarity largely ends there.
A better analogy is the 2008 FISA Amendment Act, which granted major telecommunications incumbents retroactive immunity for their participation in warrantless wiretapping and eliminated judicial oversight for a broad category of government surveillance. CISPA is likely to further erode the already weak legal restraints on government surveillance of Americans, and there's no meaningful judicial oversight of information shared under the "cyber threat" program."
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