Senate committee adopts cybersecurity bill opposed by NSA critics
Source: The Guardian
Senate committee adopts cybersecurity bill opposed by NSA critics
Spencer Ackerman in New York
theguardian.com, Tuesday 8 July 2014 23.17 BST
The Senate intelligence committee voted Tuesday to adopt a major cybersecurity bill that critics fear will give the National Security Agency even wider access to American data than it already has.
Observers said the bill, approved by a 12 to 3 vote in a meeting closed to the public, would face a difficult time passing the full Senate, considering both the shortened legislative calendar in an election year and the controversy surrounding surveillance.
But the bill is a priority of current and former NSA directors, who warn that private companies vulnerability to digital sabotage and economic data exfiltration will get worse without it.
Pushed by Dianne Feinstein and Saxby Chambliss, the California Democrat and Georgia Republican who lead the committee, the bill would remove legal obstacles that block firms from sharing information "in real time" about cyber-attacks and prevention or mitigation measures with one another and with the US government.
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jul/08/senate-cybersecurity-bill-opposed-by-nsa-critics