Key Vote NO on Cybersecurity Act of 2012

Dear FreedomWorks member,

As one of our million-plus members nationwide, I urge you to contact your senators and urge them to vote NO on S. 3414, the Cybersecurity Act of 2012. Introduced by Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Susan Collin (R-ME), the supposed intention of the bill is to prevent cyber attacks. While reducing the threat of cyber terrorism is a worthy goal, the bill in its current state is deeply flawed and would stifle innovation on the Internet.

The broad language in the bill leaves the door wide open for abuse. It would set up a new government bureaucracy called the National Cybersecurity Council to govern cybersecurity for “critical infrastructure” and it could encourage companies to share more of our private information with the federal government. This is problematic because it would allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to define what falls under the category of critical infrastructure. Since it is not known which industries fall under the DHS’s definition, it would essentially create a completely open-ended regulatory apparatus for internet security.

Rather than improving internet security, the multi-year process of creating government standards would halt private innovation in cybersecurity because no one wants to invest in something that may or may not meet government standards that have yet to be defined. Since the Congressional Budget Office has not vetted this bill, no one is quite sure how much it will cost to implement these burdensome regulations. Businesses could be dramatically impacted by the new costs imposed by the bill. Especially when the economy is so fragile, now is not the time to create more uncertainty in the private sector that could result in job losses.

I urge you to call your senators and ask them to vote NO on S. 3414, the Cybersecurity Act of 2012. We will count their vote as a KEY VOTE when calculating the FreedomWorks Economic Freedom Scorecard for 2012. The Economic Freedom Scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the Freedom Fighter Award, which recognizes members of Congress with voting records that support economic freedom.

Sincerely,

Matt Kibbe
President and CEO
FreedomWorks
[Click here for a PDF version of this key vote notice.]