Letter in Opposition to CISPA

Dear FreedomWorks member,

As one of our million-plus FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and tell him or her to vote NO on H.R. 624, the Cyber Information Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) in its present form. Unless there are proper amendments that address our privacy and civil liberty concerns with the bill, FreedomWorks will oppose CISPA.

CISPA would allow for more information sharing between the private sector and the federal government regarding cyber security. Although this year’s CISPA is a net improvement over last year’s bill, it still leaves open concerns about private information being shared in the name of national security. 

There are grave Fourth Amendment concerns with CISPA. The bill would override existing privacy laws to allow companies to share “cyber threat information” with the federal government without making any reasonable effort to strip out any personal information from the file.

Under CISPA, the government could be reading private emails or looking through a user’s Internet browsing history without a warrant. Users will have no way of knowing what has been shared since information provided under CISPA would be exempt from Freedom of Information requests. There is possibility that a company could—accidentally or intentionally—send your personal details to federal agencies. Companies would be protected from civil and criminal liability even if they make a bad decision that puts a user at unnecessary risk.

The new version of CISPA is an improvement from last year’s bill. However, it does not go far enough to protect the privacy of users. The House must debate this controversial measure under a broad and open amendment process. Until the remaining privacy concerns in the bill are addressed, FreedomWorks will oppose this bill.

Sincerely,

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