The Cybersecurity Act 2012 Reaches The Senate

August 2, 2012 by
Filed under: Announcements & Events, Legal P2P News & Issues 

The Cybersecurity Act is a legislation similar to CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act), and it seems to be doing great because it made its way through the American government faster than expected.

The first mentionable fact about CSA is that it has received various amendments, some of which have been applauded by the EFF as they can help with consumer privacy. However, they’ve also noted a controversy in the Section 701 of the act which could lead to some abuse of power from ISPs’ part in the sense that they would be able to ban proxy services.

As for CSA, its soon to reach debates in the US Senate, a report from The Hill informs:

The motion to proceed to the Cybersecurity Act was approved 84-11 after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) agreed to an open amendment process.

The bipartisan Cybersecurity Act, S. 3414, aims to protect the nation from cyberattacks against critical infrastructure such as the electrical grid, banking systems, transportation networks and others.

President Obama said Thursday that he supports the revised version of the bill introduced by Lieberman, but noted it lacked “some of the key provisions of earlier bills.

The mentioned key provisions are quite controversial as they can seriously affect the way law is applied.

In addition, FDL found this article in the New York Times which explains how military officials believe that cybersecurity threats are on the rise and CSA2012 is the most viable solution to counter them.

The question, however, is: are these fears regarding cyberwar real or just a way to cash in?

A May article by CIO explains by quoting H.L. Mencken:

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

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