cybersecurity EPIC v. NSA policy privacy
White House Threatens to Veto CISPA Unless Privacy Protections Improved
In a Statement of Administration Policy, the White House threaten to veto the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) unless more robust privacy and civil liberties protections are added and newly authorized information sharing goes through a civilian agency. EPIC joined a letter signed by a coalition of privacy and civil liberty organizations to urge the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence to open the markup process for CISPA. The markup for CISPA remained closed, and currently as drafted, CISPA would allow companies to disclose vast amounts of customer and client information to other companies and the government, including the National Security Agency, for "cybersecurity purposes." EPIC favors government transparency and is currently pursuing a lawsuit against the NSA stemming from a FOIA request for National Security Presidential Directive 54, which grants the NSA broad authority over computer networks in the United States. For more information, see EPIC: EPIC v. NSA - Cybersecurity Authority.