CISPA, a cybersecurity bill that opponents say tramples on online privacy, seems doomed to fail after the Senate decided not to consider the bill, and the White House announced President Obama wouldn't sign it.
The House passed the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act earlier in April, causing much consternation among privacy advocates, including the American Civil Liberties Union. Many tech companies, however, supported the bill, which would have been sheltered them from any liability for handing over personal data on their users to the government.
Microsoft, Facebook, AT&T, IBM, Apple, Intel, Oracle, Symantec and Verizon all supported the bill, and Google said it needed work but supported it in principle.
Amid the concerns, the Senate chose to look into its own alternative bills to increase cybersecurity, which most analysts agree is necessary, without sacrificing privacy.
"I think it's dead for now. CISPA is too controversial, it's too expansive, it's just not the same sort of program contemplated by the Senate last year. We're pleased to hear the Senate will probably pick up where it left off last year," said Michelle Richardson, legislative council with the ACLU.
"We are currently drafting a bipartisan information sharing bill and will proceed as soon as we come to an agreement," said Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
It's likely CISPA supporters will try again, though it's possible extra care will be taken in the future to safeguard consumer privacy, if only to prevent another failure in the Senate and a presidential veto.
This could become a regular cycle. Last year, the House also passed CISPA, and the Senate refused to consider it. When the Senate then drafted its own cybersecurity bill, House Republicans rejected it as too onerous for businesses.
There's no guarantee the exact same thing won't happen again, and in the meantime, the nation's infrastructure remains woefully vulnerable to cyber attacks. Hopefully lawmakers can draft legislation that protects both privacy and security soon.
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