Lone Senate cyber critic more opposed than ever to bill

The lone opponent of a controversial Senate cybersecurity bill as it passed through committee is prouder than ever of his vote against the legislation.  

“The more I talk to people on the outside, the more convinced I am it was the right thing to do to vote against that legislation,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said at a Capitol Hill briefing on Thursday.

{mosads}“The reason why is that the bill was written so vaguely and so broadly that it will incentivize companies to share large volumes of their customers’ personal information with the government, even when it is not needed for cybersecurity purposes.”

Wyden, who has repeatedly warned that congressional cybersecurity efforts are more akin to “surveillance” than security, was the only member of the Intelligence Committee to vote against the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA) last month. 

The bill would allow private companies to share more information about possible digital weaknesses both with each other and with the government. Supporters say that would be a critical tool to make sure private and government networks aren’t blind to hackers trying to exploit their systems.

Critics like Wyden, however, worry that it would end up shuttling unnecessary amounts of Americans’ personal information to government outfits like the National Security Agency. 

On Thursday, he also raised fears about the different treatment it hands out for companies and for individuals. 

CISA has a “cyber double standard,” Wyden said, because people’s information can be used for non-cyber purposes — such as to aid law enforcement — but companies have liability from their information being used to hurt them.

“The imbalance here — where they have all the freedom and yet the information of the typical Americans is shared without protections — suggest to me that something is really out of line,” he said.