Press Releases

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene released the following statement regarding today’s vote on the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA):

“America needs a new, comprehensive effort to protect our nation, economy and the public from the emerging cyber threats we face. These laws must also strengthen both online privacy and our nation’s security.

“While I support the goals of this legislation, the CISPA bill voted on by the House today unfortunately does not offer necessary protections to safeguard Americans’ privacy and constitutional rights.

“I commend the good faith, bipartisan effort by my colleagues to draft effective legislation, but today’s bill still falls short. While the bill voted on today is an improvement from last year’s version, it ultimately fails to adequately protect civil liberties. It grants immunity to corporations that don’t protect the personal information of customers that they freely share with the federal government. This bill doesn’t do enough to prevent personally identifiable information or the private communications of individuals from being collected by federal agencies. This is inconsistent with our nation’s values regarding individual privacy.

“The public expects that their constitutional right to privacy is equal in cyberspace as it is in the physical world.

“Carefully updating our laws to allow both government and private companies to identify, prevent and respond to cyberattacks that can damage our nation’s infrastructure must be a national priority. I will continue to work toward comprehensive legislation that strengthens critical infrastructure, gives our federal agencies and law enforcement the tools to fight crime in the digital age and preserves individual privacy and online freedom.”