The IGDA commends the United States Senate for rejecting the U.S. House of Representatives version of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). We also commend President Obama for threatening to veto CISPA (PDF) in its current form.

We find the House version of the bill to be deeply flawed after it emerged from secret meetings of the House Intelligence Committee in which most of the pro-privacy amendments were rejected.

The U.S. Constitution guarantees protection from search and seizure without probable cause. CISPA strips away that bedrock privacy protection from our online information. If CISPA becomes law, online companies would no longer be allowed to respect the privacy commitments they have already made to customers both in the U.S. and around the world.

We understand that some companies in the video game and technology industries might be tempted to support this bill because CISPA enables them to evade liability. However, we urge all companies worldwide to respect their existing privacy policies and to respect their customers' rights by withdrawing support from CISPA and similar bills.

 

As the White House said, "Citizens have a right to know that corporations will be held accountable and not granted immunity for failing to safeguard personal information adequately."

 

We agree. "Any future version of CISPA or any future cyber-security bill to emerge from Congress must strengthen current privacy protections, not weaken them."

 

While CISPA appears dead a second time, it can still rise, zombie-like, to menace privacy again. You can help stop CISPA with this handy tool that takes just a minute to send your message to Congress and by joining the next Internet Blackout sponsored by the Internet Defense League.

more: IGDA Statement on CISPA, 16 April 2013