6 Things You Need to Know About the Government's New Spy Law (CISPA) | News & Politics | AlterNet

21.4.12

6 Things You Need to Know About the Government's New Spy Law (CISPA) | News & Politics | AlterNet: 1. CISPA would allow companies to share potentially sensitive customer data with each other in ways that would otherwise be inconsistent with current laws that protect consumer privacy, such as the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA). As the ACLU notes, “[h]ealth records, gun records, tax records, census data, educational records – essentially all information now protected under privacy laws carefully considered and passed by Congress over the past decades --would no longer have that protection as cybersecurity information if these bills are to become law." CISPA would also allow the government to require companies to share customer data without the warrant or subpoena that would be required under current law. The privacy rights of customers may be violated, in other words, without substantial evidence that they pose any kind of security threat.