cispa

A new proposal would temporarily stop the federal government from pushing through bills and regulations on the Internet's content.

Recent attempts to regulate the Internet -- in the form of SOPA, PIPA, and CISPA -- are all dead in the water after failing in Congress. But the potential of poorly thought-out changes remains a reality.

U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) released a draft of the proposed bill, dubbed the "Internet American Moratorium Act 2012," to Project Madison on Monday. The crowdsourcing platform allows people to read and amend draft bills online, striking through text and adding … Read more

Sen. Joseph Lieberman spent years fighting unsuccessfully for a so-called Internet kill switch that would grant the president vast power over private networks during a "national cyberemergency."

Now Lieberman (I-Conn.), who did not seek re-election, is hoping a more modest version of his proposal will be approved before he leaves office in January. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has inserted the cybersecurity bill into the Senate's post-election calendar, and a vote could happen as early as this week after debate on a proposal to open more public land for hunting and fishing.

That move has reignited … Read more

Two Democratic senators are urging President Obama to direct his administration to publish "advisory" guidelines through an executive order on cybersecurity.

In a letter (PDF) sent to the White House today, Delaware's Christopher Coons and Connecticut's Richard Blumenthal say it's time for an executive order "directing the promulgation of voluntary standards" by the Department of Homeland Security.

It's hardly clear that the vast Homeland Security bureaucracy -- which has received plenty of failing cybersecurity grades from congressional overseers -- is best-equipped to advise the private sector on how to secure networks and … Read more

The FBI is asking Internet companies not to oppose a controversial proposal that would require firms, including Microsoft, Facebook, Yahoo, and Google, to build in backdoors for government surveillance.

In meetings with industry representatives, the White House, and U.S. senators, senior FBI officials argue the dramatic shift in communication from the telephone system to the Internet has made it far more difficult for agents to wiretap Americans suspected of illegal activities, CNET has learned.

The FBI general counsel's office has drafted a proposed law that the bureau claims is the best solution: requiring that social-networking Web sites and … Read more

Despite big name tech companies -- such as Facebook, Microsoft, and Oracle -- supporting the controversial Internet surveillance bill that passed in the House last week, Mozilla has come out against the legislation.

"While we wholeheartedly support a more secure Internet, CISPA has a broad and alarming reach that goes far beyond Internet security," the tech company wrote to Forbes reporter Andy Greenberg. "The bill infringes on our privacy, includes vague definitions of cybersecurity, and grants immunities to companies and government that are too broad around information misuse."

Mozilla is the first major tech company to … Read more

Microsoft is no longer as enthusiastic about a controversial cybersecurity bill that would allow Internet and telecommunications companies to divulge confidential customer information to the National Security Agency.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved CISPA by a 248 to 168 margin yesterday in spite of a presidential veto threat and warnings from some House members that the measure represented "Big Brother writ large." (See CNET's CISPA FAQ.)

In response to queries from CNET, Microsoft, which has long been viewed as a supporter of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, said this evening that any law … Read more

Every weekday afternoon, CNET Update delivers the top tech stories of the day. The show keeps a close eye on emerging trends, hot devices and new apps. And it's all in less than three minutes.

In today's show, Kindle is king, Google's got Zergs and gamers are gabbing:

Amazon had a stellar start to 2012 with it's Q1 earnings report outshining analyst predictions. And ComScore reports that there are more people using Kindle Fire tablets than any other Android tablet. (The Galaxy Tab family of tablets come in second.)

The controversial CISPA bill has been approved by the House … Read more

week in review A controversial Internet surveillance bill cleared its first hurdle to becoming law this week.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, rejecting increasingly vocal arguments from critics that it would do more to endanger Americans' privacy than aid cybersecurity. By a vote of 248 to 168, a bipartisan majority approved CISPA, which would permit Internet companies to hand over confidential customer records and communications to the National Security Agency and other portions of the U.S. government.

While a proposed amendment that would have formally granted the NSA … Read more

It took a debate that stretched to nearly seven hours, and votes on over a dozen amendments, but the U.S. House of Representatives finally approved the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act on April 26.

Passions flared on both sides before the final vote on CISPA, which cleared the House by a comfortable margin of 248 to 168.

CISPA would "waive every single privacy law ever enacted in the name of cybersecurity," Rep. Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat and onetime Web entrepreneur, said during the debate. "Allowing the military and NSA to spy on Americans on … Read more