CISPA is back again. (Yes, again.)

Last evening we learned that Rep. Dutch Ruppersburger (D-MD) plans to again reintroduce the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) at the start of the 114th Congress.  Although it's impractical to speculate on the contents of the latest proposal without seeing its legislative language, if CISPA '15 simply is a mirror-image resubmission of last year's version (as I suspect it is) my previous comments about its shortcomings and controversies still remain relevant:

Springtime for CISPA (2014)

CISPA 2.0 Clears The House: Outcome Hazy  (2013)

CISPA, Redux (2013)

As I predicted the other day, the Sony incident (now absolutely positively confirmed by the FBI to be North Korea) is being used as a prominent rallying cry to justify why CISPA and its legislative ilk must be enacted -- and likely "as-is."  Nevertheless, the fear-mongering by prominent lawmakers in the new Congress already is underway with the usual sensationalist warnings about a so-called "digital Pearl Harbor" happening in the absence of any new legislative action.

With Congress not wanting to look weak on cybersecurity (and with the side benefit of rewarding its supporters in business) I suspect these controversial cybersecurity proposals will move through a single-party majority Congress fairly easily.  If so, will the President again threaten a veto, citing concern over civil liberties?

On a side note, for the new Congress, Ruppersburger was replaced as the ranking member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), a strong supporter of surveillance reform --- although his legislative district does include 'Hollywood.'  The new HPSCI chair is Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), someone not known for agreeing with those favoring surveillance reforms.

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