The U.S. House of Representatives has just tried to take a bite out of your online privacy (via ABC News):

CISPA: Cybersecurity Bill May Pit Online Safety Against Privacy

While all the focus was on SOPA and PIPA, the so-called Internet piracy bills in Congress, there’s a new piece of technology-related legislation that may prove to be just as controversial. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or CISPA, passed the U.S. House of Representatives late Thursday, and now heads to the Senate.

If enacted, it would increase the information that is shared between the government and technology companies, giving each protection to share confidential information with one another in the interest of warding off cyberthreats.

Previously, this hasn’t been the case — government information was classified and companies feared violating antitrust laws.

Truth is, the bill will have trouble getting through the Senate, and even if it does, Pres. Obama has promised to veto it.

Regardless, the left has contracted a full-blown case of the high-sterics:

Congress is on the cusp of passing a new bill that could threaten any internet user’s civil liberties. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, a digital equivalent of allowing the government to fight perceived threats by monitoring which books citizens check out from the library, passed the House yesterday and will now be taken up by the Senate.

Online advocates, fresh off their victory against the Stop Online Piracy Act, are now gearing up to oppose CISPA because of the disastrous effect the bill could have for private information on the internet. The bill’s opponents argue that it goes too far in the name of cybersecurity, endangering citizens’ personal online information by giving the government access to anything from users’ private emails to their browsing history.

File under: CISPA-boom-bah.

Originally posted on the Newer! Improveder! Sneak ADtack!