jurvetson/foter.com
The House of Representatives passed "cyberthreat information sharing" legislation known as CISPA this afternoon by a a vote of 288-127 with 29 Republicans joining 98 Democrats in voting no.
The legislation allows the federal government to collect data from private corporations, without a warrant and their privacy policies for users would no longer be legally enforceable. Justin Amash's proposed amendment to prevent that from happening failed earlier this week and is among the reasons (more regulations being another) cited by the White House when it issued a veto threat.
As it stands the legislation's privacy protection consists of the federal government taking "reasonable measures" to limit its own data collection.
Prior to its passage this afternoon, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, a primary sponsor of the legislation, framed it as a protection from intellectual property theft. "If you want to take a shot across China's bow, this is the answer," he told Congress just before it rejected a motion to recommit and then passed the bill.
The last time CISPA was in the Senate, it failed a cloture vote 52-46, as some clamor for it to be easier to pass legislation there.
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