CISPA is (practically) dead, says Senate representative

There’s finally some good news for CISPA opponents: according to a representative of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, the Senate is unlikely to pass the controversial act.

“We’re not taking [CISPA] up,” the committee representative said to U.S. News. “Staff and senators are divvying up the issues and the key provisions everyone agrees would need to be handled if we’re going to strengthen cybersecurity. They’ll be drafting separate bills.”

The senators’ ultimate decision will also be surely influenced by President Obama’s announcement that he will veto the bill in case they passed it.

“CISPA is too controversial, it’s too expansive, it’s just not the same sort of program contemplated by the Senate last year. We’re pleased to hear the Senate will probably pick up where it left off last year,” Michelle Richardson, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), commented the news.

Still, privacy advocates shouldn’t get too complacent. “We need to be vigilant as the year moves on to make sure that whatever the next product is, it’s not CISPA-lite,” she says.

According to insiders, a new proposed cybersecurity bill might take some time to reach the Senate floor, as the senators are currently more preoccupied with other issues.