The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced a bill that will make it easier for private sector organizations to disclose information about cybersecurity threats to government agencies without fear of backlash, reports the International Business Times.
The bipartisan legislation would allow companies to report hacking activity to a civilian organization instead of the Department of Defense or NSA, although data would be doubly “scrubbed” to eliminate personal details contained therein.
In addition, the measure offers expand liability protection so companies feel more willing to voluntarily provide information about hacking incidents without fear of being sued.
The bill will be put to a committee vote, and if successful, would move to a vote in the House of Representatives. It’s expected to pass, even though critics have voiced numerous privacy concerns, such as heightened surveillance.
Democrats believe that they’ve addressed these concerns sufficiently, as the bill includes language forbidding the NSA from monitoring the activity of individual Americans. In addition, they assert that they’ve received favorable feedback from the business community.
The eventual fate of the bill seems to rest in President Obama’s hands. If he vetoes it due to privacy issues, lawmakers would have no choice but to wait until 2017 and try again.
Similar legislation is currently circling the Senate, as both chambers hope to move quickly on cyber security in the wake of recent incidents such as the Anthem breach.
