Congress is currently considering HR 3523, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, a bill that purports to protect the United States from “cyber threats”. This legislation would create a gaping loophole in all existing privacy laws. If CISPA, as the bill is called, passes, companies could vacuum up huge swaths of data on everyday internet users and share it with government agencies without a court order.

Internet privacy groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation and Free Press say that CISPA uses dangerously vague language to define the breadth of data that can be shared with the government. It would hand the reins of America’s cybersecurity defenses to the National Security Agency and allow data shared with the government to be used for purposes unrelated to cybersecurity.

Corporations including Facebook and Microsoft say they support the bill; Facebook is coming under criticism from many of its users for doing so. The House plans to bring CISPA to a vote in the coming weeks.

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