system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
What is CISPA?

I haven't been following the whole "cispa" deal at all. I know it involves a threat to internet security, and that most people think it's bad. Can someone ELI5?
gpt
Basically it allows companies to provide the federal government with data concerning "cybersecurity threats" without liability. Currently most large websites have a Privacy Policy which normally states that companies will not voluntarily share your data. If they did share your data, then you could likely successfully sue them. CISPA protects companies from lawsuits if they share data concerning "cybersecurity threats" with the federal government. So companies like Facebook and Google tend to like the bill because it shields them from liability.

Opponents of the bill note that it doesn't actually do a whole lot to increase cybersecurity protection--the government has always had the power to retrieve user data of suspected cybersecurity criminals with the appropriate warrants. CISPA only applies to companies voluntarily sending data to the government anyways. Also, they believe that cybersecurity is ill-defined in the bill and allows the government too much leeway with how the data is used. They think that companies shouldn't be able to share their information when they said that they wouldn't.