US Rep. Ron Barber Votes for Much-Needed Cyber Security Protections

Press Release

U.S. Rep. Ron Barber today joined with a broad bipartisan majority in the House to pass legislation to implement necessary information sharing measures to combat cyber threats on U.S. businesses.

"Every day our national security and our economy are threatened by cyber attacks," Barber said today. "This legislation will give American companies the information they need to better protect their networks and their customers from these dangerous cyber threats. This is an important first step in protecting our nation's critical cyber security networks."

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) allows for information sharing about cyber threats between the intelligence community and approved U.S. businesses to help businesses better protect their own networks and their customers. Today the House approved the legislation with strong bipartisan support 288-to-127.

Barber also supported several amendments to strengthen the privacy protections in the legislation. The amendments limited the ability for government agencies to obtain and use personally identifiable information.

"We have a responsibility to protect the constitutional privacy rights of all Americans," Barber said, "That's why I supported commonsense amendments to provide additional oversight to the sharing of cyber threat information and make sure that privacy is protected and sensitive personal information is not allowed to be exchanged."

The legislation had broad support from private sector industries who would have additional tools to protect their networks and customers under the legislation, including banks and telecommunications companies and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

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