According to Jerry Brito, a researcher at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, there are four competing bills because the two parties—and the two houses of Congress—disagree about how best to deal with online security issues. One point of controversy is over who will take the lead on the issue, the Department of Homeland Security or the National Security Agency. A bill by Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT), which would have given the leading role to DHS, was originally expected to pass easily through the Senate. But several Senate Republicans, led by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) were dissatisfied with the Lieberman bill and introduced competing legislation that envisioned a larger role for the NSA.
The ensuing partisan gridlock in the Senate created an opening for the House to act, and at least two pieces of legislation have been introduced in the lower chamber. The leading bill, by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), follows Senate Republicans in allowing sharing with the NSA. It focuses on facilitating information sharing, both between the government and the private sector, and between private network operators. It exempts "cyber-security" information-sharing from other legal restrictions, and it immunizes network providers from liability for failing to act on information they receive under the provisions of the act.
A competing bill sponsored by Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA), places stricter limits on which agencies can receive information and what they can do with it.
"Classic case of overreach"
Ars Technica asked Jim Dempsey of the Center for Democracy and Technology to evaluate the competing bills. He argued that all four bills go too far in allowing private companies broad authority to share information with the government. He said the Rogers and McCain bills, in particular, "allow private companies very broadly to share cyber-security information with the government," including the NSA.Activists fight "cyber-security" bill that would give NSA more data
