Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. PAUL. Mr. President, this cyber security bill attempts to enhance security for transactions on the Internet but I think actually weakens privacy in the process. The bill would grant legal immunity to companies that, in sharing information, actually violate your privacy.

Most companies have a privacy agreement. You see it when you get on the Internet. It is supposed to guarantee that your information, individual choices, and consumer choices on the Internet are not revealed to anyone. This bill says that if the company violates it in sharing your information, there will be legal immunity for that company. I think that weakens privacy. It makes the privacy agreement not really worth the paper it is written on.

I think privacy is of great concern to Americans. The government doesn't have a very good record with privacy. In the news today, a teenager is now reading the email of the CIA Director. It doesn't sound as though the government is very good at protecting privacy. I am not really excited about letting them have more information.

The government revealed 20 million individual records of their employees, private records of their employees. This is the same government that now says: Trust us, and let's give everybody involved immunity so the consumer has no recourse if their privacy is breached. This is the same government that allowed the ObamaCare Web site to be hacked and looked at. This is a government that doesn't have a lot of concern or ability to protect privacy. We are now asked to entrust this government with volumes and volumes of personal information sent across the vastness of the Internet. There is good reason that many of our largest technological companies oppose this legislation.

My amendment will give companies and Internet users clarity on what information is shared with the government, and it will protect the privacy agreement.

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