Apple and Dropbox are the latest two tech firms to come out and state their opposition to the CISA bill over in the US.
CISA (Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act) is a proposed law which aims to allow the sharing of information concerning internet traffic between the US government and tech companies, to allow the former to deal with potential security threats – but it rides roughshod over privacy rights.
The Washington Post reports that in a statement, Apple said: "We don't support the current CISA proposal. The trust of our customers means everything to us and we don't believe security should come at the expense of their privacy."
Dropbox also felt the bill needed more protection of privacy rights built in, and noted that this "type of collaboration should not come at the expense of users' privacy."
The US Senate will vote on the surveillance bill imminently, and it could be passed this week.
Team Internet vs Team NSA
Internet activist organisation Fight for the Future just published a poll (spotted by the Guardian) which shows that no less than 23 tech firms now stand against CISA, including Apple and Dropbox, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Oracle, Dell, eBay, Yahoo, Twitter, Salesforce, Wikipedia and others.
It calls those companies 'Team Internet', and also lists tech firms which are part of 'Team NSA', those surveyed that agreed with the government and failed to oppose CISA. They include Intel, IBM, Cisco, HP, AT&T, Verizon and LinkedIn.
Those who support the legislation in the Senate currently believe they have around 70 votes, which would be enough to give the bill the green light. We probably won't have to wait long to find out whether it will be passed, but you can expect some considerable uproar if that turns out to be the case.
