Though the House was not expected to vote on the controversial CISPA legislation until tomorrow, lawmakers approved the bill late on Thursday by a vote of 248 to 168.
206 Republicans voted in favor of CISPA, as did 42 Democrats, while 28 Republicans and 140 Democrats voted against it. Fifteen members did not vote. The full vote tally is available on House.gov.
CISPA now moves to the Senate. The White House has already threatened to veto the bill.
Privacy groups swiftly condemned the move, but bill sponsor Mike Rogers said "America will be a little safer and our economy better protected from foreign cyber predators" thanks to the the Cyber Information Sharing & Protection Act.
CISPA would allow for voluntary information-sharing between private companies and the government in the event of a cyber attack. Backers argue that it's necessary to protect the U.S. against cyber attacks from countries like China and Iran, but opponents say that it would allow companies to easily hand over users' private information to the government.
House members debated the bill for several hours on Thursday, and offered up amendments that dealt with things like Freedom of Information (FOIA) requests, details about which agencies receive private cyber-security information, clarification on certain terms, and more.
During the debate, Rep. Jared Polis argued that the immunity clauses in CISPA would incentivize companies to hand over users' personal information, which could land in the hands of the military and the NSA.
Rep. Mac Thornberry, however, argued that the number of cyber threats have grown rapidly in recent years, but legislation has not kept pace. CISPA tries "to close that gap between the growing threat and laws and policies, [and is] a step in the right direction," he said.
Hurting or Helping?
Not everyone agreed. The ACLU said that "although serious, the scale of the threat from cyberattacks has been greatly exaggerated [and] no credible case has been made to support the top-down regulation of private network security."
The Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT), whose initial opposition prompted CISPA sponsors to alter the bill earlier this week, said it was pleased with those changes, but was still concerned with two issues: "the flow of information from the private sector directly to NSA and the use of that information for national security purposes unrelated to cybersecurity."
CTIA, the wireless industry trade association, however, applauded "the members of Congress who voted on this important piece of legislation that will help protect our nation's communications networks from cyber threats."
Co-sponsor Dutch Ruppersberger, meanwhile, said CISPA is a "victory for America. Our nation is one step closer to making a real difference protecting our country from a catastrophic cyber attack."
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