Google hasn’t taken a public stance on the controversial cybersecurity bill known as CISPA, but the company has been quietly working behind the scenes to make the bill palatable to tech companies, said the bills’ sponsor, Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), in an interview with The Hill.
Rogers described Google’s role in revising the bill as follows: “They’ve been helpful and supportive of trying to find the right language in the bill.”
Rogers also said that Google was striving to protect Web user privacy while preventing tight regulation of the Internet, according to the Hill.
Although Google’s support for the bill has been inferred from its membership in various trade organizations that have expressed support for it, the company has yet to come out with a full endorsement, unlike Facebook, which has publicly backed the bill.
CISPA, which stands for the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, seeks to encourage intelligence agencies to share information about cybersecuity threats to private companies and vice versa, but removing liability for both sides. The bill has been criticized in recent days and compared to the widely-reviled Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). CISPA is scheduled to be introduced for debate and vote on the full floor of the House of Representatives the week of April 23.
