The drawbacks of The Cybersecurity Act Essay

The Cybersecurity Act (S. 2105) has compromised the main civil liberties of the American people with the aim of strengthening the cyber security. This is very important because the world has become connected through the internet and almost everything is done through this network. However, if the bill is implemented many people who use the internet will be denied some of their rights. As a result of this, it has received opposition from security experts, internet users and groups that deal with civil liberties. To begin with, the bill does not define cybersecurity threats in terms that can be understood by all institutions that require using the information. Thus many companies cannot share information with the federal government institutions because the language used is very vague. As a result of this, companies continue to illegally share private government information either intentionally or accidentally and whenever this is done, legal actions will not be taken to sue the companies. The opposers of this act claim that the information in this act should only deal with cybersecurity only. However there are some quotes in this act that stipulate that the information provided can be used for purposes that are not related to cyber security. The information can be used if any act relates to a crime committed in the present, past or in the future . This is against the constitution because the information can be used to detect future crimes which probably will not occur. This is very wrong because a person can be accused to be planning to commit a crime in the future based on what they do when they are using the internet. This act also fails to address the rights of internet users and is mainly concerned with those of the companies engaged in cyber security. If companies are to function through this act, they might overstep the authority given to them and end up violating the rights of internet users. In case they exaggerate the authority given to them, it can be very hard to sue the companies because they can claim that they are following the guidelines provided in this act. It will end up violating the rights of the internet user sued by the company because the company that sued will be seen as the one which is correct because they were preventing cyber security when they sued the internet. Therefore, the act does not address the rights of the internet users and the latter end up being violated. The act also fails to address the issue of communication of sensitive information. Should the act be enacted, sensitive information can be received by NSA, a military agent, and this is not allowed. Military agencies should not be allowed to participate in collecting data of the Americans. The act also fails to address what type of information should be shared with the government so that they ensure that the companies dealing with cyber security do not exaggerate or overstep the authority given to them.