“Most of us spend seven-plus hours a day in a network environment in front of our computer and so we make all sorts of information available on the Internet. It’s an integral part of our everyday life. And of the information that’s being compromised, 95 percent of it is our personal information and it’s important that we take steps to protect that. And there are simple straightforward ways to do that which from our perspective and from the majority of the Congress’ perspective CISPA was a vehicle for doing just that.”

One fly in CISPA’s pie has been that the White House staff says it will recommend to President Obama that he veto the bill if it makes it to his desk. However, Garfield asserts that the recommendation was made regarding a prior version of the bill and not the amended version that was passed by the House of Representatives.

As for concerns about the bill giving the government free reign to get its hands on whatever data it convinces companies to give it, Garfield says that’s not a concern.

“In fact, there was an amendment in the bill that passed that makes clear that CISPA doesn’t enhance the power of the NSA or any other government agency to engage in the kinds of activity that Rainey’s talking about…For example, the bill sunsets in five years. It has a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act clause) so that those who want to find out the types of information that’s being shared can do so. It sets up the process which I don’t think has existed anywhere else where if the government misuses private information, it’s subject to liability for that misuse of information. “