Apple, who has long voiced opposition to the U.S. governments digital surveillance effort against the public, has publicly voiced opposition to the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, (CISA), just days before the bill is scheduled to go up for vote in the Senate.
Apple aligned itself with other tech companies opposing the act in a statement provided to The Washington Post, saying it has concerns that proposals such as CISA undermine the public’s basic right to privacy:
“We don’t support the current CISA proposal,” Apple said in a statement. “The trust of our customers means everything to us and we don’t believe security should come at the expense of their privacy.”
Apple joins other tech firms, including Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and Dropbox in coming out against the act. Other firms aligned against CISA include Yelp, Reddit, Twitter, and the Wikimedia Foundation.
The controversial act is intended to allow companies to share information on cybersecurity threats with one another and with the government. However, opponents assert that it puts personal privacy at risk by failing to provide protections for user privacy, and also for giving the government wide-ranging rights to collect private data from Americans, allegedly to shield them from hackers.
Dropbox says the bill needs more privacy protections in order to win its support.
“While it’s important for the public and private sector to share relevant data about emerging threats,” said Amber Cottle, head of Dropbox global public policy and government affairs, “that type of collaboration should not come at the expense of users’ privacy.”
Apple and its CEO Tim Cook have long been publicly against government efforts to gain access to their user’s data. The company introduced encryption in iOS 8 that it says even it cannot unlock.
The Post reports that CISA’s supporters estimate they have roughly 70 votes in the Senate, enough to approve the White House-backed legislation.
