Follow-Up of the Day: Facebook Defends Its Support of CISPA

Prompted by widespread Internet outcry against Facebook's support of CISPA, Joel Kaplan, the site's VP of U.S. Public Policy, has taken to the Facebook blog to defend his company's position, exlaining the difference between SOPA and CISPA and why the latter would help protect Facebook.

"One challenge we and other companies have had is in our ability to share information with each other about cyber attacks. When one company detects an attack, sharing information about that attack promptly with other companies can help protect those other companies and their users from being victimized by the same attack," Kaplan writes. "Similarly, if the government learns of an intrusion or other attack, the more it can share about that attack with private companies (and the faster it can share the information), the better the protection for users and our systems."

Kaplan made sure to address Facebook users' worries about privacy: "The concern is that companies will share sensitive personal information with the government in the name of protecting cybersecurity. Facebook has no intention of doing this." CISPA will likely go to a full vote on the House floor later this month. [mashable]