would give private companies new ways to share information about cyber-threats with the U.S. government, and vice versa. Although its purpose is quite different from --the anti-piracy bills that were protested out of Congressional consideration last January--CISPA has angered many of the same opponents due to its promise of broad new powers for the government. (The use of a catchy acronym probably helps, too.)

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But is CISPA really as bad as its detractors are claiming? Read on for a full explanation

CISPA would allow the U.S. government and private companies to communicate more freely about cyber-security threat information. The intelligence community would be allowed to share threat details with private companies, and companies would be encouraged to share their own knowledge, though doing so would not be mandatory.