Declan McCullough of CNET details why the bill — which encourages private businesses to voluntarily share "cyberthreat information" with the U.S. government —has privacy advocates up in arms.

McCullough explains that the legislation "authorizes federal agencies to conduct warrantless searches of information they obtain from e-mail and Internet providers," meaning that allows government agencies to collect vast amounts of data from private companies.

Furthermore, the bill overrides existing privacy policies and wiretap laws, so the feds would be able to "compile a database of information shared by private companies and search that information for possible violations of hundreds, if not thousands, of criminal laws."