Congressman Mike Rogers is retiring, & that’s great news for the Internet

Privacy advocates are undoubtedly pleased with today’s announcement that U.S. Representative Mike Rogers (R-Mich.) has decided to retire from Congress in 2015.

Rogers is chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and is responsible for authoring the controversial Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), which sought to create a legal method through which private companies and government agencies could share information about cyber security threats. Ultimately, that bill was defeated after an outcry from both President Obama and privacy advocates that warned CISPA sacrificed too many personal privacy rights (among other concerns).

Rogers is also the congressman who publicly bragged about taking in campaign funding from large corporations for his support of CISPA and who wrongfully stated on more than one occasion that there weren’t any companies that opposed the controversial CISPA bill. The congressman was also a staunch supporter of the NSA, its program of collecting private phone call data. He was also a supporter of the security agency’s stance against whistle blower Edward Snowden.

Rogers, who was first elected in 2000, said he plans to take on a new job as a conservative talk radio host once he concludes his current term in Congress.

Via Mlive