The Department of Homeland Security has given some powerful ammunition to opponents of a new cybersecurity bill, admitting that the bill could trample some privacy protections for citizens.

Answering a query from Minnesota Senator Al Franken, the deputy secretary of Homeland Security admitted the bill “could sweep away important privacy protections” and that the proposed legislation “raises privacy and civil liberties concerns”.

The bill in question, the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, could reach the Senate floor as early as Wednesday.

The bill would allow private companies such as Experian, which tracks information from loyalty cards at businesses to track customer movements, to expand their reach.

Section 4 of CISA states: “[a] private entity may, for cybersecurity purposes, monitor A) the information systems of such a private entity; B) the information systems of another entity, upon written consent of such other entity […] and D) information that is stored on, processed by, or transiting the information systems monitored by the private entity under this paragraph.”

The bill was introduced by California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein who says the bill “incentivizes” the sharing of cybersecurity information.

“It responds to the massive and growing threat to national and economic security from cyber intrusion and attack, and seeks to improve the security of public and private computer networks by increasing awareness of threats and defenses,” Ms. Feinstein has stated about CISA.

Groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are calling on members to contact their Senators to vote against the bill, saying it is a violation of citizen’s rights.

One of the bill’s biggest opponents in the Senate is Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, who says the bill doesn’t promote cybersecurity but rather erases protections for many citizens.

“Right now, we are seeing the government is having trouble keeping its own data security,” Wyden told the Huffington Post. “But now Congress is setting up an arrangement where companies are going to hand over enormous amounts of additional private and personal information. That just doesn’t add up.”