The House of Representatives is scheduled to begin debating the Cyber Intelligence Sharing & Protection act on Thursday and put it up for a vote Friday, according to a spokesperson with the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

The cybersecurity bill, which would allow the federal government to share cybersecurity defense information with private companies, potentially in exchange for information about national security threats, has faced increasing opposition from Internet freedom groups. Those groups have argued that the bill is overly broad and would allow the Federal government to spy on ordinary Americans.

Sponsoring Rep. Mike Rogers, meanwhile, says the bill "isn't anything nefarious" and would allow companies to keep their innovations from being stolen from companies such as China.

An online petition opposing the bill has had more than 750,000 signatures as of 1:30 p.m. EDT Tuesday.