WASHINGTON — House Speaker John Boehner today defended a cybersecurity bill as a common-sense approach to stopping electronic attacks on critical infrastructure and companies, rejecting White House criticism that the measure could lead to invasion of Americans’ privacy.

“The White House believes the government ought to control the Internet, government ought to set standards, and government ought to take care of everything that’s needed for cybersecurity,” Boehner said. “They’re in a camp all by themselves.”

The Obama administration has threatened to veto the bill, which the House began considering today. The bipartisan bill would encourage corporations and the government to share information collected through the Internet to thwart attacks from foreign governments, terrorists and cybercriminals. The information sharing would be voluntary.

The administration argues that the bill falls short of preserving Americans’ privacy by failing to set security standards and broadly allowing liability protection for companies that share information. The administration wants the Homeland Security Department to have the primary role in overseeing domestic cybersecurity.

“Cybersecurity and privacy are not mutually exclusive,” the White House said.

Boehner argued that the bill is an appropriate first step that will allow communication while moving to prevent cyberterrorism.