Just what is it about our privacy rights that Congress doesn't get? First they proposed SOPA and PIPA, a draconian law that would make us afraid to download anything. After a lot of drum beating and petitions progressives managed to kill it.
Now, under the guise of national security the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) tries to use our paranoia about national security to kill our online privacy.
More below the fold.
At least this is the opinion of Robert X. Cringely, not a real person but a pseudonym for whoever at infoworld.com is currently writing under the alias. Wrap an American flag around this fetid legislation and maybe we will salute it. Good grief.
http://www.infoworld.com/...
Thanks to vague and overbroad language, CISPA as it currently stands would apply to any "theft or misappropriation of private or government information, intellectual property, or personally identifiable information" -- way beyond what might logically constitute a threat against this nation.
In other words, CISPA could be used to shut down sites that have published classified information (like WikiLeaks or the New York Times), as well as prosecute individuals for sharing copyrighted content or blowing the whistle on corrupt organizations.
It gets worse:
According to CISPA, Uncle Sam could enlist the help of your ISP, wireless carrier, Google, Facebook, or any other private entity to identify cyber threats, and you wouldn't be able to sue these entities for violating your privacy so long as they acted "in good faith."
Oh, but there will be oversight, maybe, if the president can ever get the Senate to approve his members to a board called PACLOB:
Your only protections against abuse: yearly audits by the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. What, you've never heard of the PACLOB? That may be because its five slots have been empty since 2008, following accusations of White House censorship. Over the last two years, President Obama nominated candidates to fill each of those slots, but they have yet to be approved by the Senate.
What can you do? Hoot and holler as usual, but the powers that be are hoping the SOPA fight wore you out. Please get busy. Start by using the
Electronic Frontier Foundation's web page to ask your congress critter to vote against this turd.
Spread the word. Eternal vigilence is needed not only by those who support gun rights, but by those of us who value our electronic privacy as well.