You Saw This Coming of the Day: CISPA Dies in Senate (Again)
It appears that the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protect Act (CISPA) will not be making its way to President Obama’s Oval Office anytime soon. Despite the passing of the bill in the House on April 17th, CISPA has been once again rejected and shelved by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation due to privacy concerns. The Obama administration had previously threatened to veto the bill if it were passed in its current form, citing the need for corporations to be “held accountable” for safeguarding citizen’s personal information.
ALRIGHT LISTEN UP!
SERIOUS BUSINESS RIGHT HERE!
CISPA just passed and is going to destroy everything!
Go to SitesNotSpies.org to sign up to join the protest and for further details.
It’s time to get pissed. The U.S. law that would turn Google, Facebook, and Twitter into legally immune government spies just passed the House.
This bill affects everyone — not just U.S. citizens. Anyone with a Facebook account could now have their data shipped directly to the U.S. government. That’s why Internet users overwhelmingly oppose this bill. Over 1.5 million people signed petitions against it. But Congress didn’t listen.
Does this remind you of something? Yep, this is the exact position we were in with SOPA last year. Then the Internet rose up and we made history with the SOPA strike.
CISPA threatens our most basic rights. Privacy is important not just for our security but for our rights to freedom of expression. The giant tech companies that stood with Internet users against SOPA are not going to help us this time (but some of the large sites like Mozilla, Imgur, and Reddit are all against CISPA and we love them).
Share this flyer, and tell everyone you know to sign up to join the protest!
Do you remember SOPA? The bill that would give government the right to spy on internet activity without warrant, and let them censor “unwanted” sites by blocking people’s access to them?
Meet its twin. But this time it’s all the more frightening; the House has passed it despite Obama’s threats to veto. And by an alarmingly large margin, at that. CISPA threatens the US constitution’s guarantees of due privacy and free speech, permitting any government agency to access and transfer of vast amounts of data- from internet records to even the content of personal e-mails, and all without obtaining a warrant.
What’s even more disgusting than this bill actually making through the House is some of the arguments used to help it’s passage, and comments made by one of the bill’s biggest supporters admitting the bill helps big business while insulting opposers (whose is also speculated to have personal reasons for wanting CISPA made into law).
This threatens every element of your online presence. From personal emails to general activity, any government agency will have the ability to go fishing without consequence.
Please, PLEASE, sign the following petitions. You don’t even have to be a US citizen to sign most of them or act against CISPA, and please keep in mind that if this shit flies in America, who knows what country might use its example to do it, too.
Petition: Avaaz: Save the Internet from the US
(you don’t have to be a US citizen to sign this)Petition: Sites Not Spies
(you don’t have to be a US citizen to sign this)Petition: CISPA is Back: Write Congress
Petition: Tell Mike Rogers more that 14-year-olds oppose CISPA
(you don’t have to be a US citizen to sign this)Twitter: Tweet @RepMikeRogers with your age
Twitter: Tweet @BarackObama and tell him to veto CISPA
Twitter: Tweet reps like @RepDelBene, @GovHankJohnson, @KeithEllison and @GovGaryJohnson and thanks them for acting against CISPA. Look for other reps that have spoken against it, and thank them.Call your reps: and tell them you strongly oppose the bill. You can look up your reps using the form on the lower portion of this page.
Resource: Fight for the Future
Reblog: This and other posts like it to raise awareness of this threat to internet freedom and privacy.
I will be posting more petitions and resources as I become aware of them.
(( I’m so fucking angry right now ))
Hey everyone, remember the nightmare that was SOPA and PIPA? IT’S NOT OVER!
Reports say that lawmakers will vote on the bill as early as Wednesday, April 25th or Thursday, April 26th. It isn’t looking very good. It is of utmost importance that you contact your local representatives to tell them that you do not agree with this bill and they shouldn’t either. Make your voice heard. Don’t let this happen.Want to learn more about CISPA? Check out the EFF’s Cybersecurity Bill FAQ.
Don’t know who your representatives are? Just use this.
It takes maybe five minutes of your time to do this — make the effort. It will certainly be worth it.
GUYS. WE REALLY SHOULD CARE ABOUT THIS. LET’S GET ON THIS SHIT.
Sorry guys to make you feel scared but we need to stand up again !
Well that can’t be good…
If this one passes then on the day it is enacted, everyone should type their most boring stories and send them to a friend who, in return, will send one back.
CISPA Replaces SOPA As Internet’s Enemy No. 1 (Must Read)
The Internet has a new enemy. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act of 2011 (CISPA), also known as H.R. 3523, is a “cybersecurity” bill in the House of Representatives. While CISPA does not focus primarily on intellectual property (though that’s in there, too), critics say the problems with the bill run just as deep.
As with SOPA and PIPA, the first main concern about CISPA is its “broad language,” which critics fear allows the legislation to be interpreted in ways that could infringe on our civil liberties. The Center for Democracy and Technology sums up the problems with CISPA this way:
• The bill has a very broad, almost unlimited definition of the information that can be shared with government agencies notwithstanding privacy and other laws;
• The bill is likely to lead to expansion of the government’s role in the monitoring of private communications as a result of this sharing;
• It is likely to shift control of government cybersecurity efforts from civilian agencies to the military;
• Once the information is shared with the government, it wouldn’t have to be used for cybesecurity, but could instead be used for any purpose that is not specifically prohibited.The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) adds that CISPA’s definition of “cybersecurity” is so broad that “it leaves the door open to censor any speech that a company believes would ‘degrade the network.’”
Moreover, the inclusion of “intellectual property” means that companies and the government would have “new powers to monitor and censor communications for copyright infringement.”
Furthermore, critics warn that CISPA gives private companies the ability to collect and share information about their customers or users with immunity — meaning we cannot sue them for doing so, and they cannot be charged with any crimes.
According to the EFF, CISPA “effectively creates a ‘cybersecurity’ exemption to all existing laws.”
“There are almost no restrictions on what can be collected and how it can be used, provided a company can claim it was motivated by ‘cybersecurity purposes.’” the EFF continues.
“That means a company like Google, Facebook, Twitter, or AT&T could intercept your emails and text messages, send copies to one another and to the government, and modify those communications or prevent them from reaching their destination if it fits into their plan to stop cybersecurity threats.”
Read the full text of CISPA here, or the full official summary at the bottom of this page.
SIGN THE PETITION TO SAVE THE INTERNET FROM CISPA
