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Showing posts with label CISPA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CISPA. Show all posts

Friday, May 18, 2012

Insanity: CISPA Just Got Way Worse, And Then Passed On Rushed Vote

Insanity: CISPA Just Got Way Worse, And Then Passed On Rushed Vote - informationliberationinformationliberation
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Insanity: CISPA Just Got Way Worse, And Then Passed On Rushed Voteby Leigh Beadon

Up until this afternoon, the final vote on CISPA was supposed to be tomorrow. Then, abruptly, it was moved up today?and the House voted in favor of its passage with a vote of 248-168. But that's not even the worst part.

The vote followed the debate on amendments, several of which were passed. Among them was an absolutely terrible change (pdf and embedded below?scroll to amendment #6) to the definition of what the government can do with shared information, put forth by Rep. Quayle. Astonishingly, it was described as limiting the government's power, even though it in fact expands it by adding more items to the list of acceptable purposes for which shared information can be used. Even more astonishingly, it passed with a near-unanimous vote. The CISPA that was just approved by the House is much worse than the CISPA being discussed as recently as this morning.

Previously, CISPA allowed the government to use information for "cybersecurity" or "national security" purposes. Those purposes have not been limited or removed. Instead, three more valid uses have been added: investigation and prosecution of cybersecurity crime, protection of individuals, and protection of children. Cybersecurity crime is defined as any crime involving network disruption or hacking, plus any violation of the CFAA.

Basically this means CISPA can no longer be called a cybersecurity bill at all. The government would be able to search information it collects under CISPA for the purposes of investigating American citizens with complete immunity from all privacy protections as long as they can claim someone committed a "cybersecurity crime". Basically it says the 4th Amendment does not apply online, at all. Moreover, the government could do whatever it wants with the data as long as it can claim that someone was in danger of bodily harm, or that children were somehow threatened?again, notwithstanding absolutely any other law that would normally limit the government's power.

Somehow, incredibly, this was described as limiting CISPA, but it accomplishes the exact opposite. This is very, very bad.

There were some good amendments adopted too?clarifying some definitions, including the fact that merely violating a TOS does not constitute unauthorized network access?but frankly none of them matter in the light of this change. CISPA is now a completely unsupportable bill that rewrites (and effectively eliminates) all privacy laws for any situation that involves a computer. Far from the defense against malevolent foreign entities that the bill was described as by its authors, it is now an explicit attack on the freedoms of every American.




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CommentsAdd CommentPage 1 of 1AnonymousPosted: Apr 27 2012, 5:27 PM

Link 76197The Patriot Acts were both passed in much the same way..... pretend to be interested, pretend to oppose it, then pass it QUICK before the great unwashed find out.

Welcome to the NEW STALINISM. Brought to you by...the SAME PEOPLE.

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White House Threat to Veto CISPA Is a Crude Stunt



Obama is once again posing as a champion of privacy rights
Paul Joseph Watson


Even as drones are deployed domestically to spy on American citizens, Barack Obama is posing as a champion of privacy and civil liberties by threatening to veto the CISPA web snooping bill, just as his administration pretended to be hostile to the National Defense Authorization Act before signing it anyway.

An email released by the White House this afternoon claims the administration is unhappy with the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act because it fails to include proper ?privacy, confidentiality, and civil liberties safeguards.?

?If H.R. 3523 were presented to the President, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill,? states the email.

This is another crude stunt to lull civil libertarians on the left into a false sense of security.

As we documented earlier, Obama pulled precisely the same trick with the NDAA ?indefinite detention? bill, when for months he threatened to veto it while his administration secretly lobbied for the most draconian provisions to be added. When push came to shove, Obama signed the bill on New Year?s Eve while everyone?s attention was diverted.

Indeed, the real reason behind the administration?s hostility to CISPA is revealed later in the email ? that it doesn?t give the Department of Homeland Security enough power over Internet traffic.

?H.R. 3523 effectively treats domestic cybersecurity as an intelligence activity and thus, significantly departs from longstanding efforts to treat the Internet and cyberspace as civilian spheres. The Administration believes that a civilian agency -- the Department of Homeland Security -- must have a central role in domestic cybersecurity, including for conducting and overseeing the exchange of cybersecurity information with the private sector and with sector-specific Federal agencies,? states the email.

As we reported earlier, this is the subject of an amendment introduced by prolific big government advocate Sheila Jackson Lee that would empower the Department of Homeland Security to intercept online IRS tax returns and any other Internet traffic deemed to transit networks owned by the federal government or operated on its behalf.

The Obama administration?s sudden concern for the privacy of American citizens, even as it simultaneously signs off on a multitude of other fourth amendment-busting policies, including domestic surveillance drones, mandatory black boxes in all vehicles, and empowering the IRS to revoke passports, is nothing more than a head fake to disguise the White House?s dissatisfaction with how the new powers in the bill are dispersed at the federal level.

Once the bill has been amended to give the DHS more power, expect Obama to sign it without delay, whether the snooping provisions have been removed or not.
__
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.


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View the original article here

Monday, May 7, 2012

CISPA Amendment Allows DHS to Intercept Tax Returns



Perennial big government advocate Sheila Jackson Lee strikes again
Paul Joseph Watson


An amendment introduced to the controversial CISPA bill by perennial big government advocate Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee would empower the Department of Homeland Security to intercept online IRS tax returns and any other Internet traffic deemed to transit networks owned by the federal government or operated on its behalf.

?Jackson Lee?s amendment (PDF) is broad enough to sweep in government contractors and university networks such as Internet2 and CENIC, said a telecommunications attorney who did not want to be identified because of client sensitivity. It also appears to cover open Wi-Fi networks run by federal agencies and networks in government-provided housing,? reports CNet?s Declan McCullagh.

Not only would the amendment give Big Sis the power to monitor all government networks, it could also, according to McCullagh and Ryan Radia, associate director of technology studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, ?allow Homeland Security to monitor the communications of the federal courts and Congress, and intercept tax returns sent to the IRS.?

Given the fact that the Department of Homeland Security has already identified all kinds of mundane behavior as ?suspicious activity? possibly indicative of terrorism, the prospect of the federal agency trawling through Americans? 1040 forms is nothing less than chilling.

The CISPA bill has already come under attack from all sides of the political spectrum because it states that ?notwithstanding any other provision of law,? companies may share information with the government, demolishing fourth amendment privacy protections.

Earlier this week Congressman Ron Paul slammed the legislation as a "Big Brother writ,? writing, "CISPA is essentially an Internet monitoring bill that permits both the federal government and private companies to view your private online communications with no judicial oversight, provided, of course, that they do so in the name of cyber security."

Targeting Americans for spying and punitive measures through their relationship with the IRS has been a common theme in recent weeks, with a separate bill, the ?Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act' (MAP-21), giving the IRS the power to revoke passports of Americans merely accused of owing $50,000 or more in back taxes.

Texas Democrat Jackson Lee has aggressively pushed for extra powers for the DHS on a number of different fronts, most recently when she promoted a program that places TSA agents on Houston buses as undercover spies tasked with interrogating passengers and searching bags.

Jackson-Lee also savaged a newly passed law that enables airports to evict TSA screeners and replace them with private security, ludicrously claiming that such changes would cause a new 9/11-style attack.

Jackson-Lee?s amendment will be debated during a House floor hearing tomorrow, with the full CISPA bill expected to face a vote on Friday amidst a crescendo of vocal opposition.
__
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show and Infowars Nightly News.


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CISPA Legislation Is Disguised?Fascism

CISPA the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act if signed into law will allow??the military and NSA warrant-less spying on Americans? confidential electronic Communications; any transmitted private information circumventing the fourth amendment. CISPA will allow any self-protected cyber entity to share with the Feds any person?s private information that might allegedly relate to a cyber threat or crime. Considering the U.S. Government?s current business relationship with telephone and Internet companies, it should be expected the feds would use CISPA to gain unprecedented access to lawful Americans? private electronic communications. Almost every week news media reports corrupt police arrested for selling drugs, taking bribes and perjury. It is foreseeable that broad provisions in CISPA that call for private businesses / cyber entities to share with Spy Agencies confidential information will open the door for corrupt government and police to sell a corporations? confidential information to its competitors, foreign governments and others. CISPA provides insufficient safeguards to control disposition of (shared) confidential corporate / cyber entity information, including confidential information shared by spy agencies with private entities derived from spying on Americans.

The recently House Passed Cyber Security Bill overrides the Fourth Amendment. Government may use against Americans in Criminal, Civil and Administrative courts (any information) derived from CISPA warrant-less spying.

CISPA will open the door for U.S. Government spy agencies such as NSA; the FBI; government asset forfeiture contractors, any private entity (to take out of context) any innocent?hastily written email, fax or phone call to allege a crime or violation was committed to cause a person?s arrest, assess fines and or civilly forfeit a business or property. There are more than 350 laws and violations that can subject property to government asset forfeiture. Government civil asset forfeiture requires only a civil preponderance of evidence for police to forfeit property, little more than hearsay.

CISPA (warrant-less electronic surveillance) will enable the U.S. Justice Department to bypass the Fourth Amendment, use information extracted from CISPA electronic surveillance) of Americans? Web Server Records, Internet Activity, transmitted emails, faxes, and phone calls to issue subpoenas in hopes of finding evidence or to prosecute Citizens for any alleged crime or violation.

If the current CISPA is signed into law it is problematic federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and private government contractors will want access to prior Bush II NSA and other government illegally obtained electronic records to secure evidence to arrest Americans; civilly forfeit their homes, businesses and other assets under Title 18USC and other laws. Of obvious concern, what happens to fair justice in America if police become dependent on ?Asset Forfeiture? to help pay their salaries and budget operating costs?

Note: the passed ?Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000? (effectively eliminated) the ?five year statue of limitations? for Government Civil Asset Forfeiture of property: the statute now runs five years (from the date) police allege they ?learned? an asset became subject to forfeiture.

If CISPA takes affect, allows (no warrant) electronic government surveillance of Americans, it is expected CISPA will be used by government not only to thwart cyber threats, but to aggressively prosecute Americans and businesses for any alleged crime: U.S. Government spy and police agencies; quasi government contractors for profit, will relentlessly sift through Citizen and businesses? (government retained Internet data), emails and phone communications) to discover possible crimes or civil violations.

A corrupt U.S. Government Administration too easily use CISPA no-warrant-seized emails, faxes, Internet data and phone call information) to target, blackmail and extort its political opposition; target any Citizen, corporation and others in the manner Hitler used his Nazi passed legislation that permitted no-warrant Nazi police searches and seizure of Citizens and businesses or to extort support for the Nazi fascist government. Hitler Nazi Laws made it possible for the Nazis to strong-arm German parliament to pass Hitler?s 1933 Discriminatory Decrees that suspended the Constitutional Freedoms of German Citizens. History shows how that turned out.

CISPA warrant-less electronic surveillance) has the potential of turning America into a Fascist Police State.

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which in some cases has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available for the purposes of news reporting, education, research, comment, and criticism, which constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (found at the U.S. Copyright Office) and other applicable intellectual property laws. It is our policy to remove material from public view that we believe in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally copied and distributed by any of our members or users.
About Us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened..." - Winston Churchill


View the original article here

Monday, April 30, 2012

CISPA, "National Security," and the NSA's Ability to Read Your Emails



BY TREVOR TIMM, Electronic Frontier Foundation

This week the House of Representatives is debating CISPA, the dangerous 'cybersecurity' bill that threatens to decimate Internet users' privacy in the name of security. EFF and a wide variety of other groups have been protesting the law's provisions giving companies the power to read users' emails and other communications and hand them to the government without any judicial oversight whatsoever--essentially a giant 'cybersecurity' exception to all existing privacy laws.

We've already shown how the bill's definition of 'cyber threat information' can lead the companies and government to surveil citizens for a host of reasons beyond critical cybersecurity threats. But we want to focus on one vital portion of the bill that is not getting enough attention: what the government can do with your private information once companies hand it over.

Even though CISPA is styled as a 'cybersecurity' bill, it explicitly allows the Department of Homeland Security and other government agencies like the National Security Agency (NSA) to use your information for 'national security' purposes--expanding the bill far beyond its purported goal.?Bill sponser Mike Rogers introduced a package of amendments yesterday, but did not remove "national security" as one of the purposes for which information can be used.

The Erosion of Civil Liberties

In the past decade, the amorphous phrase "national security" has invaded many arenas of government action, and has been used to justify much activity that did not involve legitimate terrorist threats. The most obvious (and odious) example is the unfortunately named USA-PATRIOT Act, a law that was sold to the American public as essential to combating terrorism, but which has overwhelmingly been applied to ordinary American citizens never even suspected of terrorism.

In just one of many examples, from 2003-2006, the FBI issued more than 192,000 National Security Letters to get Americans' business, phone or Internet records without a warrant. These invasive letters--which come with a gag order on the recipient so they can't even admit they received one--have been used to gather information about untold number of ordinary citizens, including journalists. Exactly one of those cases ended in a terrorism conviction--and he would have been convicted without the NSL evidence. The ACLU has catalogued how many other PATRIOT Act provisions have been similarly abused. EFF is suing for information about one provision, known as Section 215, which Senators have warned is being secretly interpreted to invade privacy in a way that "most Americans would be stunned" to learn about.

"Information sharing"-- CISPA's mantra--has also created privacy nightmares for everyday Americans in the name of national security. The federal government routinely shares its massive national security databases with local law enforcement agencies with predictable results. An investigation by PBS Frontline and the Washington Post's Dana Priest showed that "many states have yet to use their vast and growing anti-terror apparatus to capture any terrorists; instead the government has built a massive database that collects, stores and analyzes information on thousands of U.S. citizens and residents, many of whom have not been accused of any wrongdoing."

Despite the ample evidence of these expansive "national security" powers being used on ordinary citizens, the government has only continued down the same path. Just last month, the National Counterterrorism Center drastically changed its rules so it can now copy entire data bases from other federal government agencies and keep information on citizens for up to five years--even if they're completely innocent.

Wrongdoing and Abuse Go Unchecked

Of course, with such unchecked power, abuse is inevitable. In 2010, EFF learned through Freedom of Information Act requests indications that the FBI--one of the many agencies that might receive private communications via CISPA--may have committed upwards of 40,000 possible intelligence violations in the nine years since 9/11--many of which were done under the PATRIOT Act. In addition, we've found evidence of the FBI "lying in declarations to courts, using improper evidence to obtain grand jury subpoenas, and accessing password-protected files without a warrant."

Incredibly, it recently emerged the FBI may have not only condoned this type of behavior, but encouraged it. Wired recently published an FBI memo on agent training that said, "Under certain circumstances, the FBI has the ability to bend or suspend the law and impinge on freedoms of others" and cited various wiretapping laws in national security investigations. (emphasis ours)

Increased powers of the National Security Agency

CISPA's author Rep. Mike Rogers has tried to stave off criticism of that CISPA would lead to government abuse by insisting that the bill allows citizens to sue the government if they misuse their information. But this provides very little comfort. Any such lawsuit will be difficult, if not impossible, to bring. The government can attempt to use the same "national security" exception in CISPA that allows them to use the information for other purposes to escape liability.

First, the statute of limitations for such a lawsuit is two years from the date of the actual violation.? It's not at all clear how an individual would know of such misuse if it were kept inside the government. Given that the National Security Agency is notoriously secretive--its employees even used to refer to it as "No Such Agency"--they may attempt to prevent users from finding out exactly how this information was ever used. And a provision in CISPA that provides an exemption to the Freedom of Information Act for all private information given to it by companies for anything cybersecurity related doesn't help.

Even if a user knew the government was misusing his or her information, litigation would be difficult, expensive, and time consuming given if classified information or national security is involved, the government may invoke the "state secrets privilege."

EFF has been involved for years in a lawsuit over Fourth Amendment and statutory violations stemming from another abuse of the government's claimed 'national security' powers--the NSA's warrantless wiretapping program. Given the NSA may be a recipient of "cyber threat information" in CISPA, they stand to gain more power to spy on Americans despite laws that would otherwise prevent them from doing so.

Despite six years of litigation, the government continues to maintain that the "state secrets" privilege prevents lawsuits over the warrantless wiretapping program from being heard, arguing that even if the allegations are true, the suit should be dismissed because of--you guessed it--national security concerns. The same state secrets privilege has been invoked in other cases involving the CIA's extraordinary rendition program and their authority to target Americans in drone strikes overseas with no judicial safeguards.

CISPA will create yet another tool for the government to expand its already massive national security apparatus, and in turn, erode ordinary citizens' rights, while giving them virtually no recourse if their civil liberties are violated. The House of Representatives is beginning debates on CISPSA tomorrow, with a vote coming no later than Friday.? Join EFF in opposing CISPA by calling, emailing, and tweeting at your Representatives.


Latest Big Brother/Orwellian
- Insanity: CISPA Just Got Way Worse, And Then Passed On Rushed Vote
- The TSA Is Still Groping Children In Airports
- CISPA Amendment Allows DHS to Intercept Tax Returns
- Public Schools in Action: Father With Autistic Son Sends His Kid To School With A Wire, Exposes Bullying And Abuse By Teachers
- Toddler Terrorist: TSA threatens lockdown over 4-year-old girl
- TSA Leaves Note Telling Passenger To "Go To Hell"
- Big Brother Transport Bill Set to Advance This Week
- Senate Bill Would Make Unconstitutional Anti-Stalking Law Even More Unconstitutional

CISPA Legislation Is Disguised?Fascism

CISPA the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act if signed into law will allow??the military and NSA warrant-less spying on Americans? confidential electronic Communications; any transmitted private information circumventing the fourth amendment. CISPA will allow any self-protected cyber entity to share with the Feds any person?s private information that might allegedly relate to a cyber threat or crime. Considering the U.S. Government?s current business relationship with telephone and Internet companies, it should be expected the feds would use CISPA to gain unprecedented access to lawful Americans? private electronic communications. Almost every week news media reports corrupt police arrested for selling drugs, taking bribes and perjury. It is foreseeable that broad provisions in CISPA that call for private businesses / cyber entities to share with Spy Agencies confidential information will open the door for corrupt government and police to sell a corporations? confidential information to its competitors, foreign governments and others. CISPA provides insufficient safeguards to control disposition of (shared) confidential corporate / cyber entity information, including confidential information shared by spy agencies with private entities derived from spying on Americans.

The recently House Passed Cyber Security Bill overrides the Fourth Amendment. Government may use against Americans in Criminal, Civil and Administrative courts (any information) derived from CISPA warrant-less spying.

CISPA will open the door for U.S. Government spy agencies such as NSA; the FBI; government asset forfeiture contractors, any private entity (to take out of context) any innocent?hastily written email, fax or phone call to allege a crime or violation was committed to cause a person?s arrest, assess fines and or civilly forfeit a business or property. There are more than 350 laws and violations that can subject property to government asset forfeiture. Government civil asset forfeiture requires only a civil preponderance of evidence for police to forfeit property, little more than hearsay.

CISPA (warrant-less electronic surveillance) will enable the U.S. Justice Department to bypass the Fourth Amendment, use information extracted from CISPA electronic surveillance) of Americans? Web Server Records, Internet Activity, transmitted emails, faxes, and phone calls to issue subpoenas in hopes of finding evidence or to prosecute Citizens for any alleged crime or violation.

If the current CISPA is signed into law it is problematic federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and private government contractors will want access to prior Bush II NSA and other government illegally obtained electronic records to secure evidence to arrest Americans; civilly forfeit their homes, businesses and other assets under Title 18USC and other laws. Of obvious concern, what happens to fair justice in America if police become dependent on ?Asset Forfeiture? to help pay their salaries and budget operating costs?

Note: the passed ?Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000? (effectively eliminated) the ?five year statue of limitations? for Government Civil Asset Forfeiture of property: the statute now runs five years (from the date) police allege they ?learned? an asset became subject to forfeiture.

If CISPA takes affect, allows (no warrant) electronic government surveillance of Americans, it is expected CISPA will be used by government not only to thwart cyber threats, but to aggressively prosecute Americans and businesses for any alleged crime: U.S. Government spy and police agencies; quasi government contractors for profit, will relentlessly sift through Citizen and businesses? (government retained Internet data), emails and phone communications) to discover possible crimes or civil violations.

A corrupt U.S. Government Administration too easily use CISPA no-warrant-seized emails, faxes, Internet data and phone call information) to target, blackmail and extort its political opposition; target any Citizen, corporation and others in the manner Hitler used his Nazi passed legislation that permitted no-warrant Nazi police searches and seizure of Citizens and businesses or to extort support for the Nazi fascist government. Hitler Nazi Laws made it possible for the Nazis to strong-arm German parliament to pass Hitler?s 1933 Discriminatory Decrees that suspended the Constitutional Freedoms of German Citizens. History shows how that turned out.

CISPA warrant-less electronic surveillance) has the potential of turning America into a Fascist Police State.

This site contains copyrighted material the use of which in some cases has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available for the purposes of news reporting, education, research, comment, and criticism, which constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (found at the U.S. Copyright Office) and other applicable intellectual property laws. It is our policy to remove material from public view that we believe in good faith to be copyrighted material that has been illegally copied and distributed by any of our members or users.
About Us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy
"Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened..." - Winston Churchill


View the original article here

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

CISPA Bill Lets ISPs Spy On and Report Pirating Subscribers

by Ernesto, TorrentFreak

After the SOPA and PIPA uproar the Internet has become increasingly aware of the US Government?s attempts at meddling with the web. In recent days the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) has moved to the forefront. Critics of the bill point out that it would allow companies to spy on Internet users, and as it?s written CISPA would further allow ISPs to block allegedly infringing transfers and report pirating users to a variety of organizations.

When it comes to legislation involving the Internet, the masses have become quite paranoid. Perhaps rightly so.

The latest bill to gain attention online is CISPA, or the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. As the title suggests the main goal of the bill is to deal with ?cybersecurity,? but with a lack of definition as to what that actually entails, it?s also one of the major weaknesses.

In short CISPA would allow companies to spy on Internet users and collect and share this data with third-party companies or Government agencies. As long as the company states that these privacy violations are needed to protect against ?cybersecurity? threats, they are immune from civil and criminal liabilities.

Some have described the bill as a new SOPA, but it?s nothing like it. Where SOPA was focused on the shutting down of copyright infringing websites, CISPA is directly targeted at individual Internet subscribers, including copyright infringers.

While the definition of a cybersecurity threat is rather vague, intellectual property is specifically mentioned in the bill. For example, among many other descriptions CISPA defines a cybersecurity purpose as follows.

?A system designed or employed to [...] protect a system or network from [...] theft or misappropriation of [...] intellectual property.?
In other words, the bill would make it possible for ISPs to actively monitor the private communications of subscribers to detect and censor the transfers of copyrighted content. In addition, the personal details of these users could then be freely shared with third parties.

It?s hard to not interpret the above as a huge problem for people?s right to private communications.

While there is little known about how companies and authorities plan to use the bill, it is the vagueness and broad definitions that get people worried. Copyright holders should have tools to protect their rights, but as it stands CISPA completely destroys people?s right to privacy under certain circumstances.

This has caused great concern among the public, and a few days ago digital rights group EFF also sent out an alarming message warning people about the looming threat posed by CISPA.

?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?,? EFF writes.

?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.?

In recent weeks CISPA has gained support from over 100 lawmakers in Congress, anti-piracy lobby groups such as the BSA and US Chamber of Commerce, but also tech companies including Facebook, Microsoft and Verizon.

These supporters are likely to argue that the bill wont be used as a massive spying machine, but if that?s the case the text should be amended to reflect that. To a certain degree CISPA faces the same problem as SOPA, in that the vagueness of the definitions give rise to speculations, in this case horrific 1984-like spying systems.

In its current form CISPA serves only to fuel the paranoid concerns of the public in which ironically the bill itself exists as the security threat.


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isps: hey pirates, too bad.

pirates (everyone): hey isps, i no longer need this level of service. please downgrade my account.

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