The National Security Agency, in conjunction with England’s NSA counterpart Government Communications Headquarters, has been secretly intercepting Google and Yahoo data transmissions around the world, according to a new analysis of the Snowden documents. The documents show how the two spy agencies can cooperate to send copies of customer records en masse to the NSA’s […]
An organized crowd of protesters numbering more than a thousand have convened outside the U.S. Capitol in protest of mass surveillance programs by American spy apparatuses. The rally, which was organized by Stop Watching Us, focuses largely on Internet data gathering efforts by the NSA and other agencies. It is supported by Edward Snowden, the […]
CISPA, the bill that grants legal immunity to large information-collecting companies from being sued for sharing the personally identifying information of all their customers with the US government, has risen from the grave once again. The “Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act” was introduced in the Senate by Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.). […]
The controversial CISPA bill recently passed through the House of Representatives with flying colors, and it’s now in the Senate, where it will then be passed on to the President if the bill passes in the Senate. However, many groups and organizations are almost positive that the bill will be vetoed in the Senate, including the American Civil Liberties Union.
This is the second time that CISPA has been introduced to the Senate, in which the first time it was strongly shut down. This time around, the legislation has seen some modifications, but organizations and even Senate committees are almost certain that it won’t make it through the Senate floor, and instead, they’re drafting up separate legislation that everyone can agree on.
According to a representative of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, the bill will most certainly be shelved, saying that the Senate is “not taking [CISPA] up.” Instead, “staff and senators are divvying up the issues and the key provisions everyone agrees would need to be handled if we’re going to strengthen cybersecurity.”
Essentially, CISPA will allow companies to share information about you with the government in order to strengthen security against various cyber threats. This has raised a lot of privacy concerns, and those against the bill argue that the bill violates privacy more than it needs to in order to strengthen cybersecurity.
[via US News]
ACLU: CISPA bill essentially dead is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Tomorrow has been dubbed “Internet Blackout Day” by Anonymous. It has asked that many website owners blackout their websites on April 22nd at 6:00AM GMT in protest against CISPA. The protest will last for 24 hours, and will show the government the “unity and power of the internet they’re trying to exploit.” Along with making their websites go dark, website owners are asked to display a message on their site as to why they’re participating.
CISPA, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, was passed by the House on April 18th with a majority vote of 288 to 127. The bill will allow corporations to share their users’ personal information with the government without the government needing a warrant beforehand. The bill will kill any privacy contracts that companies have with their users, the same contracts that ensure users that they will not share their personal information with anyone.
Currently, the White House is concerned over CISPA, and may veto it because it invades the privacy of internet users. In a statement that it issued last Tuesday, it stated that even with its new amendments, CISPA,
“does not require private entities to take reasonable steps to remove irrelevant personal information when sending cybersecurity data to the government or other private sector entities. We have long said that information sharing improvements are essential to effective legislation, but they must include proper privacy and civil liberties protections, reinforce the appropriate roles of civilian and intelligence agencies, and include targeted liability protections.”
In order to encourage the White House to veto the bill, Anonymous, and the vast majority of the internet, will participate in the blackout to show their unified opposition against it. There were several petitions made that were signed by over 1.5 million users, however, it still wasn’t enough to get Congress to change their minds, or take the public’s opinion seriously. Senator Mike Rogers, Representative of Michigan, stated that many of those against CISPA were just “teenagers in their basements”, and that many powerful internet entities, like Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo, are in support of the bill. He says,
“The very companies that you say are uncomfortable with this support this bill. The people who are in the business of prosperity on the Internet think this is the right approach.”
With the blackout, Anonymous hopes that President Obama will see how strongly opposed the vast majority of the internet is against the bill, and hopes that he will be convinced to veto it. This internet blackout will be similar to the blackout that occurred last year in opposition of SOPA (Stop Online Privacy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act), which garnered support from over 7,000 sites. If you have a website, and you plan on participating in the event, Anonymous has provided instructions on how to do so.
[via Huffington Post]
Anonymous calls for “Internet Blackout Day” April 22nd to combat CISPA is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
The United States legislative system won’t always give you what you want. A lot of times, it’ll give you the exact opposite. Like CISPA for instance. But the real beauty of it all is transparency; if you don’t feel adequately represented it’s a piece of cake to figure out exactly who to yell at. More »
After being squashed in the Senate last year, the CISPA bill has made a reappearance in the House of Representatives once again, and it passed with flying colors. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, as it’s called, passed in the House by a majority vote of 288 to 127. It’s now on to the Senate to get a yea or nay.
The announcement of the passed bill was made by the House Intelligence Committee via Twitter, who also noted that CISPA passed the House with 92 Democrats voting for the bill “despite the President’s veto threat.” The committee also mentions that there was overwhelming bipartisan majority, and Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said that, by passing the bill, the House has “shown how bipartisanship works.”
However, there’s still grave concern over privacy issues. CISPA’s plan is to essentially dig up information on you by allowing companies to share your data with the government in order to strengthen security against various cyber threats. The bill is now one one step closer to becoming a law thanks to today’s House passing.
Furthermore, unlike SOPA, President Obama may sign the CISPA bill to officially make it a law. He has signed an executive cybersecurity order, and he’s been urging Congress the past few months to create legislation that would broaden the order. However, the White House said that it would veto CISPA if significant changes weren’t made to the bill.
House passes CISPA bill with flying colors is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
CISPA, or the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, or “the worst privacy disaster our country has ever faced” has just passed through the House of Representatives with an astounding majority of 288 to 127. More »
Before President Barack Obama gave his State of the Union and shouted out 3D printing, he signed a new cybersecurity executive order with the goal of preventing cyber attacks by allowing companies and the government to share information they have on cyber threats. More »
We thought we killed all those awful, horrible destroy the Internet-type bills in SOPA, PIPA and CISPA. We might’ve been wrong. Like a zombie looking for human blood or a sore loser demanding a rematch, Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger and Rep. Mike Rogers plan to re-introduce CISPA to the House later this year. More »
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