CISPA

Before I choose to return to college, this past fall 2011, I already had a fairly poor opinion on what and how our elected government officials, from local all the way to the president of our country, did the jobs we (US citizens) elected them to do. Since my return to college several of my courses have opened my eyes even more to politics. Now things like:  falling asleep to infomercials and late night TV, dreaming up new wonderful things to add to my “happy place”, the phrase “make the bad people go away”, and pondering things such as: is our nation empire going to fall in mine or my kids life time, why did I have kids, what countries might I be interested in moving to and so on, are a part of my daily life, AHHHHH!!!! Thanks a lot college! All kidding aside though, I am truly clueless as to what to do and what to think.

When I turned 18 and could vote I didn’t understand why my mom and dad pushed and pretty much insisted that I register to vote as well as actually doing it. I thought it was stupid because how could my one vote really make a difference and if what or who I voted for didn’t win then I was still stuck with something I didn’t want in turn leading me back to the 1^st argument of what did my one little vote count for anyway. I had a bad attitude, like many Americans, close to my age and era did and I believe still do.

“One of the most critical ways that individuals can influence governmental decision-making is through voting.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted unanimously by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, recognizes the integral role that transparent and open elections play in ensuring the fundamental right to participatory government. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Article 21 states:
Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his/her country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot or by equivalent free voting procedures.” (University of Minnesota Human Rights Center)

CISPA, SOPA, PIPA sound like words a 3 yr. old might make up while eating alphabet soup but they are federal legislation bills that Congress has been trying to pass. SOPA and PIPA were bills that Congress attempted to pass with the stated intention of stopping reproduction of copyrighted materials. CISPA, a new and similarly scrutinized bill, which takes away our online privacy (supposedly to protect Americans against “cyber-crimes”) has passed through the House of Representatives and is on its way to the Senate. 

If passed, CISPA would amend the National Security Act of 1947  to allow government agencies to swap customer data from Internet service providers and websites if that data is a threat to "cyber-security." On a basic level the bill is meant to provide a means for companies and the government to share information with one another to fight against cyber threats. We already had a perfectly functional model that's been in place for 15 yrs for law enforcement to share 'Cybersecurity' info with companies. ”In 1997, long-time FBI agent Dan Larkin helped set up a non-profit based in Pittsburgh that “functions as a conduit between private industry and law enforcement.” Its industry members, which include banks, ISPs, telcos, credit card companies, pharmaceutical companies, and others can hand over cyberthreat information to the non-profit, called the National Cyber Forensics and Training Alliance (NCFTA),which has a legal agreement with the government that allows it to then hand over info to the FBI.Conveniently, the FBI has a unit, the Cyber Initiative and Resource Fusion Unit, stationed in the NCFTA’s office. Companies can share information with the 501(c)6 non-profit that they would be wary of (or prohibited from) sharing directly with the FBI.”(Hill) This means, either that the Congressional authors and supporters of this bill were completely ignorant of this or CISPA is really meant to sneak through something worse. Neither makes CISPA or its supporters look very good.

One of the more concerning aspects of CISPA that sets it apart from SOPA/PIPA is the number of technology companies that support it; one of the key points that backers of CISPA have made throughout the debate on the bill. Facebook re-pledged its support, however has stated that the bill needs to be fixed to address privacy concerns. It would make more sense to pull your support until the bill is fixed instead of re-pledging your support.  Similarly, Microsoft is now admitting that there are some privacy concerns with CISPA and has softened its stance on it slightly, while not completely pulling its support. Declan McCullagh at CNET reports, “In response to queries from CNET, Microsoft, which has long been viewed as a supporter of the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, said this evening that any law must allow "us to honor the privacy and security promises we make to our customers." Microsoft added that it wants to "ensure the final legislation helps to tackle the real threat of cybercrime while protecting consumer privacy." What sparked significant privacy worries is the section of CISPA that says "notwithstanding any other provision of law," companies may share information "with any other entity, including the federal government." It doesn't, however, require them to do so.

Professor Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, is warning consumers of his creation against Google and Facebook, as well as the government’s attempts to censor the Internet. In his interview with the Guardian he is quoted, "[It] is threatening the rights of people in America, and effectively rights everywhere, because what happens in America tends to affect people all over the world,” he says of CISPA. “Even though the SOPA and PIPA acts were stopped by huge public outcry, it's staggering how quickly the US government has come back with a new, different, threat to the rights of its citizens."(rt.com) Rep. Ron Paul, warned on April 23 that CISPA represents the "latest assault on Internet freedom" and was "Big Brother writ large."

One of the dozen amendments the House added right before passing the bill is: H.AMDT.1022 to H.R.3523 Amendment to limit government use of shared cyber threat information to only 5 purposes: (1) cybersecurity; (2) investigation and prosecution of cybersecurity crimes; (3) protection of individuals from the danger of death or physical injury; (4) protection of minors from physical or psychological harm; and (5) protection of the national security of the United States. (The Library of Congress) Reps. Rogers and Ruppersberger say their bill is necessary to deal with threats from China and Russia and that it "protects privacy by prohibiting the government from requiring private sector entities to provide information." In addition, they stress that "no new authorities are granted to the Department of Defense or the intelligence community to direct private or public sector cybersecurity efforts." 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. Somehow, incredibly, this was described as limiting CISPA, but it accomplishes the exact opposite.

This is violating our4^th Admendment rights because it offers a simple, warrantless means to acquire personal data and using the data to investigate and build cases against American citizens without regard for the laws that would normally protect their privacy. 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". 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. CISPA is now a completely unsupportable bill that rewrites (and effectively eliminates) all privacy laws for any situation that involves a computer and is now an explicit attack on the freedoms of every American.